The controversial code has already cost him the business founded by his grandfather in 1953 and cost the jobs of four full-time employees.

The JT Frazer and Co sawmill closed its doors on December 22 last year.

Changes introduced as part of the code had rendered the once thriving local industry worthless.

Mr Frazer, who has rejected a “paltry” offer of $14,200 compensation from the NSW Government, was forced to sell the land on which the mill stood to try to recover some of his losses.

Because of the introduction of the code it had proved impossible to source wood to mill.

“I went from receiving two semi loads of logs a week to one load a month,” he said.

Mr Frazer estimates that between August and December last year he lost from $60,000 to $70,000.

He said the compensation offer, made after he lodged an application in February, was “ridiculous”.

“These changes have totally devastated my life. I have lost everything,” Mr Frazer said.

Since closing the mill he has been forced to sell other family assets – including property – to make ends meet.

His home phone was disconnected this week and restrictions have been placed on his water service. He is expecting the bank to foreclose on his home loan today .

Mr Frazer took over as the owner/operator of J.T. Frazer and Co Sawmill in 1993. He was the third generation of Frazers to run the family business, set up in Westdale by his grandfather on May 13, 1953.

Member for Tamworth, Peter Draper, a long time campaigner against the new forestry management regime, said yesterday it had proved to be a disaster.

“Two out of three local sawmillers have closed or are in the process of shutting up shop,” he said.

“Despite repeated representations... there is still no acceptable exit package.”

The new code has created a maze of regulations and red tape that make it more trouble than it is worth for landholders to continue supplying timber to regional mills such as Mr Frazer’s and the Bendemeer Sawmill.

“I effectively went from receiving two semi-loads of logs a week to one load a month, one eighth of what I would have normally received between August and December,” Mr Frazer said.

The Bendemeer mill, which has seen its supply of timber dry up completely, according to Mr Draper, is also seeking an exit package from the NSW Government.

Until recently one of Bendemeer’s biggest employers, the mill, managed by four successive generations of the one family, has also closed its doors.

“People in Sydney have no idea of the impact this ... will have on the economy of Bendemeer,” Mr Draper said.

He told The Leader the six former mill employees at Bendemeer – who had all grown up in the town – would be forced to relocate or commute long distances as the only other local employment was at the pub, the local store or the caravan park.

Mr Draper spoke of the plight of the timber operators in State Parliament on Tuesday.

“Nothing has been done to provide a future for small hardwood mill operators,” he said.

“These people are being forced out through government regulation and deserve to exit the industry with dignity.”