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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-07 Daily Xml
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FORESTRYSA

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Forests a question about timber harvesting rights.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: In late 2012, the Liberal opposition met with representatives of OneFortyOne Plantations to discuss the sale of the ForestrySA South-East timber harvesting rights to its parent company, The Campbell Group. Several issues were raised, including Glencoe Nursery and the several conditions imposed on the sale. During the meeting with the representatives, which included the chief executive officer, chief operations officer, and the chief financial officer of OneFortyOne Plantations, as well as a director from the Hawker Britton Group, it was indicated that the company did not know which government department it would deal directly with. My questions to the minister are:

1. Will the minister indicate whether Treasury or PIRSA is directly responsible for dealing with The Campbell Group and its local subsidiary OneFortyOne Plantations?

2. Will the minister explain why this detail was not included in the discussions concerning the conditions of the sale and during the sale process?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:23): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Indeed, in terms of the leasing out of some of our forests, the government announced some time ago that it reached a financial closure to sell the forward rotations of the state's Green Triangle plantations to a consortium led by The Campbell Group, trading in Australia as OneFortyOne Plantations, backed by a number of investors including Australia's Future Fund.

TCG is one of the world's largest timber investment managers and currently manages over 1.2 million hectares of timberland assets. I am advised that OneFortyOne is committed to the local industry and is looking forward to working with local customers and suppliers and the high quality management team at ForestrySA. The government is committed to working with OFO and the local industry participants to further enhance investment and employment in the region. This forward sale will allow the government to invest taxpayers' money into key areas, such as roads, police, schools and future infrastructure, to benefit all South Australians.

The honourable member makes reference to conditions: the conditions that were agreed to by the round table group and the government in March 2012 were accepted by OneFortyOne, and those conditions were included in the contract. I am advised that the details of these conditions are available on the website for public information. OFO will be required to provide to the government a comprehensive annual report on its compliance obligations under the lease. While the exact form of the report is yet to be finalised it is envisaged that it would include things like: a compliance report containing a written certification that the purchaser has complied with its contractual and legal obligations, proof of forestry management certification and changes to the status of the estate, including summary details of the resources planted and the number of log parcels offered for sale.

The reporting would be commercial-in-confidence to the government. That report will be made to PIRSA and it will be PIRSA's responsibility to ensure that those matters are complied with. If there are financial details that it would need advice from Treasury on, obviously Treasury would make its expertise available, given that the negotiations of the original contract were made through Treasury so it has in-depth information and detail on that, but the report will be made to PIRSA.

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