Forest Products Commission—Sawlogs
27. Hon Louise Kingston to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
I refer to the article online by WAtoday on 7 April 2025 and the assurance by a spokeswoman for the minister that "Timber from ecological thinning along with material from approved mine site clearing activities is made available exclusively to WA industries via the Forest Products Commission and the FPC has contracts in place for the supply of this timber".
Why has over 2,000 tonnes of jarrah and marri high-grade recovery logs from mine site clearing been allowed to dry, crack and deteriorate in the sun at a stockpile near Dardanup for over 12 months to the point where the logs are basically now only good for firewood or charcoal, rather than be delivered to sawmills where they could have been milled into timber for local furnituremakers?
Hon Jackie Jarvis replied:
Thank you for the question.
High-value recovery logs—sawlogs—recovered from ecological thinning or mine site clearance are made available through direct contracts or auctions. This includes sawmills who in turn supply furniture makers. To manage supply, it is necessary for the Forest Products Commission to maintain log reserves and to supply these reserves into the market as required. The logs in questions were managed under contract and are now being supplied to customers.
