Forest Products Industry

AFPA has made a submission on the Federal Government’s proposed amendments to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Collection Act 2024, broadly supporting the objective of improving the effectiveness and flexibility of the levy system. Source: Timberbiz The submission relates to the public consultation on the policy changes the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is considering in relation to the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 2024. AFPA says the Australian forestry industry welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed amendments to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Collection Act 2024. It broadly supports the department’s intent to enhance the effectiveness of the levies system through improved data use and administrative flexibility. According to the submission the reforms have the potential to strengthen evidence-based policy, improve research quality, and support system integrity. However, inclusion of robust safeguards, clear limits on scope, and strong transparency and accountability mechanisms are needed to ensure ongoing effective implementation. AFPA supports, in principle, the ability of DAFF to share information with trusted third-party providers for intended uses and supports the proposed powers for the Secretary to make rules under the Act that enable the collection of levy/charge payer and collection agent personal information for the establishment and maintenance of levy payer registers. AFPA also supports the proposal to enable the use and disclosure of levy payer and collection agent personal information for research, policy development and data analysis purposes, including by ABARES. Improved data quality and survey capability represent important public benefits. However, for industry to properly understand the scope and implications of these changes, and to ensure adequate data privacy and there are no unintended consequences, the exact legislative wording outlining the circumstances under which information sharing may occur must be clearly, transparently, and explicitly articulated in the primary legislation or accompanying rules. AFPA’s recommendations: Define data sharing purpose limitation Explicit data access provisions for Industry Representative Bodies Legislative clarity Third-party data controls De-identification by default Transparency measures Opt-out mechanisms where feasible Independent oversight and audit Data breach protocols   The submission can be downloaded at https://ausfpa.com.au/publications/submission-on-proposed-levy-collection-reforms/

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While Senator Pauline Hanson was telling the National Press Club that, “From its chairman down, the ABC has proven itself to be completely in denial about its profoundly transparent political bias and the activists in its ranks.” The ABC was doing its best to prove her correct according to Timber NSW chief executive Maree McCaskill. Source: Timberbiz “Any pretence that the ABC Four Corners ‘journalists’ are anything more than activists disappears when they describe one of their interviewees, in an email, as a ‘formidable opponent’,” said Ms McCaskill. “This latest stitch-up of the sustainable forestry industry which has harvested trees for generations, and re-grown forests for generations is based entirely on a fiction being spread by the national broadcaster. “Forestry policy needs to be based on science not opinion and yet, sadly, ABC Four Corners prioritises uneducated opinion over evidence-based science when it comes to the timber industry. “Activists at the national broadcaster are working tirelessly to shut down the forestry industry in NSW and the rest of Australia as quickly as they can based on conjecture and opinion expressed by unnamed environmental groups from “down south” to quote the Four Corners journalist during a lengthy interview with Andrew Hurford, the head of a multi-generational timber industry group. “Four Corners is attempting to portray the forest products industry as immoral by making false allegations that parts of the industry have been paid compensation when they haven’t suffered loss of contracted timber supply. “In addition, the ABC activists essentially debunk scientific evidence used by the CSIRO by giving equal weighting to opinion and conjecture from unnamed environmental groups. “Four Corners interviewed Andrew Hurford in a part of a forest that had been harvested only two years earlier, yet they refused to acknowledge that fact because it didn’t show the devastation that they were looking for. “In audio recordings of the interview the birdsong is almost too intrusive to conduct an interview, reflective of a very healthy ecosystem. “Their attempt to sway public opinion against the forestry industry even goes as far as showing footage of a timber haulage truck arriving at a mill complete with feigned gasps of horror without acknowledging that the timber was from private land, not a public forest and that it was the only delivery of large logs in a nearly a year. “There must be a limit to the lengths that ABC activists will go to in order to destroy a viable, sustainable forestry industry in NSW,” Ms McCaskill said. Timber NSW was established in 1906 as the representative organisation of the timber and forest products industry in NSW. Its mission is to work with members, stakeholders and the broader industry to build an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable timber industry in New South Wales. Tonight, on the ABC’s Four Corners program, the station is broadcasting an investigation titled “Timber Turmoil“.  The episode, reported by Jessica Longbottom, investigates the current state of Australia’s native forest logging industry.

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