Joint media release: $3 million investment to grow South Australian forestry

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator the Hon Murray Watt
South Australian Minister for Primary Industries, Regional Development and Forest Industries, Clare Scriven MLC

The Australian and South Australian governments have provided $3 million for research proposals to help develop forest and wood products industries in the state’s Green Triangle. 

Researchers will be able to apply for up to $500,000 to assist with projects, through the Mount Gambier Centre of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI). 

Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt said the third round of funding through the NIFPI would help boost sustainability and economic benefits in Australia’s forestry industry.

South Australia’s Minister for Forest Industries Clare Scriven said NIFPI’s Mount Gambier committee was now seeking research proposals addressing priority areas for the local forest and wood products industry. 

The research and development priorities of the Green Triangle’s forest and wood products industry include:

• Development of new products – composites, engineered wood products, extractives, bioenergy, increased timber recoveries and ecosystem services
• Innovative, safe, efficient, productive, diverse and inclusive workplaces
• Tree growing improvements, including genetic gain, climate change impacts, nutrition and management
• Improved utilisation of digital data, including for fire detection, forest management and mill operations and
• Growing the productive forestry estate through improved water use for better outcomes for industry, the environment and the community.

Applications are now open, and close on November 21, 2022.

For more information, visit https://nifpi.org.au/

Quotes attributable to Murray Watt: 

Before we came to Government, we committed to getting more trees in the ground, investing in value adding so more timber products are made here, and training the timber industry workforce in a way that recognises the unique needs of the sector. 

So whether it’s developing new forest products, utilising digital data for fire detection or improving tree growth or water use, projects approved under this third round will help deliver on those commitments.

The Albanese Government has also committed $100 million to expand the work of the NIFPI, investing in additional research supporting innovative ways to grow and use timber resources to make new building materials. I look forward to outlining our plans for the expanded NIFPI in the near future.

Quotes attributable to Clare Scriven: 

Since it was established in 2017, the Mount Gambier NIFPI has funded 12 research projects worth $8.4 million, with funding from the forestry sector from the Australian and South Australian governments. 

With the latest round of funding now open, I encourage industry and researchers to develop proposals that will specifically benefit the forest industries in the Green Triangle and more broadly.

A key election commitment by the Malinauskas Government was to increase funding for Forestry research, an industry that contributes a significant amount to the state’s economy. 

Additional funding will provide the industry with opportunities for expanded research and development right here in Mount Gambier.