Media conference in Launceston, Tasmania

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
WESTERN JUNCTION SAWMILL, LAUNCESTON
THURSDAY, 20 APRIL 2023
  
SUBJECTS: Forestry, China Trade

BRIAN MITCHELL: I’m here at Western Junction Sawmill with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt, who is here to announce the Accelerate Innovation Grants across Australia. I’m really honoured that Murray has chosen Tasmania as the place to announce this fantastic program. It’s a Labor vote of confidence in the forestry industry. We’re talking $108 million right across the country, $15 million of federal support right here in Tasmania for five projects, which in partnership with the private sector, will total more than $45 million in new funding for forestry innovation. The Minister will talk in a moment about the details of this project, but what we will see is Federal support to accelerate growth here at Western Junction, they’ll be able to put in new facilities and that means new jobs, better paying jobs, more advanced jobs and what we hope to see is more advanced manufacturing right here on this site and right across Tasmania.

MURRAY WATT: Good to be here with Brian Mitchell, here in Tasmania. And as Brian was saying, it was really important to me to make sure that we made this very big announcement about the future of our forestry industry right here in Tasmania. Because the Albanese Labor government understands exactly how important the forestry is for the Tasmanian economy, for jobs in the Tasmanian economy and for communities right across this state. So, I'm delighted to be here at Western Junction Sawmill, and can I thank Vince and all of his team, who have given us a really great welcome here today and showing us around about the great work that is done at this sawmill. But the work done is going to be even better as a result of the grant that we're announcing today. All up what we're announcing today is $108 million worth of grants from the Albanese government to support sawmills and wood processors right across the country, to adopt new technology, to invest in new equipment, and to adopt other innovation to make sure that we do even more value adding in the forestry industry right across the country.

As Brian was saying, $15 million of that amount will go to five different projects across Tasmania, including this one. So, it's a big vote of confidence from the Albanese government in the forestry industry right here in Tasmania. We were really pleased to hear from Vince and his team about the difference that this nearly $2 million grant will produce for this mill. And Vince is able to speak to people afterwards to explain more. But basically, the company plans to use that money to buy new equipment, which will help it to produce new types of products that it can't currently produce, eliminate a lot of waste, become a much more efficient operation, and importantly, create new jobs right here in the northeast of Tasmania. So, it's very good news for this mill, it's very good news for the whole of Tasmania and it's very good news for the whole of the forestry industry across our country.

As I say, there's about 34 projects all up that are being funded through this grant program across the country, five here in Tasmania. And in short, what this grant program will do will allow companies to invest in new equipment and other things so they can produce higher value products than what they're doing at the moment, eliminate waste, become even better for the environment than they already are and produce all the sorts of products and jobs that we want to see in regional areas across the country. So, this is one of a number of commitments that the Albanese government is making for the forestry industry. We announced over $300 million in the last election. [SAW WHIRRING] ….. Bit of noise here, because it is a working mill. But these are big investments that we're making because we're very confident about the future of this industry going forward. Happy to take any questions.

JOURNALIST: Yes, so firstly, timber is not one of our biggest exports. Is this part of a bid to increase that?

MURRAY WATT: I have no doubt that as a result of these grants, we will be able to see a lot more wood processors export more timber products than they already do. But importantly, what it'll also do, is meet a lot of the domestic needs of timber that we have right here in Australia. I say this to you as someone who recently ended a big renovation of his house, and we all know there's been issues getting timber supply in this country. We know there's been issues about getting pallets in this country. And a number of the grants that we're making today will enable local producers to produce those kind of products that will be used by Australians when they're building homes, when they're doing manufacturing, when they're making pallets. And that's a really good thing, as well as the export opportunities that will arise.

JOURNALIST: And how is the timber industry modernising?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I think you can see at this very mill, and I had the pleasure of meeting Vince at another mill that he's connected with in Victoria, in Gippsland, and they are good examples of where companies are investing in really high-tech equipment to make sure that they can extract every bit of value from the timber resource that we have here in this country. And the good thing that comes from that, of course, also is that that produces highly skilled, highly paid jobs for Australians, particularly in regional areas. And that's a really important thing for local economies.

JOURNALIST: So, you were just talking about the domestic market. Is part of this decision to roll out these grants market driven? Is this what consumers want?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I mean, we can see that consumers still want high quality timber products and increasingly they want even higher quality timber products, particularly for home building, other forms of construction. And of course, timber is a very important product made for wider manufacturing as well. So, what we need to do is work with industry as a government to help co-invest in these sorts of facilities so that the industry can meet those market needs and continue supplying high quality timber products to our country and create good jobs in the process. Obviously, as I was saying, I think the companies that have received these grants have themselves contributed 60% of the funding. So, this is a great partnership between the Albanese government and the forestry industry to secure long term jobs in this really important industry.

JOURNALIST: I was about to ask, what about the environmental aspects of this grant?

MURRAY WATT: Absolutely, and that's one of the other great things about this grant program, is that quite aside from the timber and jobs benefits that we'll get from this, it's actually helping companies adapt to climate change and adapt to the market needs - with a number of the grant recipients will be using their grants to invest in renewable energy, to invest in other processes that will reduce their carbon footprint and to eliminate a lot of environmental waste. You know, these days, consumers expect us to make sure that we extract every possible bit of value from timber products, rather than the old days where we did see some level of waste and these grants will do a really great thing to improve the environmental benefits of the forestry industry. And of course, we need to recognise that the forestry industry plays a really important role more broadly in sequestering carbon, in being big carbon sinks. And that's another reason why the Albanese government are strong supporters of this industry.

JOURNALIST: Can these grants help with the manufacturing, of say, mass timber, because people are looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly in the forestry industry?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah. These grants will support a variety of mills to do a variety of different things. Obviously, every mill you go to in the country does something slightly different with different timber sources and producing different products. One of the other interesting things, I think, about this particular facility is that the grant that they will be receiving will assist them to move even more towards plantation hardwood processing. And we know that's something that the market is increasingly wanting. So again, the Albanese government is conscious that the market is changing. We need to work with the industry to help it make that change and support these jobs well into the future. Can I also recognise that we're joined today by Danny Murphy from the CFMEU Manufacturing Union. They have a number of members here at this plant and they've been very strong supporters as well of this program and the jobs that it will produce. So, thanks for joining us today, Danny.

DANIEL MURPHY: Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Minister, when will all of this roll out?

MURRAY WATT: Well, as I say, we've announced these grants today, so will be now that the next step is to enter funding agreements with each of the proponents. And I want to see that happen as quickly as possible, and I know Vince does as well.

JOURNALIST: And one other question about the market with China, we had a rough time there during COVID, do you see it opening up again?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I mean, you will have seen that our government has put a huge amount of work into stabilising the relationship with China. China remains our biggest trading partner, regardless of some of the tariff impediments that we've had in recent years. And I think it's a credit to the various ministers who've taken up the work to make this happen, and also business leaders who are doing a lot of work to restore that relationship as well. This week in Canberra, I met with the Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture about how we can continue that level of cooperation and to bring down those further trade impediments. Being here at a timber mill, it reminds me, there are reports that timber exports have started picking up again to China, and that's a good thing. And you would have seen last week we reached an agreement with the Chinese government in relation to barley and we want to see that go further and pick up the wine industry and some of the beef industry and some of the other industries where there are still impediments. So, I think it's a good thing that that relationship is continuing to stabilise. And I know Brian and other Tasmanian members of the Labor government want to see that happen as well, because that's good for jobs and good for export.