A timber shortage has gripped the construction industry with suppliers struggling to keep up with demand from homebuilders.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union sent a letter to the federal government this week demanding an urgent meeting to address the shortage.
The forestry industry needs to supply 2.1million cubic metres of timber framing just to meet construction demand this year.
Though it is currently only able to turn out 1.8million cubic metres.
The uptick in demand has been credited to the HomeBuilder program while the shortage in timber supply has been exacerbated by the late 2019 and 2020 bushfires.
CFMEU National Secretary Michael O Connor has labelled it a crisis and said government intervention is needed to avoid it spiralling out of control.