Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Roof truss suppliers across my region are declaring Australia's severe timber shortage a national crisis that is having significant knock-on effects not only for the building industry but also for jobs and the economy, and it's not going to end any time soon, according to one of the nation's leading prefab manufacturers, Timbertruss, which is based in my region in Geelong. Business manager Steve Collier said the shortage will have long-lasting implications for the cost of housing and jobs in the industry. Steve says timber from overseas is costing between 85 per cent to 125 per cent more and this is inevitably being passed on to the client, leading to a concerning increase in the cost of housing. The flow-on impacts for apprentices, local carpenters, electricians, roofers and plumbers and the related retail sector are being badly felt. 'It's crushing for builders,' he said. 'I feel particularly for the smaller construction firms and family building businesses who can't even get a quote for a job.' Ultimately, this means building jobs are being pushed back by about three months on average.

What is the Morrison-Joyce government doing about this? Very little, it appears. Not only has the Morrison-Joyce government failed to anticipate and develop a plan to manage the nation's timber shortage; it has contributed to the crisis. The government's lack of a substantive policy, combined with its failure to act on its own tree-planting targets, has once again shown that the government is incapable of real vision, planning and implementation. It's not like the government wasn't warned of this crisis. Back in late June, CFMMEU National Secretary Michael O'Connor wrote to housing minister Michael Sukkar, the then industry minister Christian Porter and Assistant Minister for Industry Development, Jonathon Duniam, requesting an urgent meeting to discuss support for the forestry sector. Now, more than six months into the crisis, there's still no coherent plan from the Morrison-Joyce government. Victoria's Master Builders Association CEO Rebecca Casson said builders are being so badly squeezed that it's sending some broke. It's law that builders who have entered into contracts must absorb the cost of delays, such as with timber shortages. It's true Australia is caught up in a worldwide shortage of timber. The US is paying up to 400 per cent higher than normal for timber, and the devastating 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires have also contributed to the current shortage. However, Australia might not have been in such a dire position had the government had its eye on the ball.

In normal circumstances, only about 20 per cent of Australia's construction timber is imported, so this crisis is more about domestic management than international supply issues. More homes than ever are being built around this nation—some figures suggest 20 per cent more in 2020-21 than in any previous year. The current building surge has been spurred on by various factors, some very much within the government's direct control, such as the government's own HomeBuilder program, for instance, which has seen 135,000 applications. The program is placing additional pressure on limited supplies and driving up prices. However, fixing the building timber supply issues needs a longer-term solution. A recent joint report from Master Builders Australia and the Australian Forest Products Association says Australia's timber shortage will escalate. By 2035, the nation will be short 250,000 house frames. That's the equivalent of the housing stock in the cities of greater Geelong and Newcastle combined.

An urgent national plan is needed to address the timber shortage. But what the Morrison government has provided so far is a policy vacuum. In the short term, to alleviate the current problem, there must be support for sawmills. In the longer term, we must ensure there is timber plantation stock to meet future housing demand. Currently, there are only 2,750 hectares of new plantations of softwood nationally, yet we need 400,000 new hectares of plantations by 2030 just to meet future demand. The Morrison-Joyce government promised to meet a $1 billion plantation trees target in 2018, but, as usual, Mr Morrison has failed to do anything. Importantly, we must not let the government's failure be used to justify increased logging of our national native forests.

The construction industry is the key to economic growth. Construction in my region of high growth is so important. The Morrison-Joyce government has failed the timber industry. It has failed the construction industry. It has failed local builders and apprentices and the housing consumers. They must do better. (Time expired)

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