A landmark report released by the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation reveals Australia's timber industry faces critical challenges threatening the future of domestic wood supply, and prompts calls for urgent government support to secure jobs, housing supply, and environmental outcomes. 

The Challenges and Opportunities in the Australian Forest and Wood Products Industry report, warns that without immediate action, Australia’s forestry industry will struggle to meet rising construction timber demand, placing greater pressure on housing affordability and regional jobs.  
 
"Australia's timber industry is at a tipping point," ACBF chair Dr Ken Henry said. "This report exposes native forest logging as an industry in freefall. It reveals the value in supporting timber manufacturing while highlighting the urgency for the federal government to implement a new National Forest Policy, which hasn’t been updated in more than 30 years.” 

Key challenges identified include: 

• Native forest logging in terminal decline: Confronted by replacement by plantation wood products and negative environmental impacts, native hardwood production has fallen by over 80% since 2004, including the cessation of native logging in Victoria and Western Australia. 
  
  
• Insufficient Plantation Expansion: Plantation establishment has stalled since 2010, limiting future softwood availability essential for construction and Australia’s housing targets. 
  
  
• Opportunity for expansion and economic value-add: Manufacturing and milling comprise over 80% of industry value-added, with manufacturing and milling having higher margins than forestry and logging.
  
  
• 90 per cent of plantation hardwood and 75 per cent of native forest hardwood is used for low value products; pulp, chips and firewood when plantation hardwood should be reserved for high-value products. 
  
  
• Plantations deliver valuable products: Softwood represents 75% of construction use, domestic plantations provide 80% of all high-value timber use (construction and durables).

“The next federal government needs to facilitate plantation expansion, support local industries creating engineered wood products, and develop carbon methods and environmental laws that transform the new management of native forests to create regional jobs and protect areas from hazards like fires,” Dr Henry said. 

“This report shows that failure to support the plantation timber industry can drive-up housing costs and undermine regional employment. Investing in plantation expansion, mill capacity, and workforce transition will be critical to securing Australia's timber supply and meeting climate and biodiversity goals." 

As part of its Forest Futures campaign, ACBF is calling for $600m commitment from the federal government to expand softwood plantations, support engineered wood product manufacturers, support regional communities affected by the transition away from native logging and managing forest fires, store carbon at scale and deliver a new National Forest Policy by 2026.