The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has welcomed the Albanese Government's progress on initiatives that are providing support and opportunities to help our national forestry sector, Chief Executive Officer of AFPA Diana Hallam said today.
Yesterday at the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) AgXchange Conference, Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins announced the latest batch of grants under the Support Plantation Establishment Program (SPEP) had opened for applications.
"The SPEP is a government-industry partnership that AFPA advocated strongly for. It's now helping more get more, much needed production trees planted, in the right place at the right scale, across Australia. We thank the Government for its ongoing rollout of this program and recognise the efficient ACCU costs being achieved. AFPA will be advocating for the SPEP to continue beyond its current scope," Diana Hallam said.
Minister Collins also announced the Government will consult on and develop a National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy.
"As Minister Collins points out, this is an exciting commercial opportunity for forestry and our supply chain. A huge volume of timber and wood-fibre residues are created during harvesting in the forest, processing in mills and in manufacturing. Many businesses are already using the residues efficiently within their operations or to create commercial by products," Diana Hallam said.
"However, broadening the scope and opportunity for these residues in bioenergy is again something AFPA has advocated for and we will aim to work closely with the Government on going forward," Diana Hallam concluded.
You can read Minister Collins' speech to AgXchange yesterday here.
