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VicForests
VicForests was a Government Backed Enterprise operating in Victoria, Australia. Its principal function was to undertake logging and commercial sale of timber from state forests in Victoria.
VicForests was a state-owned business responsible for the sustainable harvesting, regrowth, and commercial sale of timber from Victoria's state forests on behalf of the Government of Victoria.
It was created as a state body under Section 14 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1992 by the Victorian Government, being declared a state business corporation on 28 October 2003.
It operated within designated areas of state forest that are managed by the Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action (DEECA). DEECA was also responsible for regulating compliance of VicForests' activities in accordance with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (as amended 2022) (the Code).
It permanently ceased logging operations on 1 January 2024, following successful legal challenges by several environmental groups. These led to court orders requiring VicForests to reassess its methods of surveying and protection of endangered plants and animals within areas of forest it wished to cut down.
Proponents of the native timber industry noted its contribution of hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to regional Victoria each year.
It nevertheless struggled to return a profit, and relied on subsidies from the Victorian government. One such subsidy was termed in its annual reports as 'reimbursement of foregone income for the Leadbeater's Possum recovery program'. In effect, it was being paid not to log the habitat of an endangered species. Beginning with some $1.5m in 2015, this compensation rose in value every year until it amounted to $11.07m in 2019. In 2020 this subsidy was discontinued, although in this same year VicForests was rewarded with $12m for provision of nebulous 'non-commercial community and environmental services'. This subsidy continued until 2023.
From 2020 until its demise in 2024, VicForests incurred operating losses each year. In the financial year 2021-22, it made $88.4m in sales across its timber operations but had an operating loss of $54.2m. In its financial report, VicForests' CEO stated that its failure to meet supply targets was "largely because injunctions granted in legal proceedings made harvesting in many planned coupes unviable or prohibited harvesting altogether." Also blamed for the loss was the cost of litigation, stand down payments to contractors and compensation to customers.
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VicForests
VicForests was a Government Backed Enterprise operating in Victoria, Australia. Its principal function was to undertake logging and commercial sale of timber from state forests in Victoria.
VicForests was a state-owned business responsible for the sustainable harvesting, regrowth, and commercial sale of timber from Victoria's state forests on behalf of the Government of Victoria.
It was created as a state body under Section 14 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1992 by the Victorian Government, being declared a state business corporation on 28 October 2003.
It operated within designated areas of state forest that are managed by the Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action (DEECA). DEECA was also responsible for regulating compliance of VicForests' activities in accordance with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (as amended 2022) (the Code).
It permanently ceased logging operations on 1 January 2024, following successful legal challenges by several environmental groups. These led to court orders requiring VicForests to reassess its methods of surveying and protection of endangered plants and animals within areas of forest it wished to cut down.
Proponents of the native timber industry noted its contribution of hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to regional Victoria each year.
It nevertheless struggled to return a profit, and relied on subsidies from the Victorian government. One such subsidy was termed in its annual reports as 'reimbursement of foregone income for the Leadbeater's Possum recovery program'. In effect, it was being paid not to log the habitat of an endangered species. Beginning with some $1.5m in 2015, this compensation rose in value every year until it amounted to $11.07m in 2019. In 2020 this subsidy was discontinued, although in this same year VicForests was rewarded with $12m for provision of nebulous 'non-commercial community and environmental services'. This subsidy continued until 2023.
From 2020 until its demise in 2024, VicForests incurred operating losses each year. In the financial year 2021-22, it made $88.4m in sales across its timber operations but had an operating loss of $54.2m. In its financial report, VicForests' CEO stated that its failure to meet supply targets was "largely because injunctions granted in legal proceedings made harvesting in many planned coupes unviable or prohibited harvesting altogether." Also blamed for the loss was the cost of litigation, stand down payments to contractors and compensation to customers.