The Australian Forest Products Association NSW (AFPA NSW) and Timber NSW continue to highlight essential services the forest product value chain provides to the state.

“AFPA members from the entire supply chain are delivering essential services to NSW,” said AFPA NSW Chief Executive Sue Grau.

“We have regional businesses part way through record-breaking winter planting of seedlings to restore forests destroyed by bushfires, sawmills working to get timber into the hands of families building homes and our pulp paper and packaging businesses continuing production of vital food packaging, pharmaceutical products and household essentials like tissues and toilet paper.”

“It’s a nervous time for regional NSW and we acknowledge the NSW Government’s broad approach of ensuring supply chains for essential goods and services are maintained when lockdowns occur,” said Timber NSW’s CEO Maree McCaskill.

“As Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stressed, this is a vital part of our ongoing health and safety.“

This week saw the South Australian government initially exclude sawmilling from their list of essential services. This caused significant disruption to the forestry supply chain and would have impacted on the supply of some essential goods and services before it was overturned.

AFPA NSW and Timber NSW have been very focussed on ensuring the state’s entire forestry supply chains are maintained, with the highest level of COVID-19 safety processes in place, if lockdowns are widened.

“We have proactively and jointly approached both the Premier and Deputy Premier earlier this week to stress this point.”

“Both organisations appreciate the efforts of the NSW Government to deliver essential services to the community of NSW, and in recognising the ongoing contribution of our industry in this space,” concluded Ms Grau and Ms McCaskill.

The original media release is here: 210723_AFPA_NSW_Timber_NSW_Media_Release_-_The_need_to_seed