Forest Management Act 2013

Official purpose-claims and how the Act implements them

• The Act includes an express direction that the Forest Manager must act consistently with the Forest Practices Code as a contribution to sustainable management (s15). That is a declared objective; the specific mechanisms that implement or constrain it are the Forest Practices Code reference (s15) and operational duties (s8).

• The Act separately imposes a minimum annual supply obligation to particular industries (s16). The text therefore implements a supply guarantee in law while also directing forest management to follow the Forest Practices Code. Those two directions operate together but can pull in different directions in practice: the minimum‑supply requirement constrains the Forest Manager's harvesting choices, while the Code sets management principles (s15, s16).

Costs, incentives and decision points (who pays, who decides, what changes)

• Who pays: the Minister (Crown) becomes liable to pay compensation under the forestry compensation certificate scheme if the Forestry corporation certifies inability to supply due to a qualifying change in law or policy (s16F). The Forest Manager may charge access fees (with Ministerial approval) to users of PTPZ land or forest roads (s14). The Forest Manager may accept payments up to three times the commercial value of forest products instead of prosecuting certain offences and can allow the taker to keep the product (s28).

• Who decides: the Minister decides to create, revoke, exchange or convert PTPZ land by Gazette order but must obtain the Forest Manager's advice and secure Parliamentary acceptance of the order (s10–11A, s11B). The Forest Manager decides how to manage and control PTPZ land, issues permits, appoints officers and sets operational directions; some powers require Ministerial approval (for example, fee charging under s14 requires Minister approval) (s7–9, s14, s17, s22).

• Behaviour changes required: the Forest Manager will control access, can close roads, and can direct people to leave or cease activities if those activities impede its functions (s13, s21–23). People conducting forest operations must take reasonable fire precautions and assist suppression if requested, with costs to be reimbursed by the Forest Manager (s29). Holders of wood supply contracts must seek certification and may rely on compensation procedures when supply is curtailed (Part 5A).

Compliance cost and administrative burden

• Buyers and the Forestry corporation must satisfy procedural and evidentiary requirements to obtain and rely on forestry compensation certificates (s16B–16E). The Minister must be satisfied that statutory and regulatory economic and environmental requirements are met before issuing a certificate (s16B(2)(a)(iii)). Certification and compensation determinations use the Land Acquisition Act framework, which brings an established valuation and claims process (s16G(4)).

• The Forest Manager has discretion to appoint non‑employees as timber classification officers and to set their terms (s17(1)–(3)), and to set access fees (s14), which creates administrative tasks and potential contractual arrangements.

Bureaucratic discretion, delegation and legal risk

• The Minister has substantive discretion to declare or revoke PTPZ land by order, subject to advice from the Forest Manager and Parliamentary acceptance (s10, s11). The Forest Manager has broad powers "necessary" to perform its functions, including granting permits and occupation rights (s9). Regulations may delegate matters to the Forest Manager or authorised persons (s35(3)(c)). Those provisions concentrate operational discretion in executive instruments and the Forest Manager.

• The compensation scheme places a contingent fiscal liability on the Crown triggered by certification from the Forestry corporation (s16E–16F). The mechanism for calculating compensation treats the Crown as acquiring authority and uses the Land Acquisition Act process where parties disagree (s16G(4)).

Trade‑offs and opportunity costs apparent from the text

• A legal minimum supply (s16) and a statutory compensation regime (Part 5A) together create a protected expectation for purchasers under multi‑year contracts. Those protections can limit the Forest Manager's operational flexibility and expose the Crown to compensation payments when supply is reduced by later legal or policy changes (s16E(2), s16F).

• The Act restricts the Forestry corporation from purchasing "future potential production forest land" (s12A), which constrains one route for expanding its asset base; at the same time the Minister may convert or exchange such land into PTPZ status (s11A, s11B), which is a policy lever for reallocating land use. That structure separates purchase powers from statutory conversion powers and shifts key decisions to executive orders with Parliamentary oversight.

Concentrated benefits, diffuse costs and risks the text supports

• Concentrated benefits: holders of enforceable multi‑year wood supply contracts who obtain forestry compensation certificates gain a clearly defined entitlement to compensation in specified circumstances (Part 5A).

• Diffuse costs: the Minister's compensation liability (s16F) and any broader constraints on forest management from the supply obligation (s16) may impose fiscal and operational costs spread across taxpayers and future government budgets.

• Capture and substitution risks: the Act vests significant operational discretion in the Forest Manager and the Minister (s7–11, s14, s35). That creates opportunities for administrative decision‑making to affect commercial outcomes (permits, fees, easements, road closures) but the text requires internal advice and Parliamentary acceptance for major land status changes, which is a legal constraint (s10(3), s10(4), s10(5)).

Implementation and enforcement risks

• Practical implementation depends on inter‑agency coordination: the Minister must obtain and table advice, the Forest Manager must certify supply capacity, compensation claims are assessed with the Solicitor‑General's approval (s10(3)–(4), s16B–16G). The compensation determination procedure relies on another statute (the Land Acquisition Act) and on legal valuation processes (s16G(4)).

• Enforcement tools (penalties up to 20 penalty units, police directions and arrest powers) are present for non‑compliance on PTPZ land and forest roads (s21–23), but the Forest Manager is also expressly insulated from certain tort liabilities (no liability for failing to keep roads in repair — s20) and from contract claims arising from actions required under the Government Business Enterprises Act (s30).

Key cross‑references that shape application

• The Act repeatedly cross‑references the Forest Practices Code (s15), the Government Business Enterprises Act provisions (s7(2), s30), the Land Acquisition Act for compensation procedures (s16G(4)), and other Tasmanian statutes governing Crown land, roads, fire and conservation (for example, Crown Lands Act, Roads and Jetties Act, Nature Conservation Act — see s3 definitions and multiple provisions). Those references import external tests and procedures into how this Act operates.

Bottom line

Mechanically, the Act (1) continues the Forestry corporation as the Forest Manager with broad operational powers over PTPZ land (s6–9), (2) creates a formal, Parliamentary‑overseen process to declare, revoke, exchange and convert land into and out of PTPZ status (s10–12, s11A–11B), (3) imposes a statutory annual supply obligation (s16) while also requiring actions to be consistent with the Forest Practices Code (s15), and (4) establishes a statutory compensation framework for contracted purchasers when supply is curtailed by changes in law or qualifying policy decisions (Part 5A). The Act delegations, supply guarantees and compensation mechanics produce identifiable incentives and contingent liabilities that the Forest Manager, the Minister and contract holders must operate within (notably s10, s14, s16, s16E–16G).

Forest Manager (Part 3, s. 7): the Forestry corporation is the Forest Manager for permanent timber production zone land. It has the functions and powers specified in the Act.

Permanent timber production zone land (Part 4): Crown land declared by Ministerial order (a permanent timber production zone land order) under s. 10 to be permanent timber production zone land for the purposes of the Act. This reservation is the legal foundation for the Forestry corporation's forestry operations.

Annual supply of veneer and sawlog (s. 3 definition): the minimum aggregate quantity of eucalypt veneer logs and eucalypt sawlogs that the Forest Manager must make available annually for the veneer and sawmilling industries in accordance with s. 16.

Forest product (s. 3 definition): includes sawn timber, veneer products, poles, piles, posts, and other forest products. Woodchips to be further processed outside Tasmania are excluded from the definition of forest product for the purposes of Part 5A.

Forest practices (s. 3): has the meaning given in the Forest Practices Act 1985. The Forest Practices Code, issued by the Forest Practices Authority under that Act, sets out the technical standards for forest management.

CPR Plan: a plan in the Central Plan Register, used in the management and planning of permanent timber production zone land.

Conservation area: has the same meaning as in the Nature Conservation Act 2002. This concept is relevant to the boundaries between production forest and conservation reserves.

Forest road (s. 3): includes any road constructed or maintained by or for the Forest Manager inside or outside permanent timber production zone land, and other roads on permanent timber production zone land, with exceptions for State highways, subsidiary roads, and local highways.