Hansard debates

Jaclyn SYMES: Again, Dr Mansfield, that is outside the scope of the bill, but I can repeat some of the forestry transition costs of the $1.5 billion. Let me just have a look; I might have something a bit more relevant. Yes, actually I will not repeat the transition money, because I think you were a bit more interested in plantation development expenditure and I have got some information that can respond to that.

We certainly have an expansive world-class plantation industry in Victoria. We have the largest plantation estate in the country here in Victoria. We are also implementing a range of programs to grow and diversify the estate to meet future timber-need supplies, products and markets. Ms Bath and I both had a bit of conversation earlier about cross-laminated timber and some of the future opportunities for that and the need to plant more trees to take up those opportunities. The flagship of the plantation investment strategy is the $120 million Gippsland plantations investment program, which will see Hancock Victorian Plantations plant an extra 16 million trees. It is the single largest investment in plantation establishment in our history and also the biggest for Hancock Victorian Plantations. It will be one of the largest private plantation companies in Australia, and it will match the government’s grants fund almost dollar for dollar to buy, lease and manage more than 14,000 hectares of softwood plantations. The program also has the potential to bring new global-scale processes to the Gippsland region and boost the state’s production of much-needed timber house frames for the construction sector, one of the benefits we identified. Also, the more grunt behind the plantation industry, the more opportunities for jobs in that region, which would complement the transition.