Forest Products Industry

The Australian government’s announcement of an additional funding stream under the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) to build 1,000 social and affordable homes proves the importance of sustained Commonwealth leadership in housing. Source: Timberbiz The new Stream 5 release will support up to 1,000 social and affordable homes through ready-to-go projects, while encouraging greater diversity in housing typologies, including detached and semi-detached homes, and creating opportunities for community housing providers to partner with builders to deliver housing more quickly. National Shelter CEO Jackson Hills said the stream directly addresses the lag between funding decisions and highlights the value of the HAFF as a long-term national mechanism for social and affordable housing. “National Shelter welcomes this additional funding stream, which recognises the need to get more social and affordable homes built quickly while supporting a broader range of housing types and locations,” Mr Hills said. “For the hundreds of thousands of people in Australia on social housing waitlists, the difference between a home in 2027 and a home five years later is life changing. “The Housing Australia Future Fund has made clear its value as a long-term national mechanism for increasing social and affordable housing, with this additional stream showing how it can respond to opportunities in the market and help bring forward projects that are ready to be delivered. “Backing low-density homes broadens the scope of social housing in this country, and it opens up regional centres and outer suburbs where medium density is harder to deliver. These homes will connect people to work, schools and healthcare rather than isolating them. “At this pivotal moment in Australia’s housing history, Commonwealth leadership has never been more important. The scale of Australia’s housing challenges requires sustained national investment, coordination and partnership across all levels of government, community housing providers and industry. “The Commonwealth’s leadership through the Housing Australia Future Fund is helping rebuild Australia’s pipeline of social and affordable housing and demonstrating the value of a long-term national commitment to housing supply.” Mr Hills said the announcement reinforces the need for long-term national housing targets that extends beyond individual funding rounds and election cycles. “The fact that the Fund has opened a new stream in response to what the market can deliver makes the clearest case for making it permanent. Round 3 is currently the final round, and Australia faces a shortfall of 640,000 social and affordable homes by 2041, a gap no single program with an end date can close,” he said. “National Shelter believes future National Housing Accord targets should explicitly include social and affordable housing outcomes alongside broader housing supply goals. Establishing long-term targets across the next 20 to 30 years would give governments, community housing providers and investors greater certainty about the scale of housing Australia needs to build. “We also welcome the Senate’s recent focus on examining the nation’s social housing needs. Programs such as the Housing Australia Future Fund are an essential delivery mechanism, but we must also maintain a clear picture of future need so that housing investment can keep pace with Australia’s growing population and changing communities.” National Shelter said the focus on shovel-ready projects and accelerated delivery demonstrated how targeted Commonwealth investment could bring desperately needed social and affordable housing online sooner while strengthening Australia’s long-term housing system.

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New Zealand Institute of Forestry says it rejects a blanket forestry moratorium in the country. The NZIF says proposals to halt new forestry registrations or progressively remove forestry from the scheme are premature and risk further undermining investor confidence. Source: Timberbiz NZIF President Adrian Loo says that the Adrift: What future does the Emissions Trading Scheme have? report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment raises legitimate questions about the balance between reducing gross emissions and removing carbon through forests. “New Zealand needs faster reductions in gross emissions, but this does not diminish the importance of carbon removals,” Mr Loo said. “We need both. The challenge is to design a system which recognises their different roles and provides credible incentives for each.” NZIF is concerned the report’s media release presents modelled scenarios as settled outcomes. The report itself acknowledges its results are projections rather than predictions and depend heavily on assumptions about future carbon prices, planting rates and forest owner behaviour. “A model looking ahead to 2075 can help us understand possible risks, but it cannot tell us with certainty how markets, technology, landowners or governments will behave over the next 50 years. Major policy decisions should not be based on one set of modelled scenarios,” Mr Loo said. NZIF also says an important distinction is being overlooked between Government auction units and forestry units. “Government auction units are permissions to emit. Forestry units recognise carbon which forests have actually removed from the atmosphere. Treating both forms of supply as though they have the same climate effect overlooks a fundamental difference,” Mr Loo said. NZIF agrees biological carbon storage carries risks from fire, pests, disease and extreme weather. However, it says these risks should be addressed through professional forest management, monitoring, enforceable standards and appropriate financial provision. Descriptions of “vast new plantations of highly flammable, storm prone pine” are unhelpfully emotive and do not reflect the diversity or reality of modern forestry. “Forestry is not a single land use. A managed production forest, a permanent exotic carbon forest, an indigenous forest and a planned transition forest have different purposes, benefits and risks. Sound policy must distinguish between them,” he said. “Broad descriptions of pine forests as inherently dangerous show insufficient recognition of forest management, fire planning, engineering, harvesting controls and the regulatory improvements made across the sector.” NZIF says a blanket moratorium on new forestry registrations would not simply pause the present system. It would be a significant policy intervention which could affect production forestry, farm forestry, indigenous regeneration and transition projects. It could also strand investments made in good faith under rules established by successive governments. “Foresters did not design the ETS. Landowners and investors have responded to the incentives created by government policy. They should not be blamed or retrospectively penalised for following those rules,” Mr Loo said. He said forestry was a long-term investment and unnecessary changes to ETS settings would seriously erode investor confidence and would result in significant reductions in planting rates across all forest types. New Zealand did not need to face a choice between reducing emissions and growing forests. “We need faster reductions at source alongside the right trees, in the right places, managed for the right purposes,” Mr Loo said. “Foresters must be part of the discussion and forestry part of the solution.”

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Tree Breeding Australia has officially opened its new $1.2 million National Genetics Research Centre in Mount Gambier, South Australia. Located on Kilsby Road, the research facility will accommodate up to 12 staff – mostly technical specialists – to provide better infrastructure for TBA’s national tree breeding and genetic improvement programs across both hardwood and softwood plantation species. Source: Timberbiz Key capabilities at the site include the storage and management of genetic material used in seed and pollination programs, with plans to progressively undertake DNA sequencing and analysis on-site, reducing the need to send samples interstate or overseas. The new TBA research facility represents another jewel in South Australia’s crown as a national leader in research and innovation and builds on the State Government’s investment in the recently opened $16 million Forestry Centre of Excellence. South Australia’s Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven, who officially opened the building, said the State Government’s investment in the research facility would strengthen the State’s role in forestry research and help secure the future of South Australia’s timber plantation industry. “Tree breeding and genetic improvements are critical to developing productive and resilient plantations, and this facility will support the research, skills, and innovation required to meet the industry’s future challenges and opportunities,” she said. “Through this partnership between the Malinauskas Government and the forestry sector, we are supporting skilled technical roles and strengthening Mount Gambier’s position as a centre for forestry research and innovation.” Built by Parham Construction, the facility was delivered by an entirely local trade base comprising more than 15 businesses. TBA purchased the Kilsby Road site in 2005, building on an organisational history dating back to 1983 when it began operating locally as a cooperative focused on the genetic improvement of plantation timber species. Today, it is the premier breeding organisation in Australia for plantation softwood and hardwood species. The chairman of Tree Breeding Australia, Dr Andrew Jacobs, said the project represented a significant investment in the future of Australian plantations. “The new research facility will enable us to better protect and manage valuable genetic material, improve the efficiency of our breeding programs, and develop the skills and technology we need for the next generation of tree improvement,” Dr Jacobs said. “Our goal is to develop trees that grow faster, produce better-quality timber, and are increasingly resilient to the conditions in which they are grown, including adapting to more challenging environments. This facility is a long-term investment in the people, science, and genetic resources that will underpin Australia’s future timber supply.” Forest & Wood Products Australia Acting Chief Executive Officer Craig Taylor said the opening of the new facility – known as “The Shed” – marked an important milestone for Australia’s plantation forestry sector and the researchers, growers and industry organisations working to improve the productivity, value and resilience of Australia’s plantation resource. “We recognise the vision and commitment of all those involved in bringing this important facility to life,” he said. “FWPA has a focus on helping our plantation grower members increase their profitability by growing more fibre on every hectare of land they manage, while also increasing the value of that fibre through improvements in wood characteristics that better meet the needs of downstream manufacturers. “We are also helping plantation growers increase their resilience through the development of genetics that will be best suited to a changing climate. Increasing the volume, quality and resilience of Australia’s plantations benefits participants right across the supply chain.” FWPA has been a major investor in plantation genetics research and development delivered in partnership with TBA, focused on tree improvement, genomics, plantation productivity, disease resistance and climate adaptation. Since 2020, the $11.5 million investment, leveraged through Australian Government matched funding, significantly expands the impact of industry research funds. An independent assessment of one recent research project found that for every $1 invested the research is likely to deliver $6.70 of direct economic benefit, plus other environmental and public good benefits. FWPA Head of Forest Research Jodie Mason said sustained investment in genetics and breeding was critical to the long-term success of Australia’s plantation estate. “Tree breeding and genetics underpin the future productivity, quality and resilience of Australia’s plantation forests. The Shed provides an important platform to accelerate the research and collaboration needed to deliver benefits to growers and processors for decades to come.” The projects supported by FWPA and its funding partners include research to increase and sustain productivity gains in national tree improvement programs, accelerate genetic gain through advanced genomics, optimise tree survival and resource quality, design genetically improved pine varieties, develop more productive trees adapted to changing environments, and future-proof plantations through disease-resistance screening. Mr Taylor said the opening of the Centre demonstrates the value of long-term collaboration between industry, government and researchers. “Facility investments such as this, combined with continued investment in research and development, help ensure Australia’s plantation sector remains internationally competitive and capable of meeting future demand for sustainable, renewable forest products.” TBA’s longer-term plans include a purpose-built glasshouse at the site to assist quarantine measures for the introduction of plants interstate and to fast-track the propagation of elite genetics.

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