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Country wood chops and the Melbourne Royal Show are relying on logs being brought in from interstate or resorting to lesser preferred tree species in a bid to head off the historic sport’s demise. Source: The Weekly Times Victorian Axemen’s Association president Brad Meyer said the sport, which was first held at the Melbourne Show in 1911, could become another casualty of the state’s timber harvesting shutdown. “The problem is now more real than it has ever been,” he said. Mr Meyer said whatever reserves existed when the timber industry closure was brought forward by six years in 2023 had almost dried up, with three major events left for the season ending in June. Alpine ash logs, the preferred wood for competition, were sourced from areas previously managed by VicForests. But Mr Meyer said wood chops were being held with lesser-standard species including pine, messmate, mountain ash and flooded gum. “We’re scratching and scraping for every little bit of log we can get,” he said. “Having to ‘beg, borrow or steal’ is pretty much what we’ve had to do. “But we’re now running into dead ends. “Once we stop running these shows, generally they don’t come back.” In response to the shrinking supply, the Melbourne Royal Show has gone from nine competition days to only four in the past two years with logs sourced from Tasmania. “The wood from Tassie for us to buy and use is just too expensive,” Mr Meyer said. “NSW have got their own hassles of getting wood. “The haulage to get it from somewhere like Eden to central Victoria would just kill us. “We’ve written to every politician there is to write to. But the government is not really that interested in helping us out, to be honest.” The wood chop is one of the main attractions of the Mighty Mitta Muster that is being held again this weekend. Event co-ordinator Richard Piper said a stockpile it sourced when the timber industry shut down was dwindling. “We went ahead and purchased some extra logs when they were available,” he said. “But when that runs out, we don’t know what the future is. It’s a huge attraction and for some of the smaller shows it is the main event. “We’ve also had to limit the numbers of competitors by going from three down to two heats. Previously we would have been open to anyone who wanted to come.”

Approvals for new homes in Australia increased in January, a month before the cash rate was cut. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its monthly building approvals data for January 2025 for detached houses and multi-units covering all states and territories. Source: Timberbiz There were 16,580 residential dwellings approved in January which was 6.3% higher compared with December 2024. Total dwelling approvals in the three months to January 2025 were 14.0% higher compared with the same quarter in the previous year, with detached approvals up by 6.1% and multi-units up by 27.3%. “These increases in approvals signal positive momentum heading into the new year, with households slowly returning to the market and building new homes,” HIA economist Maurice Tapang said. “New housing approvals had been strengthening on the back of low levels of unemployment, recovering real wages and ongoing strong population growth, even before the first interest rate cut was delivered,” he said. “The rise in detached house approvals has been geographically dispersed, with Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia driving the national gain.” Detached house approvals in in the three months to January 2025 were up in Western Australia by 29.2% compared with the same time in 2024 in South Australia up by 27.5%, and in Queensland up by 13.9%. House approvals in New South Wales fell by 9.5% over the same period because of the high cost of land and delivering new housing, particularly in Sydney. “Victoria continued to see a flat result, with house approvals down by 0.9% over the same period,” Mr Tapang said. “This does not bode well for meeting ongoing growth in demand.” Multi-unit approvals have increased from very weak levels. Mr Tapang said that this needed to double from the 12-year lows of recent years to meet housing targets but constraints on land, construction and investment remain barriers. “The rise in home building activity will be more evident in states and regions with lower land costs and lower taxes on new homes, while those with higher tax imposts will remain weak,” he said. “Despite modest improvements in housing approvals, Australia continues to face a significant shortfall in housing supply.” HIA is calling on the Australian Government in the lead-up to the Federal Election 2025 to help remove barriers to new housing supply. Detached house approvals in the three months to January 2025 were up by 29.2% compared to the previous year in Western Australia, followed by South Australia (+27.5%) and Queensland (+13.9%). The Northern Territory saw a large 86.5% increase over the same period, albeit off historically low levels. The other jurisdictions recorded declines, led by the Australian Capital Territory (-50.4%), followed by New South Wales (-9.5%), Tasmania (-7.0%) and Victoria (-0.9%).  

Much has been made in Australia of the plight of one if its iconic animals – the Koala. This lovable creature has been adored worldwide, and has been the subject of children’s books, video, TV and media stories since settlement of Australia in 1788. While we fully support the protection of Australian Native flora and fauna, we do not support the current process of conservation and political activists in misusing and misrepresenting our native environment to promote hidden agendas that are not in our national interest. The current process of emotional political activism to raise funds worldwide for an apparently at-risk species can be labelled a form of emotional fraud, using misinformation and selected data. Most of this does not rely on fact or science. The koala is now portrayed in the media as being critically endangered, maybe extinct by 2050 if current land clearing and native forestry harvesting practices continue. This view is pushed by conservationists and extremists using the now out of date NSW Senate report of over 10 years ago that reported (and assumed to be fact rather than an opinion) that koalas would be extinct by 2050 if something was not done. This is far removed from the truth. They conveniently do not refer to numerous subsequent science-based research findings through credible field data that factually indicate that koala populations are healthy and growing: The most recent CSIRO findings indicate koala numbers have multiplied at least 10 times in the last 12 years. The NSW Dept of Primary Industry recent findings show koala population growth and forestry selective harvesting can and does co-exist. Previous findings by the Natural Resources Commission that harvesting in native state forest has no negative impact on koala populations. Recent reports provided to the proposed Great Koala Park enquiry indicate more than 12000 koalas exist in the native forest area being considered for the park, which has been managed and harvested for over 200 years. If you are brave enough to speak your mind on the matter you run the risk of being ridiculed   by the hardline activists and   various media outlets, sympathetic to their cause and the emotive responses that create news. You can be labelled a “koala killer” because you do not support their views. Those promoting locking up more land are doing a major disservice to both flora and fauna protection and degrading the intelligence of the general public, and people who actually know how to manage forests. This is a major con job/form of deception. Let’s consider the drive for the new Great Koala National Park (GKNP). The most recent study indicates koala numbers are very healthy in the 175,000 hectares being considered – in excess of 12,000 as stated above. Of course, supporters of the park will say this is precisely the reason to lock it up. However, it begs the question – If koalas are thriving in this environment managed by forestry for over 200 years, why make it a National Park fraught with all the dangers of megafires, unmanaged undergrowth and fuel build ups just waiting to explode? Just look at what is happening in the National Park Estate now with uncontrollable fires. It is understood   part of the argument for the park is to join up the existing adjacent national parks and to provide a safe corridor for koala travel.  This also creates a joined pathway for fires to travel – so you are actually adding fuel to the fire, making potential megafires, rather than being able to isolate and separate.  With this approach you (Govt, conservationists and activists) are in fact providing a recipe to destroy the existing koala population. You are becoming the “koala killers” as compared to foresters and responsible landholders who value their natural resources, the environment and look after it. To say Forestry Corporation who manages the 12% of the state available for native timber harvesting runs the native hardwood Industry at a loss is a very convenient argument. You need to take the whole industry into account from source, right through the supply chain to the end user to determine the ultimate viability, including the communities and jobs in question. Let’s not  destroy  the lives and jobs  of up to 22000 people in regional communities , and destroy a 2.9 billion renewable sustainable  industry in  NSW  in the process, and increase the cost of  living and cost of housing as well, through further reliance  on imports from non-regulated  countries (now exceeding $5 billion in NSW) , and further the reliance on  non-carbon friendly  alternative products (e.g. steel, concrete, plastic). None of this makes commonsense and is another form of deception. We should recognise the massive resources forestry supply in managing fires both in and out of National Parks, managing the road systems in forestry, of which many lead to and through National Parks. Further public examination is needed to look at what the current public spending is on National parks and crown lands/reserves, which represents 88% of the Forestry estate, while the harvestable area available is only 12%. Let’s determine what the spend should be to properly maintain them, as well as do proper ongoing studies on providing data on wildlife sustainability and the mortality level in these parks. When you look at where the koala and other wildlife were destroyed in past fires you must also look at the destruction in the national park estate and how that has contributed to the whole picture. Forest harvesting and management is not a cause for loss of habitat or a cause of loss through fires but is part of the solution. It is common knowledge that many of the megafires that devastated the state of NSW in 2019 originated in National Parks and spread out of control into state forests and private property, causing untold damage, loss of human life and private assets, as well as to native flora and fauna. Little has been done since to address this. This then begs the question of what are we achieving in […]