Question On Notice No. 548 asked in the Legislative Council on 22 February 2022 by Hon Dr Brad Pettitt
Question Directed to the: Minister for Regional Development representing the Minister for Forestry
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Question
I refer to the Forest Products Commission’s (FPC) management and regeneration of sandalwood and the FPC’s ongoing target of establishing an annual cumulative average of 50,000 Santalum spicatum (native sandalwood) seedlings per year in the supply regions from which the FPC removes native sandalwood, and I ask:
(a) over each of the past seven years, how many native sandalwood seedlings:
(i) were established;
(ii) survived beyond one year; and
(iii) survived beyond three years;
(b) over each of the past five years, based on the amount of sandalwood produced by FPC and the average weight of sandalwood product per tree:
(i) how many live sandalwood trees were uprooted and removed by FPC contractors; and
(ii) what was the age range and distribution of the removed sandalwood trees;
(c) has an independent audit been conducted of the regeneration of native sandalwood under FPC’s ‘Operation Woylie’ program;
(d) if yes to (c), will the Minister table a copy of the audit;
(e) if no to (c), why not;
(f) given native sandalwood has been listed as a ‘vulnerable’ threatened species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, following reviews by two former senior Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ scientists, will the Minister immediately suspend FPC’s commercial sandalwood removal operations in the wild and work with the Minister for Environment and key industry stakeholders to reform the industry so it complies with all requirements in relation to trading in a globally-listed threatened species;
(g) if no to (f), why not;
(h) during each of the past five years, how many tonnes of sandalwood has the native sandalwood plantation sector in the Wheatbelt produced from both FPC and private plantations;
(i) has the FPC produced the ‘Transition to Plantations’ strategy for native sandalwood that it told the Environmental Protection Agency in 2016 it would produce; and
(j) if no to (i):
(i) why not; and
(ii) when will it be produced?
Answered on 23 March 2022
(a)(i) The approximate number of first year sandalwood germinants each year, for the past seven planting years were:
Planting Years:
2015 – 121,200
2016 – 696,900
2017 – 93,900
2018 – 139,300
2019 – 192, 200
2020 – not measured in 2020 due to low rainfall
2021 – 540,800
(ii) The approximate number of sandalwood seedlings alive after one year, for the past seven planting years were:
Planting Years:
2015 – 10,600
2016 – 98,700
2017 – 23,700
2018 – 33,300
2019 – 4,200
2020 – 6,900
2021 – not yet measured from 2021
(iii) No measurements of survival after three years have been undertaken of seedlings established over the last seven planting years.
(b)(i) The approximate number of live sandalwood trees harvested by FPC contractors each year over the past five financial years (FY) were: 32,256 (FY17); 32,736 (FY18); 32,224 (FY19); 34,528 (FY20); and 26,720 (FY21).
(ii) The approximate age of the harvested trees is estimated to be 60 to 150 years. The age distribution over this range is not available.
(c) Yes
(d) Yes, the following relevant audits can be provided: Extension to Scope AS4708 Audit- March 2021, ISO14001 Recertification Audit – July 2021 and AS4708 Surveillance Audit November 2021. These are all publicly available through the FPC website.
(e) Not Applicable.
(f) This question should be referred to the Minister for Environment
(g) This question should be referred to the Minister for Environment
(h) FPC harvest: Nil commercial production.
Private harvest: This information is not available to the FPC.
(i) – (j (i) (ii)) The commitment regarding the transition to plantation has been taken forward by the Forest Products Commission as industry development initiatives which are outlined in the Forest Products Commission Statement of Corporate Intent (SCI). These include (but are not limited to) the completion of the following actions:
• Working with the plantation industry on a grading system
• Establishment of a panel of sandalwood buyers to provide the opportunity for plantation growers to purchase wild sandalwood and ‘blend’ wild and plantation timbers to establish markets
• The Sandalwood dreaming initiative that creates employment and training opportunities for Aboriginal communities
Issues surrounding the ongoing supply of Sandalwood and the future direction of the industry will be considered prior to the next Order in Council which is the appropriate mechanism to consider all aspects of the sandalwood industry.