In 2023–2024, according to ABARES, Australia imported $6.5 billion worth of wood and wood products. That’s billions of dollars leaving our economy, supporting jobs, industries, and communities overseas, while our own high-quality, sustainably managed forests remain underutilised.

China remains our largest source of imported timber, with nearly $3 billion entering the country last year. China is a massive importer and exporter of wood products, making it almost impossible to trace the origins of this wood. We also import large volumes from New Zealand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. While these trade relationships are an important part of a global supply chain, Australia’s over-reliance on imported wood is neither sustainable nor secure. It is the paradox of a forest-rich nation outsourcing its own impact.

Depending heavily on international sources leaves us exposed to volatile exchange rates, global supply chain disruptions, fluctuating shipping costs, and geographical tensions. The COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call, and for the first time since the Second World War, our supply lines were cut – it showed how fragile international logistics can be. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes.

We also don’t need to look overseas for sustainable solutions. We already have what we need right here in Australia – and especially in Tasmania, where growing trees is one of our competitive advantages. Tasmania can grow big trees!

Australia is home to 133.6 million hectares of native forest – around 3% of the global total – making it the seventh most forested country in the world. In Tasmania, which has a total land area of approximately 6.8 million hectares, over 3.3 million hectares is forested. Of this, around 800,000 hectares are public production forests sustainably managed by Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT), under some of the most rigorous environmental and ethical standards globally. Each year, STT harvests and regenerates less than 1% of the forest it manages.

Our work is backed by legislation, science, and transparency and is independently monitored.

Tasmania’s forestry framework includes strong biodiversity protection, an extensive reserve network, a permanent native forest estate, and a regulated forest practices system. Together, these mechanisms ensure the long-term health of our forests, protect biodiversity and carbon stores, and deliver ongoing social and economic benefits to the community.

Our native forests are living systems – resilient, renewable and capable of regeneration. Managed well, they provide a broad range of benefits: clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon storage, recreation and renewable building materials.  Harvesting changes forests but it does not destroy them.

STT’s timber is legal, local, ethical, and renewable. It’s harvested responsibly, processed on-island, and increasingly sought after by environmentally conscious consumers. Forestry is also a critical driver of regional jobs, a supplier of essential materials for housing and infrastructure, and an important contributor to climate change mitigation.

By strengthening our domestic forestry industry and investing in local supply chains, we can reduce our carbon footprint, boost economic resilience, and secure a sustainable future for Australian timber.

So how did we get here?

STT’s work isn’t arbitrary – and it’s certainly not self-regulated. Every aspect of our work is governed and shaped by legislation.

We operate under a clear legal mandate through the Forest Management Act 2013, as well as a broader framework that includes the Forest Practices Act 1985, and the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) – each designed to balance wood production with conservation, and economic use with environmental responsibility.

This long-standing framework, built on collaboration between government, industry and the community, has made Tasmania’s system one of the most transparent and independently certified anywhere in the world.

The 1997 RFA laid the foundation for Tasmania’s modern forestry model, establishing the Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system. This system – developed through collaboration between government, industry and environmental groups – provides long-term certainty for both conservation and sustainable industry.

Over the years, Tasmania’s forests have been shaped by a number of significant agreements.

One of the most notable was the Tasmanian Forests Agreement (2013) – a landmark consensus between industry and environmental organisations. It clearly defined which areas of forest would be managed for wood production in Tasmania and set a pathway forward.

Today, STT manages those same agreed areas as Permanent Timber Production Zone (PTPZ) land. While the formal agreement is no longer in place, the area designated for sustainable production remains unchanged, and continues to deliver environmental, economic and social value for Tasmania.

This long-term approach ensures the protection of biodiversity and heritage, and continued resource access for industry – so that all Tasmanians can benefit from the multiple values our forests provide.

Currently, the CAR system protects 3.43 million hectares – more than half of Tasmania’s total land area. Nearly 60% of the state’s native forest are under formal protection, including over 1.1 million hectares of old growth forest.

The remainder of Tasmania’s public production forests, designated as PTPZ land and managed by STT, are carefully managed to balance environmental stewardship with long-term economic and social benefit.

We do this on behalf of all Tasmanians.

This is why STT exists:

• To ensure that forestry is done the right way – legally, transparently, and sustainably.
• To reduce our dependence on imported timber.
• To manage Tasmania’s forests as a renewable asset that supports jobs, communities, and the environment.
• And to make sure the next generation inherits forests that are not just protected, but productive and resilient.

We are stewards of public land. Our responsibility is to deliver economic, environmental, and social value from Tasmania’s forests – now and for the future.

Because in the end, sustainability isn’t about locking forests away; it’s about managing them wisely – for carbon, biodiversity, recreation and livelihoods alike.

We should have the confidence to grow what we use, and value what we have.

Please note: This article has been provided to Wood Central to publish by Rob de Fégely AM, Chair, Sustainable Timber Tasmania. In the coming days, Wood Central will have an exclusive interview with Rob de Fégely following the four day Forestry Australia conference which will wrap up in Adelaide later today.

Forestry, whether plantations or multiple-use natural forests available for wood production, is a long-term business; it requires decades and even centuries of planning and active management to realise its full benefits. So, it deserves stable tenure from all levels of government to create the incentive to invest in the world’s most renewable product that will help the fight against climate change.

Australia is the sixth most forested country in the world, and we have plenty of land, wealth and skill to develop more forests, but we are not self-sufficient in wood products.  Our import bill is growing, and our trade deficit is worsening, which is a ridiculous situation for a country like ours.

There is no incentive for private landowners to invest in forestry because log markets are not publicly reported, and often, processors are fully supplied by government-owned forest agencies.  This creates an unfair advantage in market knowledge and the potential for marginal pricing.

The value of wood, especially Australia’s unique hardwoods, has never been seriously tested in the marketplace to allow private landowners to assess for themselves whether they will invest in wood production and active forest management.

Australia will never be self-sufficient by relying on supply from public forests or government-designed planting programs like the disastrous managed investment schemes.

Resource security, defined as long-term (15 years plus) contracts to processors from publicly owned forests, arose in the lead-up to the Regional Forest Agreements in the late 1990s, but they have not increased the wood supply.  Our plantation estate is shrinking, and the harvest from natural forests has fallen by over 75% since they were first signed. 

In my opinion, some ‘resource security’ contracts raise legal questions under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and governments may be in breach of competitive neutrality by excluding the private sector from log supply opportunities.  This is not a healthy situation and must change. 

We need a system that is fair to all processors and all growers, with regular and transparent opportunities to buy and sell so that investment and innovation in forest management and processing can occur.

Management security is required to provide stable tenure in the area of multiple-use forests and privately owned forests.  This must be supported by an expert regulatory system like the Tasmanian Forest Practices Authority to provide comfort to the community that our forests are well managed. Private landowners would also seek relief from restrictive and unpredictable local government planning rules.

Ministers change every 18 months or so, and with parliamentary terms of only 3 to 4 years, the government is ill-equipped to provide serious guidance over a long-term asset like forests.  Our current system is vulnerable to manipulation, which keeps investment from our largest forest and land owners, the private sector, away.