Australia’s largest hardwood manufacturer has launched a point-by-point rejection of the ABC’s Four Corners program on native forestry, branding it misleading, factually incorrect and decided long before the cameras rolled. It comes as Wood Central has obtained a statement from Australian Sustainable Hardwoods confirming that the Heyfield processor is “actively working through” its legal options.
At the core of the complaint is the charge that the program’s conclusion “was determined before filming began,” with managing director Vince Hurley fronting a 2.5-hour interview only for the edit to emerge, in ASH’s words, “dubious.” The broadcast, ASH said, platformed activists holding “a shared, predetermined view,” whilst the scientists the company put forward never made the cut.
That criticism extends beyond the Heyfield manufacturer, with the Australian Forest Products Association, the peak national body for the sector, accusing the program of putting activism ahead of evidence and withdrawing an offered industry response despite inviting its spokesperson to speak in April. “The story was not balanced, accurate or fair,” acting chief executive Richard Hyett said.
Sharper still are the figures, where ASH flatly rejects the program’s account and says it “did not receive $61 million in 2017.” The actual payment was $3 million, spent wholly on union-negotiated redundancies, and the company’s net position from it was “zero.”
What the program cast as compensation or subsidy, the manufacturer insists, was nothing of the sort. “This is not compensation. It is not a subsidy. It is a penalty payment,” the statement says of the failure-to-supply sums from VicForests and the Victorian Government, which it puts at $49 million before tax and $34 million after.
Far from a windfall, ASH says every cent of that $34 million “and more” went back into replacement stock, employment, plant and equipment.
Regarding the supply chain, the company corrected the record on Western Junction Sawmill: “purchased in 2021 and is not owned by ASH nor the Victorian Government.” All the timber ASH buys from Tasmania is sawn timber from the mill, drawn from plantation hardwood and low-grade regrowth sawlogs previously bound for export or wood chip.
The statement follows mounting criticism of the broadcast, with the Nationals branding the episode one-sided and Timber NSW lodging a formal complaint with the ABC’s managing director. Hurley, who defended the manufacturer across the broadcast, is preparing the same.
Speaking to Wood Central today a spokeperson for ASH, the company is one of the very few timber mills to have invested heavily in transitioning from native forestry to Australia’s plantation hardwood resource. ASH reports its economic activity since 2017 has exceeded $500 million, including over $100 million in government taxes and charges. Through a tranSharper still are the figures, where ASH flatly rejects the program’s account and says it “did not receive $61 million in 2017.” The actual payment was $3 million, spent wholly on union-negotiated redundancies, and the company’s net position from it was “zero.”
What the program cast as compensation or subsidy, the manufacturer insists, was nothing of the sort. “This is not compensation. It is not a subsidy. It is a penalty payment,” the statement says of the failure-to-supply sums from VicForests and the Victorian Government, which it puts at $49 million before tax and $34 million after.
Far from a windfall, ASH says every cent of that $34 million “and more” went back into replacement stock, employment, plant and equipment.
Regarding the supply chain, the company corrected the record on Western Junction Sawmill: “purchased in 2021 and is not owned by ASH nor the Victorian Government.” All the timber ASH buys from Tasmania is sawn timber from the mill, drawn from plantation hardwood and low-grade regrowth sawlogs previously bound for export or wood chip.
The statement follows mounting criticism of the broadcast, with the Nationals branding the episode one-sided and Timber NSW lodging a formal complaint with the ABC’s managing director. Hurley, who defended the manufacturer across the broadcast, is preparing the same.
Speaking to Wood Central, a spokesperson for ASH said the company is one of the very few timber mills to have invested heavily in shifting from native forestry to Australia’s plantation hardwood resource. The spokesperson said its economic activity since 2017 exceeds $500 million, including over $100 million in government taxes and charges. Through that transition to new fibre and new markets, the spokesperson said the company had come out the other side. “We are still here. And we are staying.
