Softwood Logs Shipping Off of Kangaroo Island to Support South Australia’s Booming Housing Industry

Help to support Australia’s booming housing construction industry will soon be on its way. Up to 60,000 tons of softwood logs, some of them bushfire-affected, will soon be shipping off of Kangaroo Island. The Construction Softwood Transportation Assistance Program, a program funded jointly by the federal and state governments, will help cover the cost of shipments to South Australia mainland and then to sawmills.

In speaking about the program, Federal Assistant Forestry Minister Jonathon Duniam said timber made available through the program could build up to 10,000 new houses across the country, supporting jobs in the timber and home building industries.

Duniam went onto say that “Without this assistance, salvageable logs might be burned or left to rot, putting jobs at risk and possibly releasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.”

SA Primary Industries Minister David Basham added that the booming housing industry had been great news for the local economy but increased demand for timber has put pressure on supply chains. “This joint funding is a game-changer for our forestry and housing construction industries and will make tens of thousands of tons of structural timber available which, could build up to 2000 homes in South Australia,” he added.