The Timber Queensland-inspired ‘Doing Timber Business in Queensland’ conference in Brisbane addressed some of the most significant issues facing the industry, including farm forestry, European Union deforestation regulations, timber, beef, and carbon opportunities, housing demand, and modern methods of construction.
The event on September 2 and 3 threw a spotlight on farm resilience, carbon markets and timber innovation for housing and infrastructure. More than 130 delegates participated in site tours and networking events that showcased the state’s leadership in sustainable timber systems and prefabricated construction.
Addressing the conference dinner – Carving out Connections: Steaks and Stumps – the Minister for Primary Industries, Tony Perrett, said it was a fitting occasion to reflect on today’s focus: the unique opportunities for the state’s timber and beef industries to collaborate and prosper together through future agroforestry endeavours. “Queensland, and the rest of Australia, is facing an unprecedented demand for timber, driven largely by high levels of construction activity based on strong population growth and a housing shortage coupled with increased infrastructure demands,” Perrett said.
“Across the spectrum, the demand for this sustainable and renewable resource will only intensify as our timber products will be needed for housing construction, renovations, building new schools, hospitals, and meeting other infrastructure needs, including the Olympics 2032.”
“And as the population continues to grow, we will need to rely even more heavily on our forestry and timber industry to deliver the state government’s ambitious target of building one million homes by 2044.”
“It is Queensland’s timber industry that will be pivotal to helping address these challenges; otherwise, the alternative is to rely on imported timber products – which have dubious sustainability credentials – or substitute products such as steel or concrete, which require significant amounts of energy to produce.”
Perrett said now, more than ever, plantation and native forests were essential assets for the Queensland economy, environment, and rural and regional communities. With around 51 million hectares of native forest, the state was home to the largest forested area in Australia, making up 41.5% of the total forests.
“We also have more than 200,000 hectares of public forest land set aside for commercial plantation forests, primarily to produce sawn structural timber products,” Perrett said. “But the timber industry faces a wide a range of challenges which have made it hard to do business.”
“There are challenges such as the need for long-term planning, competing land use demands, biosecurity and fire risks and environmental concerns, ensuring high-value timber can be harvested while retaining remnant forests and processing while maximising available supply and confronting complex regulations that create barriers to investment, and workforce demands.”
Perrett said the state was committed to delivering the landmark Queensland Future Timber Plan (QFTP) to ensure access to the timber required to build one million homes by 2044. “I welcome community feedback on the specific strategies, outcomes and actions required to secure the sector’s long-term future,” the minister said. “Feedback will help inform a final QFTP which will outline a 25-year strategy for the forestry and timber industry. It will be supported by five-yearly action plans that will outline how we will deliver on this strategy.
“The Future Timber Plan will be an important part of the Primary Industries ‘Prosper 2050’ blueprint, which will shape a thriving future for the sector and help boost production output to $30 billion by 2030.”
The plan will identify future opportunities against five key focus areas:
• Securing a sustainable timber supply for housing, construction, infrastructure and other industries.
• Establishing supply chain competition on an international scale.
• Developing better regulations in which the community sees benefits.
• Building and retaining a viable, fit-for-purpose workforce in rural and regional economies.
• Modernising and innovating Queensland’s forestry and timber industry through research, development, and extension.
Perrett said the landmark timber action plan would transform the Queensland forest and timber industry. This was being co-designed, co-invested and co-delivered with industry with key input from the Timber Supply Chain Ministerial Roundtable, which was established in May. The roundtable would provide practical advice on how the Queensland government could meet growing demand while supporting innovation and sustainability across the timber supply chain.
This roundtable features representatives from Timber Queensland, AgForce, Queensland Farmers Federation, the Housing Industry Association, Forestry Australia, HQ Plantations Pty Ltd, the Australian Forest Contractors Association, and other industry stakeholders.
Perrett said Timber Queensland’s ‘Doing Timber Business in Queensland’ conferences were important to identifying future opportunities for the state’s forestry and timber industries. “Let’s leverage the industry expertise gathered here for the conference to share knowledge, foster and accelerate innovation, and build new collaborations to support and grow our timber industry.”
Editor’s note: Conference delegate and forestry consultant Dr Kevin Harding noted that CSIRO-backed research showed that landholders who invested $2000 per hectare in silviculture practices could yield returns of $10,000 per hectare over a 20-year cycle.
However, many were taking the “quick buck” instead and choosing to sell their best timber for returns of around $2800 per hectare now.
Dr Harding said that when asked why they would prefer $2800/ha in the short term compared to $10,000 per hectare in future, the common response from farmers was that “they didn’t have the confidence to invest $2000 today, because they may not be allowed to harvest in 20 years’ time.
“I have got a forest genetics background – that is the typical situation out there,” Dr Harding said. “You take out the best trees, what you are leaving it with is a very degraded genetic population.
“And that is the worst possible science scenario going forward, because it is like taking your very best breeding cattle to the abattoirs, and then trying to restock and create another breeding population with your second best. Now what sensible person would do that?”
