Over 300,000 hectares of contested Tasmanian forests could soon be passed to Indigenous Australians under a radical reform now backed by forest industry figures.
The push could end the decades-long Tasmanian forest wars, with almost 85% of forests, potentially slatted for commercial harvesting, returned to traditional owners.
As reported exclusively by Matthew Denholm, the Australian’s Tasmanian correspondent, the concept will be discussed by industry, conservation, and Aboriginal figures next month, and the remaining 50,000 hectares of forests will be made available for commercial harvesting.
Arising from the Mona Forest Economics Congress last November and further discussed last month, it remains highly contentious, with conservationists opposed and accusing the industry of “blackwashing” and seeking to “wedge” them against the Indigenous community.
The 356,000 hectares of forests contested includes parts of Takayna/Tarkine, Bruny Island, and Blue Tier covered the 2012 forest “peace deal” – later earmarked by the government for “potential future” logging.
Industry representatives involved in the discussions include Shawn Britton, the Tasmanian Forest Products Association chair, and CEO Nick Steel, with Mr Britton confirming the concept could have merit.
“It was an idea that had some reasonable interest and support and was worthy of taking further,” he said, adding, “Resource security is always an issue. The industry will advocate and back a government that will give the industry and its people secure resource outcomes.”
According to former Forestry Tasmanian Managing Director Bob Gordon, “the concept is worth exploring,” Mr Gordon, who has close ties to the ALP, confirmed that he has had “general discussions with Labor figures about the idea.”
Last week, Mr Gordon, appointed chair of the new $100 million Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) research institute, is the ex-president of Forestry Australia and a firm supporter of indigenous custodianship of forests.
He said that having been involved in Indigenous timber projects in East Arnhem Land; the concept could address a shortage of specialty timbers and involve Aboriginal people in land management.
Aboriginal elder Jimmy Everett, one of three Indigenous figures involved in the talks, said he opposed logging old growth, but land handbacks would be supported. “We’ve never knocked back any land for return to the Aboriginal community, that’s for sure,” Mr Everett said.
Most conservationists oppose logging inside the 356,000-hectare area known as the Future Potential Production Forest, or FPPF, with Jenny Weber, campaign manager for the Bob Brown Foundation, hostile to the proposal.
“I am horrified – this is an attempt to make it look like we can hand back Aboriginal ownership of forests but that there has to be a compromise with that,” she said.
“No way, is that OK? There shouldn’t have been any talk of logging the FPPF. Those forests are all high conservation value and should be protected.”
The foundation supported Aboriginal ownership without logging trade-offs, which they describe as a “wedge move by the industry.”
The future of the 356,000 hectares will be a hot-button political issue, which could help decide the next Tasmanian election, with Resources Minister Felix Ellis not ruling any option in or out. “We continue to work closely with industry as to if or when it might be necessary to make some of these forests available to Tasmanian sawmills,” Mr Ellis said.
ALP resources spokesman Shane Broad said it was “not proposing any changes” to the forests’ status, whilst Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said her party “fully supported” Aboriginal land returns but that all 356,000 hectares should it, as intended in 2012, “be protected as a national park.”
- For more information about the MONA Forestry Congress, please visit Wood Central’s special feature from November.