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A Transition Built on Sand: The Original LDS Plan and the 2030 Assumption – 2

In 2019 the Victorian Forestry Plan set a 2030 end date for native harvesting. That ten year horizon shaped every part of the transition. When the date was brought forward by six years, the logic collapsed. Part 2 examines how an interrupted timeline left towns exposed before the real work could begin.

The Myth of Blame: Why AKD’s Closure Wasn’t Caused by the Native Timber Ban – 1

AKD Yarram’s closure has been framed as a casualty of the native timber ban, but that story collapses two different industries into one. The mill processed softwood, not native hardwood. The real causes were national construction turbulence and a compressed transition timeline that left towns exposed.

When a town becomes the Shock Absorber

The closure of AKD’s Yarram mill is more than a job loss. It’s a systemic emergency that exposes how vulnerable small towns become when economic shocks arrive without a formal response system. Yarram’s community is already mobilising, but goodwill alone can’t carry what should be a structured, predictable framework for regional crises.

We Misread the Whole System – Yarram Paid the Price

The AKD mill didn’t close because housing collapsed – it closed because two long-running structural failures collided in one town. Here’s what really happened, and what Yarram needs next.