Huge volumes of Western Australian firewood are now being traded via the “black market”, with an ever-increasing number of unregulated timber now sold through platforms like Facebook marketplace.
That is according to Giovanetti Firewood Bunbury co-owner Steve Giovanetti, who, upon speaking to ABC South West Western Australia, reported that 2024 was the business’s slowest trade in over 20 years.
“It’s always been there; it might be more prevalent this year because of the current (cost of living) economic climate,” he said, but “it’s had an effect on us. It’s a growing market. Meanwhile, we are going backwards.”
The problem for Mr Giovanetti, faced by WA’s largest firewood suppliers statewide, is that nine months after the Cook government walked away from native forestry, the government is struggling to deploy resources to monitor forests and keep pace with poachers, now taking timbers from protected forests.
We are abiding by all the rules. You can’t do anything about the weather, but the legislation is there and needs to be enforced. If nothing happens, nothing will change. If demand remains like this next year, I don’t know what we will do.
Steve Giovanetti, Giovanetti Firewood Bunbury co-owner.
In addition, the question of how unregulated online sellers obtained firewood has also raised biosecurity concerns: “There are hygiene issues as well with the spreading of dieback. People travelling around and accessing state forests is a huge risk,” Mr Giovanetti said.
According to Jeff Loton, Managing Director for Bunbury Firewood Supply, who is now sending two to three road trains of timber per week to Perth (down from two to three road trains every day), demand has been down about 30% in past years, resulting in a 4,000-tonne surplus of timbers.
“This is probably the first time in the last ten years that we’ve got an oversupply,” Mr Loton said, “We’re down about 30 per cent on what we’d normally be selling.”
Can the WA government regulate the surge in illegal firewood that is now sold online?
Speaking to the ABC, a Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions spokesperson said online selling platforms presented unique challenges for regulating the buying and selling of firewood.
“Where DBCA authorised officers become aware of suspicious ads, they investigate and report ads found to be from non-compliant sellers to the platform and request the ads be removed,” a spokesperson said.
“A recent compliance campaign has seen online advertisers that do not provide a DBCA flora licence in their advertisement being sent a compliance and education letter outlining the licensing requirements.”
“To ensure firewood has been legally sourced,” DBCA said, “the buyer can ask to see a licence or other authorisation.” In addition, “the seller should be able to provide details of where the firewood is from, verifying the firewood has been lawfully sourced.”
Suffer in Silence: WA Forest Ban Leaves Mills Starved of Timber!
Last month, Wood Central reported that timber mills are still waiting for a letter of offer from the state government to access an increasingly sparing volume of logs —a lifeline now crucial to keeping regional and rural communities alive.
In January, Wood Central revealed that timber towns in the state’s southwest suffered an “exodus” in financial and human capital as communities prepared for a future without native hardwoods. At the same time, the government was ill-equipped to manage the transition and was desperately looking to make up for the shortfall due to poor public policy.
According to Wood Central contributor Gavin Butcher, the state government could face a wood famine by 2030, with the wood shortage exacerbated by the native forest ban: “To maintain the construction industry, particularly housing, there will need to be a massive increase in timber imports or a transfer to other materials,” Mr Butcher, himself a former director of the state-owned Forest Products Commission.
“Firewood supplies ran out during the middle of the (colder) 2022 winter, consumers went cold, and prices skyrocketed due to the failure to meet demand,” Mr Butcher said, adding that “at the time as it was struggling to supply wood, the government was paying workers to leave the industry.”
- To learn more about the decision by the WA (and Victorian) State Government to close the native forest industry and its impact on long-term supply, visit Wood Central’s special feature.
