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SEPTEMBER 2013 Issue 6 Vol. 22 • P: (03) 9888 4834 • E: l.martin@ryanmediapl.com.au • www.timberbiz.com.au
Inside: • Blueprint for the future ... but it needs the political will to ensure its success • How forestry workers coped with the impacts of RFAs • Mill upgrade boost plus bioenergy deal for South Australia
Chinese delegation impressed with Aussie forest workings
• Carbon gets a guernsey at the MCG • Oscar winner shows common scents!
Cypress sawmillers can now plan for the future By John Hudswell
F
INALISATION OF 25 year sales agreements between the Government and industry has restored security and confidence in a future for Queensland’s Cypress sawmillers. “When you’re a small business having a level of certainty is a game changer,” said Cecil Plains sawmiller Vic Gersekowski. Rod McInnes, chief executive officer of peak industry body Timber Queensland, said the agreements delivered longer contracts for companies that already had an allocated license to log Cypress. “By nature the timber industry is a long-term operation and so businesses need to think and plan in the same manner,” McInnes said. “These 25 year contracts underpin the security that locallyowned businesses need to invest in processing equipment and take on extra staff.” John McVeigh, Queensland’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, signed off on the sales permits that apply to 14 Cypress sawmillers, mostly located in the Darling Downs region “This 25 year agreement is excellent for my business (Vic’s Timber & Dressing) planning and in turn it benefits the local area as well,” he said. The Cecil Plains business (about 300km west of Brisbane) has been in the family for 54 years. Vic’s Timber & Dressing has only been in existence since 2000.
“My family started it all and the mill has been here for 54 years. We’ve always worked on cypress, maybe little bits of hardwood here and there, though.” Vic said talk of the25 year contract had been in the wind for more than a decade. There was always talk. We were on 5 year renewals until it was our turn to have the statewide process done. We’d pretty much been living on year to year for the past decade or more. That’s the way these things go,” said Vic. All the Cypress blokes up here we knew damn well that with the cypress forests there was absolutely no drama with overlogging or anything like that … it grows like a weed! “It’s always been very well managed between industry and forestry and we knew - if commonsense prevailed we knew we’d end up getting this so I suppose that’s why a lot of us hung in.” Vic explained that his business processed its allocation about 7500 cubic metres of logs a year. “Over the years we’ve upgraded but we want to upgrade more to become more and more efficient, of course. Now we’ve got this certainty we’re planning on doing just that. “Our primary breakdown is a twin edger and then across to a one-man bench then through a docking system and we have the Kara bench that cuts all log and pretty much mills our tails, if you like. It’s a very efficient way of doing it at the moment. “We’ve have kilns and then we have our machining plant where we produce flooring, decking -- all the mill products,” said Vic.
Having a level of certainty is a game changer
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