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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 122 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 May 2021 by Hon Diane Evers

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

FOREST PRODUCTS COMMISSION — SHAREFARMING AGREEMENTS REVIEW

122. Hon DIANE EVERS to the minister representing the Minister for Forestry:

I refer to the response to question without notice 110, asked on 12 May 2021.

(1) Who is the independent auditor conducting the audit, when will it be completed and will the results be provided directly to sharefarmers shortly thereafter?

(2) How does this audit differ from that done by William Buck in 2018, noting the response to question on notice 2619 on 5 December 2019?

(3) How many sharefarmer agreements and transactions were audited in 2018 and did this include reviewing methodology and calculations against agreements?

(4) How many sharefarmer agreements and transactions will be reviewed under the current audit?

(a) Will this audit include a review of payment methodologies and amounts against the original sharefarmer agreements; and, if not, why not?

(5) Noting the response to question without notice 110, will agreements with other terms also be audited; and, if not, why not?

(6) Will the FPC rectify any payments found to be incorrect under the audit shortly after completion; and, if not, why not?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question. The Minister for Forestry has provided the following answer.

(1) PricewaterhouseCoopers is conducting the audit. The audit is scheduled for completion by the end of June 2021. Any issues identified in the audit will be raised directly with the affected sharefarmers concerned.

(2)–(3) The Forest Products Commission is unable to answer these questions within the time frame given. The minister has undertaken to ensure that the information is provided to the honourable member next week.

(4) There will be 82 softwood sharefarmer agreements, totalling 193 transactions between the start of 2013 and the end of 2020.

(a) Payments are reviewed against the Forest Products Commission sharefarmer payment methodology.

(5) Yes.

(6) The Forest Products Commission will address any issues raised by the auditors.