Mr Toole, who has been in the Lands and Forestry portfolio less than a fortnight, chose a pine plantation near Oberon to make his first major ministerial announcement on Wednesday.

He said the plantation purchases in the Oberon, Tumut and Tumbarumba districts were the state’s most significant forestry acquisitions in around 30 years.

“This purchase is a big win for regional communities, timber processors and consumers,” Mr Toole said.

“This is about securing the state’s timber supply and having a sustainable building industry into the future.

“It might take around 30 years for a plantation to mature but what we are seeing here are the frames for all those future homes.

“This is my first visit to a forest since taking the new role and I thought what better place to do it then in my own backyard.”

Mr Toole said the new acquisitions would be “sustainably managed” in line with neighbouring state forest plantations.

The purchases supported the government’s Forestry Industry Roadmap to increase softwood plantations and drive industry growth.

Forestry Corporation regional manager Jason Molkentin said bringing the former Lyall estate plantations into public ownership would ensure they continued to produce sustainable pine for the housing industry.

“We have seen some instances where private plantation owners can move into other land uses and that can be a loss to the industry,” Mr Molkentin said.

“The benefit to the community [from this acquisition] is that the Forestry Corporation is all about growing trees and providing a timber supply for the state.”

The Forestry Corporation manages 220,000 hectares of softwood plantations.

State-owned pine plantations currently produce enough structural lumber to build a quarter of the new homes in Australia each year, as well as supplying renewable pulpwood for paper and packaging.

The new acquisitions will add the equivalent of 13,000 football fields of plantable land to the state-owned estate.