560 jobs axed: Multimillion dollar timber investment plans gutted

Mill owners and harvest contractors’ multimillion dollar investments have been ruined by the now-earlier phasing out of native forest timber harvesting.

The Victorian Government’s decision to cut short its 2030 phase out of native forest timber harvesting to January 1 next year has gutted the multimillion dollar investments of timber mills, made harvesters’ machinery worthless and brought the axe down on 560 jobs.

Powelltown sawmill chief executive Dan Pote, who employs 45 workers, has invested in state-of-the-art European kiln driers, plus $4 million in a top and bottom planer, multi-saw, flitch rotator and even an on-site furniture workshop to add greater value to the timber they produce.

He said the government’s decision left him with “not much choice, but to run down what (timber) we’ve got” as calls came in from the banks last week and he tries his best to deal with questions from workers as to what the future holds.

Powelltown sawmill managing director Harold Fox and CEO Dan Pote. Picture: Zoe Phillips

But what angers Mr Pote most was the government’s attempt to put a positive spin on the loss of 560 regional timber jobs by issuing a media release headlined “Delivering certainty for timber workers” announcing a $200 million support package for workers.

“Our workers took that as an insult,” Mr Pote said. “How dare they put a positive spin on such a devastating decision for their families.”

Over at Yarram, Radial Timber mill owner and former CSIRO timber scientist Chris McEnvoy’s 30-year, $30 million plan to phase out of native forest logs into hardwood plantations, has been undermined by the government’s decision.

The Andrews Government has gutted Radial Timber owner Chris McEvoy 30 year plan, with VicForest owing him a backlog of timber on a licence that had two more years to run.

“We will survive,” Mr McEvoy said, by carting green sawn timber at significant cost from NSW and Queensland, which he hopes will allow him to keep 22 workers at Yarram and eight at Dandenong employed, until the plantations come on line in the 2030s.

Out on the ground mill manager Tony Britton surveys an empty yard, which has not seen a log since November last year, following Supreme Court Justice Supreme Court Justice Richards’ decision to lock harvest and haulage contractors out of most State Forests in cases brought against VicForests by environment groups.

In announcing native timber harvesting would end on January 1 next year, Treasurer Tim Pallas said “the courts have taken the decision out of our hands”, forcing the government to abandon its 2019 decision to phase out native forest logging by 2030.

The decision comes despite VicForests’ appeal against Supreme Court Justice Richards’ decision. But when asked why the Government has not waited until the appeal decision had been made, Mr Pallas said: “Regardless of the outcome of the decision, there will be another one (legal action)”.

However Heyfield Heyfield Australian Sustainable Hardwoods CEO Vince Hurley said the government’s argument was plain wrong.

“I’ll tell you the government can make laws to deal with regulatory failure at any time – that’s what they’re there for,” Mr Hurley said. “We’ve been completely blindsided by this decision.”

Meanwhile harvest and haulage contractors face trying to offload their specialist native forest machinery as they lay off workers.

Orbost contractor Rob Brunt asked “What do I do with all this machinery, sell it into a market that’s going to be flooded?”