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Tasmanian Blackwood Growers

Forestry Tasmania job losses: the house of cards crumbles

FT logo http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-12/as-many-as-100-forestry-tasmania-job-could-be-lost-union-says/6463900?section=tas

Forestry Tasmania, Australia’s major blackwood grower, appears to be in free fall. Following on from this recent blog:

https://blackwoodgrowers.com.au/2015/04/30/ft-closer-to-closure/ it appears we are seeing the final act of this decades-long fiasco.

After years of poor financial management and performance and decades of political intrigue and community conflict, the last remnants of the Government business appear to be crumbling.

As the recent blog discussed, there is no road to recovery for Forestry Tasmania. These is just the next round of job losses.

The Smithon office in the north-west, where most of the blackwood is grown and harvested, is to lose 50% of its staff. But stakeholders in Australia’s iconic blackwood industry are completely in the dark. There is no transparency in any of this. All we know is that FT are cutting costs, and their biggest cost is staff.

Whatever happened to the Stakeholder Engagement Policy?

Whatever happened to the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy?

http://www.forestrytas.com.au/forest-management/policies

Do any of these corporate initiatives have any purpose or meaning?

It seems not! Perhaps they’re just window dressing when the need suites the occasion (like an FSC audit).

The impact of staff cuts on forest management and operations has not been made public.

So much for sustainability and certification! It’s business.

If you can’t make a profit then you aren’t sustainable!

Will this be the end of Australia’s iconic blackwood industry? Or will the industry finally turn to private blackwood growers for its future?

When is Tasmania going to get a fully commercial, profitable forest industry based on profitable tree growing?

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