A Regional Forestry Hub will be created in Gippsland to grow the industry and create more local jobs.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said Gippsland had been as named as one of nine priority regions across Australia to receive support from the Federal Government to boost the growth of forest industries.
The Federal Government is contributing $12.5 million to the creation of nine initial Regional Forestry Hubs that will support the research and development elements of the $20 million National Forest Industries Plan.
Mr Chester said the plan will take advantage of regional competitive advantages, including processing facilities, transport infrastructure and a skilled forestry workforce.
The announcement of Regional Forestry Hubs has been welcomed by the forest and wood products industry as an opportunity to help better prepare for future challenges and opportunities.
“The government will work with industry to investigate and encourage new investment opportunities, with the end goal to create more jobs and long term sustainability for the forestry sector,” Mr Chester said.
“The assessments that come from the Gippsland Forestry Hub will provide industry with regional data that is not currently available, which will assist our region to identify future investment and other opportunities for the forest industries.
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Senator Richard Colbeck said the hubs were a commitment in the Federal Government’s National Forest Industries Plan and would support strategic planning of future needs for the industry in the region.
“The Plan ambitiously aims to deliver a billion new trees to meet a projected quadrupling of global demand for timber products by 2050. This is all about delivering the right trees in the right places at the right scale.
“A billion trees with also allow the Liberal National Government to capture 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses per year by 2030.
“The hubs will involve the industry, all levels of government and local communities working together on the issues and opportunities for forestry in the regions.
“Funding will be available to support strategic planning, technical assessments and analyses that will contribute to infrastructure and other decisions by investors.
“The hubs have been identified in regions with existing concentrations of forests available for harvest, processing plants, transport routes and a skilled forestry workforce and the work now begins to determine the size and make up of each hub.”
Initially there’ll be four pilot Regional Forestry Hubs in the South West of Western Australia, Green Triangle crossing South Australia and Victoria, North/North West Tasmania and North East New South Wales.
Gippsland is one of five locations for Regional Forestry Hubs that will follow the pilot hubs. The four other Regional Forestry Hubs will be located in South West Slopes New South Wales, Central West New South Wales, South East Queensland, and North Queensland.
Additional Hubs may be identified in conjunction with the States and Territories.
More information on the National Forest Industries Plan is available here: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/forestry/national-forest-industries-plan.pdf