Philip Hopkins
THE federal government has allocated grants totalling $73.76 million to establish new forestry plantations and has finally abolished the ‘water rule’ that stopped plantations being established in high rainfall areas.
The federal Support Plantation Establishment program will provide grant funding over four years to help establish new long-rotation softwood and hardwood plantation forests.
The program will seek to establish up to 36,000 hectares of new plantation across Australia. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Murray Watt, said the program emphasised the government’s commitment to supporting the forestry industry and regional communities, while reducing the country’s carbon footprint.
The grants are open to private industry, First Nations businesses, farm foresters, and state and territory government forestry bodies. Applicants are required to provide a co-contribution at least equal to the grant amount awarded. This can be demonstrated by the value of the land the new plantation forests will be established on, financial means, or state, territory, or local grant funding.
The federal government will provide funding of $2000 (GST exclusive) per 1 hectare of new long-rotation plantation forest established, with a minimum plantation area of 20 hectares to be eligible for a grant. Applications for Round 1 of the Support Plantation Establishment program opened in June and close on January 24 2024.
The federal government has also moved to abolish regulatory barriers preventing new timber plantings participating in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). The AFPA chief executive, Joel Fitzgibbon, said the decision delivered on the government’s election commitment to scrap the ‘water rule’.
The decision was also welcomed by the Victorian Forest Products Association as a win for forestry, the environment and for Australia’s sovereign timber capability.
Both AFPA and the VFPA have been campaigning to remove the ‘water rule’ for many years, as access to the carbon market will incentivise investment in Australia’s plantation and farm forestry estate.
In October 2022, the federal government announced a consultation process on the ‘water rule’, which prevented plantation and farm forestry project access to the carbon market in areas with annual average rainfall above 600mm – thus holding back much need investment in new timber and fibre plantations in most timber processing regions.
Also, Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) has called for proposals for the 2023/2024 Forest Research Grants Program. The program aims to support collaborative research, development, and extension (RD&E) activities that benefit Australia’s commercial forest growers. Researchers are invited to submit proposals for new projects aligned with FWPA’s Strategic Plan 2023-2028, focusing on advancing the science of commercial forestry.
Funded projects are expected to start in the 2023/24 financial year.
Researchers are strongly encouraged to engage with potential industry partners early to ensure meaningful industry input in their proposals.
For information on the federal government’s plantation establishment program, visit grants.gov.au.
For the FWPA grants, visit the FWPA website.
