Stock & Land

Vote on the proposed forest growers levy increase

Vote on the proposed forest growers levy increase
Vote on the proposed forest growers levy increase

This is advertiser content for the Australian Forest Products Association.

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), the peak national body for Australia's forest, wood and paper products industry, is asking Australia's forest growers to support a proposed increase to the sector's research, development and extension (RD&E) and biosecurity levies, as an opportunity to increase funding and capacity for vital forest science RD&E and to tackle ever-increasing biosecurity threats.

AFPA, Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) and Plant Health Australia (PHA) have worked with governments to develop an RD&E and biosecurity proposal that will grow the value of the industry, boost productivity, lower costs and reduce losses from drought, fire, pests and diseases.

Australia's biosecurity threat from exotic pests has never been higher. For example, Giant Pine Scale was discovered in 2015 in Victoria and South Australia and has since been declared un-eradicable in Australia. Investing in biosecurity will help us improve Australia's success rate in eradicating exotic pests, half the success rate achieved globally.

An increase of $0.13 per m3 to the forest grower levy rate is proposed, in two parts:

  • an additional $0.085 per m3 to significantly increase investment in RD&E through FWPA and
  • an additional $0.045 per m3 to the biosecurity levy for PHA to coordination of protection against the threat of exotic pests.

The first stage in this process involves consultation with all forest growers to provide feedback to help refine and further develop this proposal. Forest growers are encouraged to provide feedback to AFPA on the proposal and participate in voting.

Once there is broad consensus, AFPA will engage a third party to conduct a vote in which all potential or existing forest grower levy payers can vote.

If the vote is successful and the Australian Government agrees, the increase to the forest growers levy would occur over a three-year staged implementation and a significant portion would receive matching funding from the Australian Government.

Register to participate in the consultation and be part of the voting process at https://ausfpa.com.au/forest-growers-levy/ email forestgrowerslevy@ausfpa.com.au or call (03) 6163 8901 by 6th November 2020.

This is advertiser content for the Australian Forest Products Association.