Managing logging in State forests
Overview
The Department of Sustainability and Environment is responsible for ensuring that commercial logging operations are managed on a sustainable basis. The Government identified that, for logging in State forests to be sustainable, the volume of timber taken from the forest must decrease significantly; by one-third on a Statewide basis. The department has bought back sufficient licences to realise this objective, and has taken an important step forward in sustainable forest management. A one-third reduction in logging levels will obviously impact on employment in the forest industry. Sawmill workers and harvest and haulage firms, both owners and their employees, are likely to be hit hardest. These employment impacts could have broader economic and social consequences for the regional communities in which forest industry workers live. The responsible government departments have assisted employees displaced from sawmilling businesses and the harvest and haulage firms to adjust to the new logging levels. However, there is still considerable uncertainty for those who own and run harvest and haulage firms in the forest industry. The department has a responsibility to alleviate the existing uncertainty and any hardship it could cause, as a matter of priority.