OneFortyOne Plantations

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries. Is the minister aware that OneFortyOne have written to local processors indicating that log supply will not be honoured past 2023 due to log shortages, putting millions of dollars of investment and jobs at risk and many in my community thinking it illogical that a government would be encouraging exports of raw logs supply through the intermodal at Bordertown?

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM (Finniss—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (15:09): I thank the member for Mount Gambier for his question. Yes, that has been brought to my attention in the last couple of days in particular. It's certainly something that was foreshadowed. It is my understanding that, when the previous government sold the forests, it was foreshadowed there was a risk to those smaller mills that bought timber from the previous ForestrySA assets, that they were going to be vulnerable coming forward when their contracts came to an end. It seems to be heading that way and I am more than happy to sit down with those mills and have those conversations with them and see what we can do, whether there is any opportunity to sit down with OneFortyOne and see whether there is an opportunity to have a conversation about opportunities going forward.

Unfortunately, the South Australian government no longer controls those assets. We don't have that control. That control was sold off by the previous government. We don't have those opportunities that we would have in the past to make those timbers available to the mill under that process.