Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Australia has a severe timber shortage;

(b) a report by the Master Builders Association and the Australian Forest Products Association concludes Australia is heading towards a deficit of 250,000 house frames by 2035;

(c) the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment states numerous studies show the need for 400,000 hectares of new plantations over the next decade to meet Australia's demand for timber;

(d) data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences reveals there are only 2,750 hectares of new plantations of softwood;

(e) the Government first promised to expand Australia's timber plantations by 1 billion trees in 2018; and

(f) answers to questions in the Senate reveal the concessional loan program set up to help meet the 1 billion trees target is yet to even open after the Government promised $500 million before the last election;

(2) acknowledges the impact the timber shortage is having on the construction and forestry industries and those Australians undertaking building and do-it-yourself projects; and

(3) conveys its disappointment that the Government has failed to do the necessary work for Australia to have sovereign capability to provide softwood and to grow jobs across the forestry and construction sectors.

It is time the Prime Minister took responsibility for the severe timber shortage that is being felt right across Australia. In my electorate alone, we are seeing home construction delays of up to 18 months, and this is an area that was devastated by bushfires. That could mean an extra 18 months of people being without a home. More broadly, the timber shortage is threatening Australia's construction industry and the jobs it supports across the country. I'm standing here today raising this issue because the timber shortage and the lack of government action would disproportionately affect businesses, individuals and families in my region.

We know there are several factors which have contributed to the shortage we're seeing today, including the Black Summer bushfires, which devastated my region and wiped out 40 per cent of the softwood plantation supply in parts of my electorate. The fire impacts have had a serious adverse impact on the future availability of timber products, for at least the next 20 to 30 years, in the South West Slopes and also Bombala. The plantation sector is the most significant socioeconomic contributor to the South West Slopes region. Thousands of jobs are reliant on this sector, through Hyne Timber at Tumbarumba, AKD Softwoods, and Visy in Tumut, and there's an estimated 500 jobs in Bombala and surrounds, through the Dongwha timber mill. Timber processors in Tumut and Tumbarumba fear the timber shortage will lead to people losing their jobs, which would have a devastating impact on these towns. With salvage logging ending, there are fears there won't be enough wood for all the processors in the region to have continued supply at their usual levels.

I have spoken to truss and frame business owners across the region, from Bega to Tumut, who also have serious concerns about accessing supply. I've met with Hyne Timber multiple times. They produce about 20 per cent of the wood which goes to housing trusses manufactured in Australia. They, like other industries, are working hard to secure supply from alternative sources, but this means crippling increases to the cost of manufacturing, due to the increased freight costs. This government's bushfire recovery package for processors specifically excluded freight support. While Hyne has found ways to continue in the short term, there is uncertainty about the long-term viability of some of these mills. Without a consistent supply of logs, mills will be forced to close and jobs will be lost.

While the bushfires had a significant impact, they were not the only problem. Prior to bushfires, demand in Australia for softwood for house framing was already exceeding local supply. Timber is already being imported from overseas to frame up a fifth of our homes today, but if this shortage isn't addressed we are headed towards a deficit of 250,000 house frames. A lack of action risks the timber shortage becoming an entrenched problem. We'll no longer have the capacity to provide Australian softwood to build Australian homes into the future. A real plan, followed by real action, is needed. This government needs to listen to industry, listen to construction workers and listen to everyday Australians trying to build or renovate their homes, because this timber shortage is affecting everyone. If the government doesn't actually do something, we risk not having adequate supplies of Australian timber not just next year but over the coming decades.

The frustrating thing is that this government has been well aware of this. In 2018, the Morrison-Joyce government promised to radically expand Australia's timber plantation by one billion trees. Today, less than one per cent of that goal has been achieved. If we continue at this rate, instead of hitting that target at 2050 it will take over 300 years. The concessional loan program that was set up to help meet the one billion trees target is yet to even open, after the government promised $500 million before the last election. The government has freely admitted the goal that was set is a long way off, but, as usual, the government has offered no answers to explain this policy failure, nor has it shared any plans to fix the problem. As a nation, we cannot afford any reduction of current plantations and this government needs to prioritise building a stronger, more competitive and ecologically sustainable forestry industry. We need to keep timber processing onshore, and we need to ensure there is adequate local supply. We know new trees mean new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, but right now the promise of one billion trees is just another one of the Prime Minister's promises. This government has talked a big game on housing construction, but its failures on timber shortage shows it doesn't care enough. It's time for this government to deliver on its promises, or the timber shortages will grow more dire in decades to come.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and I reserve my right to speak.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by thanking the member for Eden-Monaro for giving an old carpenter and joiner like me a chance to speak here in parliament about one of my favourite subjects. Like the most famous scene from Forrest Gump where Forrest receives a lesson from his new army buddy Bubba about the many different ways shrimp can be cooked and eaten, I could take a lot longer than five minutes telling the chamber all about timber—how it's grown, the different species and how it's used—but, out of consideration for members present, I will restrain myself. However, I will not have any suggestion that we talk about wood, because we all know you put wood in a fire and you build things with timber.

To understand the shortage that the member for Eden-Monaro refers to, we need to look at why it has come about. This shortage of timber is by no means a sign of the government's failure. It is a sign of the spectacular success, in fact, of the government's hard work and creativity in keeping the construction industry in this country afloat. After COVID-19 struck last year, established builders in my community that I've known for decades were phoning me to tell me that, after August, they simply had no work. Construction on the Sunshine Coast, generating some $6.1 billion a year in our region and employing 19,000 locals, was on the brink of grinding to a halt. Within just a few months, the situation was very different thanks to the Morrison government. I worked closely with the Assistant Treasurer on informing the creation of the government's HomeBuilder program. The impact was immediate and dramatic. Those same builders who'd been facing an economic cliff were almost overnight inundated with more inquiries than they had ever seen before.

Nationwide, the 2020-21 financial year produced a record level of 137,170 detached housing starts, an increase of 34.2 per cent on the previous year. Yet HomeBuilder is just one of the Morrison government's many measures to encourage more domestic construction in this country. In the most recent federal budget, the government allocated $124.7 million to support the construction of more public housing stock. We have introduced the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, the First Home Super Saver Scheme, the family home guarantee and the new home guarantee, which have stimulated huge new demand and seen first home owner numbers at their highest in 15 years.

The Morrison government, unashamedly, is all about first home ownership; it is about home ownership. In short, this government's measures are supporting $30 billion worth of construction work across this country. They are saving thousands of jobs in my community, which has been life changing for a wide range of Sunshine Coast locals and their businesses.

However, this incredible success has most certainly contributed to a challenge of supply for building materials. The member for Eden-Monaro is right on one thing, when she notes that Master Builders Association is concerned about a deficit of up to 250,000 house frames over the next 15 years. However, the member for Eden-Monaro ignores another important fact also mentioned by masters builders: in 2021 Australia's timber mills massively increased production to meet demand, producing a record three million cubic metres of timber. Yet, despite this record increase in domestic production, we continue to see shortages. This is not, as the member for Eden-Monaro suggests, a problem of domestic supply; it is a short-term problem of global shortages and disruption to the global supply chain.

Sweden is seeing its lowest stock of structural timber in 20 years. Sawmills in many parts of the world are under pressure from rising energy costs, while North American supplies are currently impacted by insect damage and recent forest fires. As we all know, container ship capacity is stretched, while road haulage in Europe is suffering from a lack of qualified drivers. At the same time, as economies open up around the world, a backlog of paused construction projects, from China to the United States, are beginning to ramp up again. Demand is rising worldwide at an unprecedented rate. Worldwide production is stalled. In Australia, we've stepped up and produced more timber than we have ever done before.

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion regarding the timber shortage, moved by the member for Eden-Monaro, and to commend her for introducing this important business. The member for Eden-Monaro, since she came to this place last year, has been a strong advocate for a modern forestry industry and for the communities that, in turn, are supported by a strong forestry industry, rightly arguing that this should have been included as part of the national manufacturing strategy. We know that the industry has a critical role to play in relation to housing affordability, with timber shortages having a flow-on effect to the cost of housing around the nation. We also know that sustainable forestry practices can play a significant role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Australia's forest industries directly employ 80,000 people and contribute more than $24 billion to the economy every year. Across our region, the industry has gone through significant challenges, with the region's softwood timber industry hit hard by the 'black summer' bushfires, with about 40 per cent of the softwood plantations burned—and then, of course, COVID. Nonetheless, despite these challenges, the industry has proven itself in response to bushfires and COVID-19 and has found ways to continue operations despite lockdowns and disruptions to timber supply. But, as the resolution notes, Australia has a severe timber shortage.

A report by the MBA and the Australian Forest Products Association concludes that Australia is heading towards a deficit of a quarter of a million house frames by 2035. The Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment states that numerous studies show the need for 400,000 hectares of new plantations over the next decade in order to meet Australia's demand for timber. To put this in perspective, Australia is facing a timber production shortfall that is equivalent to the combined land size of Geelong and Newcastle because we don't have the trees growing in the ground right now to meet that demand. Our timber mills have massively increased production to meet demand through the COVID-induced building boom, as noted by the previous speaker. But across the country we're experiencing severe timber shortages as demand soars and timber imports dry up. Now that some COVID restrictions have eased, you can check for yourself by comparing the current prices in Bunnings with prices this time last year.

Australia's two-million-hectare plantation estate has been declining over the past decade, and it's critical to turn that around. An increase of 400,000 hectares in forestry hub regions would be a tiny fraction of the land devoted to agriculture in Australia. This increase won't only create certainly in supply for new homes and buildings. It will also create jobs and increase the supply of sustainable building material—a material that stores carbon and fights climate change.

The government first promised to expand Australia's timber plantations by a billion trees in 2018. That year was a great year for this government to make promises, yet answers to questions in the Senate reveal that the concessional loan program, set up to help meet the target of one billion trees, is yet to even open, despite the government promising half a billion before the last election. Just as there have been 1,000 days since the government announced that they would establish a national anticorruption commission, 1,000 days have passed on another promise that this government has failed to deliver on. This is a government that plays the shell-and-pea game without the pea. It's all sizzle and no sausage. Wait for them to attempt to sell the same set of words without follow-up over the coming weeks and months. At the same time, watch them try to blame other parties and jurisdictions for the litany of promises they haven't been able to keep.

The opportunity to implement a national strategy has clearly been there, with the national cabinet. To make up for the lost opportunities of the last few years, what is now needed is a national-level strategy to grow our timber plantation estate, including joint commitments to establishing new tree plantings in key strategic timber-processing regions, to achieve that goal of one billion trees. We need policy initiatives to expand plantations and farm forestry to develop sovereign capability. We need to invest in the next generation of forestry workers and we need to recognise the role of sustainable forestry in climate change mitigation. The IPCC has noted:

… a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.

Sustainable forest industries are part of the solution, not the problem. We need an Albanese Labor government. I commend the motion to the Chamber.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I arrived in this place in 2013, there was barely a mention of forest policy; there certainly was very limited discussion. There was a lot of chatter around agriculture, and rightly so, but, as I grew up in a timber town, the fact that forestry was receiving almost no attention was something that I took really seriously. I'm pleased to say that as co-chair, with my good friend the member for Hunter, of the Parliamentary Friends of Forestry Industries, I set about changing the debate in two ways. The first was to raise the salience of forestry industries—that is, to talk about the importance of forest industries. HomeBuilder, I should say, has turbocharged that in recent months because of issues around the availability of structural timber.

The second, and probably the most powerful, thing we did, from the industry's perspective, was to commit to a bipartisan approach on forestry. We committed to taking the uberpoliticisation of forestry out of the conversation so that we could set forestry on a particular pathway irrespective of who was in government. I hope that with this motion we're not charting another course, because for this industry uncertainty is death. It takes around 30 years to grow a softwood tree to the point at which it can be harvested. Any uncertainty with government policy during that time is critical, and we need to avoid that.

Every year or so at meetings of the Parliamentary Friends of Forest Industries, as a symbol of our bipartisan effort, the member for Hunter and I hug. We do that to show that in this place we are one on forestry. I'm disappointed to see that there has now been a breakout of the old way. If we're going to go back to the old way, let me point out something that those opposite need to address—and I say this against a background not of seeking to politicise forestry but of taking a bipartisan approach. The best thing they could do on forestry right now would be to get on the phone to their Labor Party friends in Victoria and Western Australia, who effectively are ending hardwood production in this country. In Victoria's case they've been relatively sensible; they've said that by 2030 the Victorian native forestry industry will be gone. If you're working in native forestry in Victoria, it will be gone by 2030. I said 'relatively sensible', because in Western Australia they've announced that it will be gone by 2024. So if you're working in native forestry in Western Australia your job will be gone in 2024. Those opposite have the temerity to come into this place and say there's a national wood fibre shortage in this country. So there is! That's why we shouldn't be pursuing these kinds of policies.

Speaking of the kinds of policies we should be pursuing: it's all about R&D. In the past fortnight we've spoken a lot about net zero. Our forestry industry has an opportunity to play a key role in meeting this target. In an increasingly carbon constrained future, the forest and forest products industry is one of the few well-established carbon positive industries and it sits poised to benefit. Yes, the current timber supply constraints have shone a light on the need to get more trees in the ground, but let's not forget an important parallel need. For the Australian forest and forest products industry to realise its potential as an innovative internationally competitive industry that contributes significantly to economic growth, social wellbeing and environmental sustainability, we need to increase focus on R&D.

The industry faces many new opportunities for carbon sequestration and biomass as well as the expansion of wood products to meet demand driven by population growth. National coordinated research and development will increase our sovereign capability and bolster our national modern manufacturing initiatives. In 2016 the federal government initiated a pathway for increased research and development in the sector by the announcement of the establishment of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation—NIFPI, as it's known—in partnership with the states and industry. I commend the government on this initiative. A hub-and-spoke model sees national coordination and guidance through the Australia-wide NIFPI together with continued, indeed, increased funding for the NIFPIs. I'm very proud to say that the very first NIFPI was established in Mount Gambier, and I for one know that the solution to these shortages is greater R&D in NIFPIs across the country, including the one in my electorate.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sure, Labor supports bipartisanship when there's a plan and Labor supports bipartisanship when there's action. But Labor doesn't support bipartisanship to do nothing, which is what we've seen from this government. This government is great at talking about building and great at talking about planting—in fact, the government promised that it would plant a billion trees in timber plantations. That's what was announced in 2018, but how many trees have been planted? That's my question to the government. They've been in government for eight years, so I ask: since the announcement back in 2018—remember, we're now in 2021—how many of those billion trees have been planted? We're talking about plantation timber. That's what Australians support and what the industry wants: plantation timber. How many trees have been planted to help us with the building construction boom that is going on? Bipartisanship is possible when you actually do something, but you cannot demand Labor sign up to bipartisanship when you do nothing, which is what is we have seen from this government, particularly when it comes to the timber shortage.

What's frustrating is the industry has been warning about the shortage for the good part of a decade, and this government have been here for eight years now but have failed to meet the demands of the industry. In my part of the world, the Bendigo electorate, Woodend in the south, which will become part of McEwen electorate at the next election, is still a timber town. It still is home to timber plantations. They have been supplying the Australian industry for many years. But, like all parts of the urban growth corridor, they are constantly under pressure: will this area be the next area to be developed? I note one of the earlier speakers from the government side is from the area of the Sunshine Coast. Today, when you drive from Maroochydore to Brisbane, more and more of that land, which used to be covered in plantation timber, is being developed for housing. Whilst we welcome development, where are the new trees being planted to keep our supply sustainable going forward? This is a crop, a product, that takes time to grow. It's basic maths: if you don't plant the trees now—or five years ago, when you first said you would—we will run into a shortage.

The government, because of its short-sighted politics, has created of its own doing the crisis we're experiencing today. They ignored the calls years ago to put the trees into the ground and then they introduced policies to speed up construction, which has created the bottleneck that we are experiencing now in the industry and the exorbitant prices that people are now paying. The COVID pandemic was already going to cause an explosion in demand for building products, and that's what we're experiencing. Globally, as has been highlighted, there is a shortage of timber as people have moved towards using this sustainable material. There are policies that are being put in place by governments and local authorities all over the world that preference timber as opposed to other carbon based building products. We've seen that, for example, in California and throughout Europe, so we knew that there would be a supply shortage, which was exacerbated by COVID as more and more Australians stayed home, looked to renovate their homes and looked to build. Then the government introduced the HomeBuilder program, which sped up residential construction and led to greater demand.

The industry is now saying that there are delays of six to 12 months. Prices have gone through the roof. Due to its short-sightedness, the government did not ensure that we would have the building supplies needed to deliver the HomeBuilder program. It is crazy that the government is still stalling in this area, which is why I welcome the motion that's been put forward by the member for Eden-Monaro.

Whether you're a builder in a regional town like Bendigo, whether you're a supplier like Hume & Iser in my part of the world or whether you're one of the many other hardware stores around Australia, you know this issue is real. Whether you're a renovator or whether you're somebody trying to get the work done yourself, you know we have a timber shortage. The government needs to act. We need national leadership to make sure that this timber shortage isn't prolonged over the next few decades. We've got to get the trees into the ground. We've got to get the policy right to do so. But, in answers to Senate estimates, the government revealed that they're nowhere near on track to meeting the goals that they set.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.