Tasmanian Native Forest Harvest Contractor Assistance Program

The Tasmanian Native Forest Harvest Contractor Assistance Program (the program) provided support to improve the short-term financial viability of Tasmanian public native forest harvest contracting businesses and maintain the productive capacity. It was concluded in late 2015.

The program allowed harvest contractors to address outstanding financial obligations, enabling them to continue to operate through a challenging short-term transitional period.

The program was targeted at assisting businesses contracted to Forestry Tasmania for the harvest of native high quality sawlog from Tasmania's public native forest.

A total of up to $4 million was available as grant funding. It could only be used by businesses to pay down eligible business debts, including money owed to financial institutions and trade creditors.

The government delivered this assistance program to ensure that the native forest industry remains viable over the period in which its strategies for industry growth can be further developed and implemented.

In May 2015, the Minister for Resources, with the endorsement of the Australian Government, approved an amendment to the Program guidelines, to enable funding assistance to be made in a timely manner to applicants who satisfied the Eligibility Requirements under the Program guidelines, other than the expiry date of their Eligible Contract(s).

The full criteria for eligible native forest harvesting contractors:

Native Forest Harvest Contractor Assistance Program - Guidelines (PDF 404.3 KB)

The department directly contacted those parties which were known to have held a then current relevant contract with Forestry Tasmania. The department also encouraged other people to contact the Department if they believed they may have been eligible under the guidelines.

The following contractors received funding under the program: