Victoria’s forest sector has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of additional funding for Research & Development in forestry, Deb Kerr, CEO of the Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA), said today. The $26.2 million in funding measures, announced yesterday by Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. David Littleproud MP and Senator Jonno Duniam, will support innovation in the forest and wood products sector.
The funding includes an extension of the National Institutes for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI) based in Gippsland and Mount Gambier along with increased funding to match additional levy funding from industry for Forest and Wood Products Australia.
“Our forest industries strongly support research through their own investment and the increased Federal Government funding across production, processing and value-adding to support the future of our industry is most welcome”, said Ms Kerr.
Additional funds will target illegally logged timber from overseas, with $900,000 invested in studies to evaluate Australia’s exposure to illegally procured timber.
“The wood products sector in Victoria works hard to comply with Australia’s very high standards of sustainability, responsible harvesting and regeneration while minimising the impact on our environment and wildlife. Importing cheap but illegally logged, unsustainable timber from overseas is detrimental to those efforts – we’re glad the government is committed to calling it out while supporting our local, sustainable products,” Ms Kerr concluded.
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