Production of native hardwood will be banned in state-owned forests in South-East Queensland at the end of the year and potentially in other key regions in the next few years.Timber Queensland is asking for new 20-year hardwood supply contracts from existing state forests and other crown land for processors as soon as possible.
"If the government cannot provide certainty for the native forest industry, there's going to be reduced supply, and so the ultimate impact of that is there's going to be a blowout in the availability of materials and also price rises," Mr Stephens said.In Queensland, hardwood and softwood are mainly harvested from government and privately owned native forests, as well as from commercial plantations.
To provide some confidence for the industry, the state committed to a Native Timber Action Plan in 2019, saying it would allow logging to continue in its "eastern hardwoods" region until at least 2026 and in the "western hardwoods" region until at least 2034. Shadow Forestry Minister Tony Perrett said the LNP would deliver a Queensland timber action plan that would secure the sustainable timber supplies needed to build homes.
"One of the things we learned during the COVID period was how important locally produced materials are to ensure that the home-building industry can continue to operate in an efficient manner.