Less than a month before the Western Australian state election (March 8, 2025), carpenters are being squeezed out – with the price of timber practically doubling amid a shortage of wood supply. That is according to Bernie Capelli, an 89-year-old carpenter who has spent decades making a living for himself cutting railway sleepers and small-scale carpentry.
However, speaking to ABC Great Southern, Mr Capelli fears he may be one of the last to pursue his trade a year after the Western Australian native logging ban made timber much rarer and more expensive.
“To buy jarrah now isn’t practical with prices that high.”
Bernie Capelli, an 89-year-old carpenter, who fears for the future of trade, more than 12-months after the Roger Cook government locked up more than 600,000 hectares of native hardwood species used for carpentry and cabinetry.
Last year, Wood Central reported that the survival of Western Australia’s besieged hardwood industry was hanging by a thread following the snap decision by the Mark McGowan and Roger Cook government to lock up 5 million hectares of native forests – removing 600,000 hectares of forests “managed” for timber cultivation.
As a result, the industry’s future depends on the supply of ecological thinnings, mine-site clearing – a controversial practice that sees sections of the state forest cleared for bauxite extraction – and increasingly imported hardwoods from overseas.
Speaking to ABC Southern, Albany joiner Rogan Coffey now sources most of his timber, which he used to create custom timber pieces from Indonesia. “We started that direction from a cost point of view, using Indonesian hardwoods,” he said. “It used to be significantly cheaper, but not as much anymore because the pressure has been put on to fill the void in the market.”
Mr Coffey said while prices fluctuated, sectional-size jarrah pieces had jumped from about $1,500 a square metre in 2020-21 to up to $3,500 a square metre this year – with the ban poised to have a significant impact on the long-term future of the industry long term.
“We’re a narrow industry, but it will get to the point where there will only be imported and recycled timbers only,” he said.
- To learn more about the decision by the Western Australian State Government to close the native forest industry and its impact on long-term supply, visit Wood Central’s special feature.
