Following the historic passage of the Forest Agreement legislation on Tuesday, the FPS joined other member organisations of Environment Tasmania in releasing the attached media release. 1-5-13-Media-Release
4th February, 2013
The nominated area doesn’t include areas that impact on mining in the north-west of Tasmania. It is expected that the nomination will go before the World Heritage Committee in June of this year.
Progress is continuing with the implementation of the TFA. The Minister also announcing the release of $3 million to aid in the development of a management plan that will support the special timbers industry and to explore options for dealing with the timber residues in the short-, medium-, to longer-term. The funding will also support the start of the process to obtain forest stewardship council accreditation (FSC).
The Government is also progressing the High Quality Sawlog Contract Voluntary Buyback Program, with expressions of interest sought and provided before the end of 2012. An amount of $15 million has been allocated to this program. The expressions of interest are now being considered and negotiations are expected to commence shortly. It is envisaged that contracts can be concluded over the next month or two, though settlement of payments cannot occur until after the Bill has passed Parliament, as this is a condition of the Australian Government that is funding the program.
In support of clause 15 of the TFA, the Government intends to provide structural adjustment assistance to regional sawmillers who wish to either exit the sector or try and secure more certain supply. An amount of $10 million has now been committed to the regional sawmillers’ structural adjustment program. Negotiations are well advanced with the Tasmanian Sawmillers’ Association (TSA) around the guidelines for the Regional Sawmillers’ Structural Adjustment Program. The Government remains committed to releasing this program as soon as possible, so that, if the Tasmanian Forests Agreement Bill is passed, then the funding will be able to be rolled out quickly to eligible applicants.
TWWHA Nomination map – Please note that this map is large scale. The Australian Government will be providing a more detailed map to the World Heritage Committee by 28 February 2013.
Map available here http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/tasmanian-wilderness/pubs/proposed-extension-map-jan2013.pdf
