A PLAN for the Victorian government to provide up to $100,000 to help timber businesses move away from native wood has been labelled a "joke" by a mill owner.
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The boss of Corryong's Walkers Sawmill Graham Walker was unimpressed by the deal that was promoted in the North East on Friday by Regional Development Minister Jaclyn Symes.
It involves grants of up to $100,000 being given to mills and harvest and haulage businesses that are wanting to innovate as Victoria ends access to native forests.
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Ms Symes visited XLam at Wodonga Counci's Logic estate on Friday to talk up the grants which she said could be used to buy equipment.
She said she hoped Walkers would apply for the aid.
"(That's) an important local business, a large business for Corryong comparatively, so that's exactly the type of business that we want to access these types of grants," Ms Symes said.
However, Mr Walker said $100,000 to help timber firms transition was a "joke", given "a new multisaw is over $1 million".
Mr Walker said it would cost up to $3 million to retool his mill to softwood production but composite timber pallets had less than half the eight year life of hardwood ones.
He also said there was a lack of plantation timber in the North East compared to southern NSW.
XLam site manager Anthony Quinnell said his company used 100 per cent renewable wood and it was receiving bushfire-affected timber from parent company Hyne's Tumbarumba mill.
"Around 20 to 25 per cent of their resource has been burnt, so that means rather than sell that as a commodity product they would like to channel it to us so we can turn it into a high-value product," Mr Quinnell said.
XLam, which employs 25, makes cross-laminated timber which is used for floors, walls, ceilings and staircases.
Mr Quinnell said his company was likely to use a grant to install new equipment in the factory.
Meanwhile, Ms Symes also on Friday unveiled funding for a Wodonga school project and a Milawa honey producer.
The Wodonga Middle Years College is receiving $1.25 million to plan for the replacement of the technology wing at its Huon campus.
Ms Symes said that meant the work would then be "shovel-ready once capital funding is allocated in a future state budget".
Walkabout Apiaries has been allocated $105,000, which will bankroll custom-built equipment designed to extract honey at cooler temperatures.
The move is tipped to result in an extra three jobs and boost the raw honey yield.
