Motion
HON DIANE EVERS (South West) [10.07 am] — without notice: I move —
That this house recognises —
(a) the important role and enormous potential of our south west forests to increase economic opportunities and job creation in —
(i) the production of bees for export and the collection of pure honey; and
(ii) the development of tourism activities, events, and businesses; and
(b) the economic opportunities and job creation potential through the expansion and development of plantation forestry in the south west.
[Speeches and comments from various members]
HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [10.43 am]: I rise to emphatically support the motion moved by my colleague Hon Diane Evers. The reason for that is very simple. Business as usual in the forestry industry within this state is simply not an option. There are some very key core concerns about the management of our native forests within the state: for starters, the lack of conservation targets in the “Forest management plan 2014–2023”, the lack of conservation targets in the regional nature conservation plans, the desperate need for the high-value conservation reserves to be reviewed and the concerns about the lack of staff even being available to undertake those reviews. We know that the industry as a whole is not meeting the economic and social needs of the communities that rely on the industry.
This is not an argument about whether we need and want to have wood as a resource. Clearly, we want wood as a resource; it is one of the resources that we most require. But quite simply, there is a much better way to get it than chopping down our native forests for what are proving to be largely trivial issues. I remind members that currently only 10 per cent of jarrah logs and 11.5 per cent of karri logs become sawn timber; otherwise, they simply become charcoal logs, sawmill residue or firewood logs. This is absolutely not the best way to use our native forests. We will need to move away from destroying our native forests. We have to make a move to go into truly sustainable plantation and farm timbers. We know that the forests are already under considerable stress. We know that we have already lost far too much of our old-growth native forests. We are not even talking about the needs of habitat and what it means to have forests that have existed for several centuries and how critical that is. We are not even talking about the impact that climate change is having on an already stressed ecosystem. We know that what we have left will need to be managed far better than how we are managing it at the moment.
I think a big question needs to be asked about what we are currently getting out of native logging. A recent study of the socioeconomic impacts of the forest industry clearly demonstrated that the number of jobs in primary production—that is, growing trees, managing forests, harvesting and haulage, and primary processing, and we are talking about milling logs and making sawmill residue—has shrunk substantially over the last 10 years, but at the same time the number of jobs in hardwood plantation timber has grown. As of August 2016, it was estimated that native timber, primary production and processing accounts for about 508 direct jobs and a total of 898 jobs, including flow-on jobs and employment multipliers. Less than one-quarter of current forestry jobs are in the native timber industry. I want to remind members that when we are talking about these jobs, we are talking about real people and real families who have lives and who live in communities. They deserve to have some sort of stability about what the future holds. It is essential that anything that we propose in this space supports the ongoing employment of these people as well as the health of the communities as a whole. These are the sorts of opportunities that the honourable member who has proposed this motion is well and truly turning her mind to. We want to see these south west towns in particular be strong. We want them to be growing communities that are able to offer a wide range of job opportunities, and also job opportunities for younger people, because we are seeing an exodus from the south west because of the lack of opportunities.
Native timber processing almost entirely takes place in the south west. Additionally, the south west has a substantial number of plantations, particularly in areas around Albany, Esperance and the wheatbelt, which are almost entirely plantation timber. However, other than jobs, the native timber industry is not considered to be a driver of what makes the south west a great place to live. In fact, fewer than 25 per cent of residents felt that the forestry industry had a positive impact on a wide range of community liveability markers. The majority of residents felt that the industry had negative impacts on both roads and landscape aesthetics. Interestingly, as well, residents in communities with a high dependence, which is considered to be greater than two per cent of employment, believe that the forest industry has fewer positive effects than farming and tourism. This comes from residents of the south west themselves.
Multiple annual reports of the Forest Products Commission make it clear that it is trying to find uses for lower quality logs. Stakeholders in the industry have told me that this is because we have overharvested and that the proportion of low quality logs is increasing. The native timber industry is running at a loss. It is not a genuinely sustainable industry. The native timber industry in particular is also finding it difficult to source employees. This is partially due to uncertainty about the future of the industry because mills are continuing to close or choosing to consolidate. The Forest Products Commission reported that it spent $94 million in regional WA last year. I want members to imagine the possibilities if a proportion of the money that was spent on native forest logging and contracts was spent on helping those communities grow their tourism and agricultural businesses instead.
There are genuine opportunities for these communities. We have seen communities recover from mill closures and become tourism-based towns. For example, previously I worked with the Jarrahdale community while it was fighting as very much a united voice to protect its young native forest tourism industries from proposed harvesting close to the town site. The value of these regrowth native forests as sites for tourism activities was recognised by the Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs of the time, and the coupes closest to the town were subsequently removed from consideration for logging.
I note that communities that have traditionally had a high proportion of the population engaged in native forestry, such as Nannup, have been positioning themselves to take advantage of tourism opportunities for the last several years. Examples of the kinds of things that communities such as Nannup are looking at include adventure tourism, with hiking and mountain biking, whether that be on the Bibbulmun Track, the Munda Biddi Trail or local tracks and trails. They are also looking at recreational tourism, and food and wine tourism, including genuine honey, which has been specifically mentioned today. They are also increasingly having seasonal festivals that celebrate the unique flora of the area and the heritage and culture of that town. Taking advantage of our native forests in this way, as opposed to logging, is not a particularly new idea. They are now trying to trade on the unique combination of the heritage charm of these towns and the innovative small business ideas that will utilise the forests in a different way. Frankly, it is practical commonsense that provides more opportunities for communities that are located in our native forests, and it helps those towns to also retain their populations and, in fact, to grow as well.
There are opportunities to grow tourism of all kinds and there is an appetite for clean, green tourism and also for gourmet destinations within this state. There is every reason to support our communities to take advantage of our unique natural heritage to diversify and grow for not only our benefit, but also the benefit of future generations. I also remain concerned about those workers’ families in communities that are effectively stuck in an industry that is becoming increasingly unviable and in which the social licence to operate is ever diminishing. We need to look at transition arrangements now.
[Speeches and comments from various members]
Motion lapsed, pursuant to standing orders.