Recommendations
Recommendation 1
3.35 The Committee
therefore recommends that the revised 2020 Vision be amended by deleting all
references to trebling the acreage by 2020 or plantation acreage of 3 million
hectares. This should be replaced with the target of increasing the acreage of
plantation forests at a sustainable and economic level.
Recommendation 2
3.40 The Committee
recommends that the government commission an independent assessment of how the
plantation prospectus industry relates to the 2020 Vision, including an
evaluation of prospectus assumptions against returns likely to be achieved.
Recommendation 3
3.70 The Committee recommends that research and other studies to be
carried out under Action 5 of Strategic Element 2, relating to codes of practice
to support sustainable plantation development be the subject of a separate
public report by the Coordinator, to be presented to the Primary Industries
Ministerial Council and Federal and State Parliaments.
Recommendation 4
3.101 The Committee
recommends that Action 9 under Strategic Element 3 be amended to include as an
expected outcome the establishment of a Market Information Centre, based on the
model of the current New Zealand body (or service), which will make available
full and up-to-date information on current and projected prices and returns on
various types of timber, including plantation timber.
Recommendation 5
4.29 The Committee
therefore recommends that funding for Private Forestry Development Committees (PFDCs) be made over a 3 year period, subject to the
delivery of outcomes against Action 13 of the 2020 Vision for
plantation forests.
Recommendation 6
4.31 The Committee recommends that the
following matters be included in any report prepared by the Coordinator:
- Actions
under Strategic Element 4 be reported against expected outcomes with regard to
involvement of stakeholders in achieving the Strategic Element goals. Each
report by the Coordinator should provide detail of how stakeholders have been
involved in each year's goal achievement and a measure of stakeholders'
satisfaction.
- Assessment
or report on Actions - especially Action 13 under Strategic Element 4 - should
give details of consultation, contact or involvement with local governments and
Regional Catchment Management Authorities in achievement of expected outcomes
under the Action.
- Details
of current and proposed reviews and/or studies of social and community
responses to further plantation development to be conducted by the Bureau of
Rural Sciences and other bodies such as the Forest and Wood Products Research
and Development Corporation.
Recommendation 7
4.32 The Committee
recommends that research and other studies to be carried out under Action 13 of
Strategic Element 4 (which involve consultation with Catchment Management
Authorities) be the subject of specific report by the Coordinator.
Recommendation 8
5.38 The Committee therefore recommends that
the plantation industry establishes joint ventures to encourage research to
examine the environmental benefits that may be delivered by plantation forests,
particularly in relation to the availability of water, salinity and water
quality, and plantations in low rainfall areas.
Recommendation
9
5.39 The Committee
recommends that the Commonwealth urgently funds the conduct of a water audit in
both the mainland and Tasmania,
to assess the impact of plantation forests on both water quantity and quality.
Recommendation 10
5.40
The Committee recommends that the government review the
application of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) legislation as it
applies to the plantation woody crop industry.
Recommendation 11
6.36 The Committee
recommends that the government investigate the possibility of introducing a
taxation incentive related to the period of time a plantation is grown, however
urges the government to keep in mind the necessity for the industry to meet
environmental goals without significant subsidies and tax benefits.
Recommendation 12
8.205 The Committee recommends that the Minister for
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, as a matter of urgency, finalise and
publish the Commonwealth's response to the Final Recommendations Report on the Inquiry on the Progress and Implementation
of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (1997).
Recommendation 13
8.206 The Committee
recommends that, within 12 months of the publication of the Commonwealth's
response to the Final Recommendations Report on the Inquiry on the Progress with Implementation of the Tasmanian Forest
Agreement (1997), that this Committee
conduct a review of operations under, and the enforcement of, the Forest Practices
Code. The Committee should be able to seek expert advice in
the conduct of its inquiry and the Committee
would expect the immediate co-operation of both State and Commonwealth
Governments. In the absence of full co-operation, the Committee foreshadows that it will recommend an
immediate independent review with more compelling and drastic powers.
Recommendation 14
9.24 The Committee
recommends Strategic Element 5 be amended to provide that the National
Plantation Strategy Coordinator prepare an annual report detailing the
plantation industry's performance against the expected outcomes of each of the
14 principal Actions required by the 2020
Vision program.
Recommendation 15
9.25 The Committee
recommends that the National Plantation Strategy Coordinator's annual report
also indicate the extent of research and/or assessment work (and results)
carried out by the Coordinator, industry and other agencies, applicable to
plantation development.
Recommendation 16
9.26 The Committee
recommends that the National Plantation Strategy Coordinator's report is presented to the
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and to the Minister for
Environment and Heritage, and to the Ministers equivalent in each State.
Recommendation 17
9.27 The Committee
recommends that the National Plantation Strategy Coordinator's report is tabled
in the Commonwealth and State Parliaments within a month of the relevant
Minister receiving it, so as to allow scrutiny by the parliament and the
community of the achievement of 2020
Vision goals.