Paper Could be in Short Supply After Environmental Court Order Hamstrings Aussie Logging Activity

Union concerned workers will be left jobless before Christmas

Logged trees in Mountain Ash forest, Victoria, Australia, on April 30, 2018. AAP Image/The Australian National University

Paper could be in short supply in Australia after a court order handed down last week to protect sugar gliders could end up forcing the Maryvale Paper Mill into cutting its operations.

The Mill, owned by Opal Australia, employs over 800 people and is expected to run out of hardwood, the main ingredient for white paper by mid-December, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The producer of the popular Reflex copy paper brand (with an annual capacity of 68 million reams of paper) is also uncertain of whether it can resolve supply shortages and is considering slashing up to 200 jobs by Christmas.

The situation comes following the Victorian Supreme Court’s ruling to restrict the logging capabilities of VicForests, a state-owned company responsible for the harvest, sale and regrowing of sustainable timber.

Staff Cuts Loom

In the face of timber shortages, Opal Australia said it was considering a number of measures.

“Unfortunately, limited stand downs may become necessary, and we are currently consulting on this issue with our team members,” an Opal Australia spokesperson said.

Anthony Pavey, a representative of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, said workers at the paper mill were very worried about their future.

“People are scared heading into Christmas, and we’re looking at stand-downs initially,” he said.

Supreme Court’s Order

On Nov. 4, the Victorian Court ruled that VicForests failed to apply proper measures to protect the greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders species in its timber harvesting operations in the Gippsland area.

A rehabilitated greater glider possum is seen in the Higher Ground Raptor Centre in Bomaderry, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2020. John Moore/Getty Images

The Court then ordered VicForests to conduct more extensive surveys to detect gliders in logging coupes, avoid the inhabitants of the gliders, and retain at least 60 percent of the basal area of eucalypts in the harvested area in exchange for the right to carry out harvesting operations.

Excessive environmental regulation has been blamed for curtailing local industry and jobs and forcing business owners to rely more heavily on overseas imports from places like China—part of the globalisation era.

“Once upon a time in our little towns and villages out on the Great Dividing Range, we had areas known as ‘state forest.’ We had sawmills that supported little communities with jobs, and we milled our own timber,” former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman previously told The Epoch Times.

“But what happened from the late 80s onwards, we basically turned those state forests into national parks and kicked out the saw millers and farmers. And now we import timber,” he added. The outsourcing of supply chains to global manufacturers has put pressure on the local building industry in recent months following the war in Ukraine.

Newman also said there used to be fishing fleets along Australia’s eastern coastline from Victoria to northern Queensland.

“We used to basically be self-sufficient in seafood. Same deal. We had scientists say no, no, no, we’re overfishing. And we basically shut down the fisheries, brought back licences, and there are no fishing fleets like there used to be. Now we import seafood.”

Australia imports around 70 percent of its seafood from all over the world.

Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this article.