Tasmanian minister Felix Ellis: ‘We are not here to fix Dan Andrews’ disastrous decision to shut down Victoria’s native forestry sector’

The state government has been accused of pillaging resources from Tasmania after shutting down Victoria’s native logging industry.

The Andrews government is being accused of plundering timber from Tasmania after announcing the closure of the Victorian industry.

The Heyfield Mill, part-owned by the Victorian government and operated by a private shareholder, has been importing logs from across the Bass Strait for several months.

It comes after premier Daniel Andrews’ shock announcement in May that Victoria’s native logging industry would shut down by 2024, six years earlier than previously planned and has prompted calls for the Tasmanian government to step in and cap the amount of timber being sent to the mainland.

The Herald Sun can reveal that in the lead-up to the announcement the private partners of the Heyfield Mill, with the support of the Andrews government, purchased the Western Junction Sawmill in north Tasmania and quietly began buying up local timber and shipping it back to Victoria to be processed in the state’s east.

The Heyfield Mill has been importing logs from across the Bass Strait for several months. Picture: Dannika Bonser

A move that has outraged Tasmanian industry figures who warn the Andrews government was commercially killing local family-owned mills in Tasmania by offering above-market price for timber logs.

There were also concerns the increased competition for resources would undoubtedly lead to unsustainable logging in Australia’s southernmost state.

Terry Edwards, a spokesman for a coalition of Tasmanian mills, said the Victorian government “had closed its own logging industry” and was now “pillaging” resources in other states.

“Our mills are concerned that they are being expected to go into competition and an open tender process, where they are required to go up against the might of the Treasury of Victoria.

Victoria’s native logging industry will shut down by 2024, six years earlier than previously planned. Picture: Jason Edwards

“These are family-owned sawmills. Some with over 100 years operating in regional communities of Tasmania, and they are being expected to compete with the Victorian government who closed down its own forest industry, and is now seeking to obtain wood for its own sawmill that it owns itself in Gippsland.”

Mr Edwards said up to 40 truckloads of wood per week was now crossing the Bass Strait headed for Victorian mills, and called for the Tasmanian government to step in “and enter into meaningful discussions with Tasmania’s forest industry to ensure that its state owned company, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, does not provide an advantage to the Victorian government”.

Tasmanian Minister for Resources, Felix Ellis slammed the Victorian government for the move.

“The Tasmanian government has been very clear: we are not here to fix Dan Andrews’ disastrous decision to shut down Victoria’s native forestry sector and that Tasmanian timber will support Tasmanian jobs,” he said.

Up to 40 truckloads of wood per week is crossing the Bass Strait headed for Victorian mills. Picture: Dannika Bonser

“All sawlog from Tasmania’s publicly managed forests is supplied to Tasmanian based sawmills for on-island processing. Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s wood supply contracts with major Tasmanian customers are in place until 2027.”

Another industry figure, who asked for anonymity, warned the increased competition would eventually result in timber being harvested at unsustainable levels in Tasmania creating a “conservation nightmare”.

But director of Western Junction Sawmill Vince Hurley said the accusations were “alarmist” and “untrue”.

“Western Junction Sawmill is a privately owned company with no connection to the Victorian government,” he said.

“It was purchased in 2021, well before the Victorian government’s decision of 23 May 2023.

“Any tender in Tasmania should be based on manufacturing investment in Tasmania and on island processing.

“Alarmist, exaggerated and untrue comments designed to encourage political intervention to eliminate competition can only be to the detriment of the people of Tasmania missing out on employment, investment and revenue.”

On record, the Victorian government has a 49 per cent stake in the Heyfield Mill, after it took the unprecedented move of stepping in to unexpectedly buy the facility in 2017 – effectively saving it from closure.

However, having paid more than $50m in the deal, forensic analysis of the company structure indicates the government’s ownership could be much higher.

Industry insiders alleged that the Heyfield Mill had made loans to the new private shareholders to purchase the Western Junction mill which secured Tasmanian wood allocations – meaning the government was proactively supporting the import plan.

The private operator of both Heyfield Mill and the Western Junction Mill could not be contacted for comment.

When asked about the importation of Tasmanian wood to Heyfield a Victorian government spokesman said: “The Andrews Labor government is supporting mill workers across the industry, including at Heyfield.”

Victorian Nationals Leader Peter Walsh slammed the move and said the government was playing political games.

“I’m not opposed to commerce but its hypocritical that the Andrews government would close the Victorian industry down but be a major shareholder in a business that’s now going to Tasmania to buy timber to bring back to Victoria.”

“I don’t believe that the decisions of the Andrews government around native timber industries has anything to do with conservation. It all has to do with politics.”

Tasmanian opposition leader Rebecca White said there was “real fear” about the “allowed to sell off the plantation resource to a mainland saw miller”.

The Herald Sun’s Bush Summit will be held in Wodonga on August 17. For more information visit heraldsun.com.au/bush-summit

Originally published as Tasmanian minister Felix Ellis: ‘We are not here to fix Dan Andrews’ disastrous decision to shut down Victoria’s native forestry sector’