The Victoria state government’s announcement to end logging in the Otways has come as a blow to the region’s hardwood industry.
Charles Gooding, executive director of The Victorian Association of Forest Industries, argued at the national forest conference in Melbourne that access to forests and a viable native hardwood industry were essential to the development of the state’s hardwood plantation sector.
He said Australia’s native hardwood industry was the victim of political expediency and had suffered from resources being siphoned off during the past 20 years.
