Sarah Courtney,Minister for Resources
The Hodgman Liberal Government is a proud supporter of Tasmania's forestry industry and the thousands of jobs it supports, many of which are in regional areas.
The industry in southern Tasmania was impacted heavily by the recent bushfires, with production forests affected and the processing mills at Southwood temporarily shut down.
On behalf of the Government I would like to thank TasNetworks crews, who have been working around the clock to restore power to the Southwood processing mill site, which supports some 70 jobs in the area.
Thanks to the massive effort of TasNetworks crews, power restoration work is ahead of schedule.
TasNetworks has five crews on-site working hard to complete restoration efforts. A total of 25 structures were damaged as a result of the bushfire and have been replaced, including poles and H-structures, and around 11 kilometres of new conductor wire has been re-strung.
Before restoration efforts commenced a significant amount of work was undertaken ensure a safe workplace due to dangerous trees and the tension of the line.
The Government will continue to work closely with Sustainable Timber Tasmania, private growers, the Bushfire Recovery Coordinator, and industry to get timber processing back up and running.
