Australia Extends Woodchip Export Licenses
10/29/99
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Title: AUSTRALIA Extends Woodchip Export Licenses
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 29, 1999
MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia, October 29, 1999 (ENS) - Australia
will extend its woodchip export licenses to March 31, 2000, Minister
for Forestry and Conservation Wilson Tuckey announced Thursday.
Under the current regulations, transitional woodchip export licenses
expire on December 31, 1999, after which time hardwood woodchips can
only be exported from forests covered by Regional Forest Agreements
(RFAs). This policy was introduced by the former Labor government as
a means of accelerating the RFA process and has been continued by the
Liberal government of Prime Minister John Howard.
"The amended regulations will extend transitional woodchip licenses
operating in forest regions for which RFAs are yet to be completed to
allow for delays arising from the Victorian election," Tuckey said.
"We are very close to finalizing the RFA process and the start of a
new era of forest management based on balance and certainty."
Extensive Victorian research and assessment projects are complete and
the last two of the State's five RFAs -- in the West and Gippsland
regions -- are well on track, Tuckey said. However, the Victorian
election has delayed the public release of some assessment material
and, consequently, the next round of public and stakeholder
consultations.
Conservation groups and other stakeholders have requested that the
Gippsland and West RFAs offer the same opportunities for public
involvement as were offered in the East Gippsland, Central Highlands,
and North-East regions.
"Rather than compromising the process adopted in other Victorian RFAs
by rushing to complete the final two by the December deadline, we
agree that a few more weeks of consultation may be necessary," Tuckey
said. "At the same time, industry should not be penalized by expiring
licenses before all RFAs are in place. We must ensure that we don't
undermine the very certainty that forest industries and the regional
communities that rely on them have come to expect from the RFA
process."
Six Regional Forest Agreements are already in place. They are in
Tasmania, the East Gippsland, Central Highlands, and Northeast
regions of Victoria, the Eden region of NSW, and the Southwest forest
region of Western Australia.
As well as the Gippsland and West Victorian RFAs, agreements are
under negotiation for the Northeast and Southern regions of New South
Wales and for Southeast Queensland. The timelines for completing the
RFAs will be subject to further negotiations with the New South Wales
government. However, only the Southern RFA process is likely to be
extended.