Joel Fitzgibbon has stepped down as chair of the peak body for Australia’s multi-billion dollar forest products industry. Stephen Dadd, executive director of Pentarch Group – one of the country’s largest and most important cogs in the supply chain for timber products – has now been elected chair of the Australian Forest Products Association (or AFPA), effective yesterday.
It brings to a close a successful tenure that saw the former Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry minister serve as both CEO (from January 2023 until August 2023) before serving as Chair of the Board.
As a long-term supporter of forest products, Mr Fitzgibbon has been an effective champion for the industry, stressing the importance of the whole value chain of forest products, both softwood and hardwood, in ensuring Australia’s economic independence.
In January 2023, he revealed exclusively to this publication that a critical focus of his advocacy was sovereign capacity, revealing that “AFPA will work hard to highlight the importance of our sector and the need to secure our resource supply.”
In recognising his contribution, AFPA Deputy Chair, Jean-Yves Nouaze, thanked Mr Fitzgibbon for his service to the forest products sector and his long-term support for the industry – which not only included time served as Federal Minister under Kevin Rudd but also as Shadow Minister and convenor of the Australian Parliament’s Forestry Friendship Group.
“AFPA has been fortunate to have Joel’s support for the sector over many years. As Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Forestry, Joel passionately represented the importance of our industry to Members of Parliament for Australian communities,” according to Mr Nouaze, Executive Director of Visy Industries.
“It is a testament to Joel’s commitment to the industry that following a distinguished career in Australian politics, he agreed to serve as Director and Chair of AFPA,” before adding that “throughout his time as Chair, Joel has guided AFPA and the Board through government relations as well as national and international climate policy decisions and CEO recruitment.”
Mr Fitzgibbon and departing Acting CEO Natasa Sikman headed Australia’s COP28 delegation, which saw the Australian Government and 16 of the world’s largest timber consumers pledge to increase the number of timber buildings under construction.Â
As part of the “The Buildings Breakthrough”, the “Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership’s (FCLP) Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood Initiative”, it should see a substantial increase in the number of mass timber buildings under construction leading up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
Replacing Mr Fitzgibbon, Mr Dadd is also Chair of AFPA NSW Division and a current Board Director of Forest Wood Products Australia. He is, according to the AFPA board, “well positioned to become the national voice on public policy across the Australian Forest Products Sector.”
Since quitting federal politics after a 26-year career as a member of Hunter, Mr Fitzgibbon has taken on several high-profile posts in public policy, most notably as co-chair of the AUKUS Treaty – an Australian treaty with the US and UK, which is critical to Indo-Pacfic security.
