Issue
Is slicing timber to produce veneer 'milling' of timber for the purposes of section 35 of the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA)?
Decision
No, the slicing of timber to produce veneer is not the 'milling' of timber for the purposes of section 35 of the EGCSA.
Facts
An entity produces veneer from prepared flitches using a veneer slicing machine.
The flitch is attached to a movable carriage in the veneer slicing machine (sometimes referred to as a 'lathe') and repeatedly passed across a fixed blade, producing veneer sheets.
Reasons for Decision
The expressions 'milling' and 'milling of timber' are not defined in the EGCSA and have no particular trade or industry meaning. They therefore take their ordinary meaning.
The ordinary meaning of the term 'mill' was considered in Re Wesfi Pty Ltd and Collector of Customs (WA) (1984) 7 ALN N8 in which the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reasoned that a machine which operates by rotary action is accepted as falling within the ordinary concept of a mill.
The Tribunal followed this approach in its subsequent decisions Re Brymay Forests Pty Ltd & Collector of Customs (Vic) (1985) 9 ALN N177 and Re TJ Depiazzi & Sons and Collector of Customs (1993) 17 AAR 557. In those decisions, the Tribunal specifically took into account the element of rotary action in determining whether or not a process was a process of milling.
The drawing of a flitch across a fixed blade to produce a veneer strip does not involve a rotary action. It is therefore not a process of 'milling' timber, within the ordinary meaning of the term.