00:00Hectares of forestry plantations cover South Australia's South East.
00:07They fuel the forestry industry based around Mount Gambier.
00:11But the industry's worried wood from overseas is taking over.
00:15The domestic manufacturing market is being undercut
00:18and that is putting significant pressure on domestic manufacturers of timber.
00:23At sawmills like this one in Mount Gambier,
00:26millions of trees are processed into timber used for building homes.
00:31But international trade conditions fuelled by US tariffs
00:35means there's record levels of foreign construction timber coming into Australia.
00:40We know that during COVID we lost all of the timber imports into Australia
00:45and as a result we didn't have enough timber to meet demand.
00:49New projects like Mount Gambier's Technical College were built using local wood.
00:54The industry wants a government guarantee.
00:57More local timber will be used in state projects.
01:01What we want to be able to do is, and I think we can do this very strongly,
01:04stand on our record firstly of supporting the timber industry
01:07and secondly the sustainability and quality of our South Australian timber products.
01:12Imported timber is coming into Australia at half the price of local products.
01:17Builders say they need a reliable source of timber to meet Australia's housing targets.
01:22We do need to look broader in terms of long term
01:25about mapping out what our future housing demands are
01:28and where our plantations will be.
01:30A call to keep building up local industry for a stronger future.
01:34newnextl
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