Issue
Is loading of felled timber directly onto trucks, to be transported to a port for export, 'forestry' per paragraph 35(b) of the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA)?
Decision
No. The loading of felled timber directly onto trucks, to be transported to a port for export, is not 'forestry' per paragraph 35(b) of the EGCSA.
Facts
Timber is felled in a forest or plantation as a primary produce.
After felling the felled timber is not stockpiled.
The felled timber is loaded from the coupe floor onto trucks to be transported to a port for export.
Reasons for Decision
The issue to be determined is 'when does the activity of felling timber cease'.
The word 'felling' is not defined in the EGCSA and therefore takes its ordinary meaning. In The Macquarie Dictionary , 2001, rev. 3rd edn, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, NSW, the verb 'fell' is defined as: 1. to cause to fall; knock, strike, or cut down: to fell a tree.
Felling of standing timber includes the preparation of felled trees to enable them to be moved, such as the removal of lateral growth and cutting into manageable lengths.
As standing timber is knocked, struck or cut down to obtain a primary produce, the activity of 'felling' ceases once the standing timber is knocked, struck or cut down and the preparation of the felled trees to enable them to be moved and the felled timber remains on the floor of the coupe.
After felling activities have ceased the felled timber is not placed in log dumps ready for transport; rather the felled timber is loaded, from the coupe floor, directly onto trucks for transport to a port for export.
If timber is felled for export, the transportation of the timber to a port is not an eligible activity: see paragraphs 135 to 144 of the Product Grant and Benefit Ruling PGBR 2005/1. The loading of timber on trucks is integral to the transportation activity and is therefore also ineligible.
In this case, forestry as a primary production activity ceases after the timber is felled and prior to loading it onto trucks for transportation to the port.
Therefore the loading of felled timber directly onto trucks for transport to a port for export is not a core forestry activity per paragraph 35(b) of the EGCS.