The New South Wales government has refused to end native forest logging despite an online petition amassing more than 20,000 signatures.
Key points:
An Upper House committee recommends the government expand timber plantations immediately
It also asks that a leaked report into the impact of native logging after bushfires is publicly released
The government says 22,000 people were employed by the state's forest and wood product industries
The petition called for a moratorium on native logging and wanted the government to develop a transition plan to 100 per cent sustainable plantations by 2024.
"While 20,000 signatures represent a lot of people, the NSW government must balance the interests of more than 7 million citizens in its management of public assets, such as our state forests," Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders stated in his response.
Mr Saunders added there were "thousands of jobs dependent on the industry continuing", with 22,000 people employed by the state's forest and wood product industries. Coastwatchers Association, Eurobodalla’s flagship environment group, had applauded Eurobodalla Shire Councillors on August 16th, 2022 for voting to advocate to end native forest logging so contractors work 100% in plantations. The original April motion was deferred so councillors could receive briefings from stakeholders which included experts in the fields of economics, forest ecology, threatened species and fire behaviour as well as Forestry Corporation and members of the community including citizen scientists. Spokesperson for Coastwatchers Forest Working Group, Joslyn van der Moolen, said “Finally we have a Council, who have taken the time to understand the critical issues, at the heart of both the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis. Ending native forest logging in NSW, will enable biodiverse carbon storage in public state native forests, over 400,000 hectares in southern NSW. Stopping logging will see 950,000 tonnes of carbon emissions saved every year in the region. This is equivalent to over half of the emissions from electricity, transport, waste and agriculture in the Eurobodalla Shire alone and over 20% of emissions overall in six shires. This is an easy step the NSW Government can take, in the battle our communities face to reverse global heating.” Greens councillor Alison Worthington tabled the motion for the second time on August 9 and patiently shepherded it through to achieve majority agreement that native forest logging is incompatible with the shire's and the region's investments in nature based tourism, climate mitigation and biodiversity protection. Van der Moolen continued at the time saying “This is a brave and outstanding achievement not only by the majority of councillors themselves but also the community who have tirelessly put this case up for debate for years. The recent ePetition to NSW Parliament that will be presented to NSW parliament on 15 September, the Natural Resources Commission report on post fire logging, the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Future of the Timber Industry and the State of the Environment Report demonstrate to state government that there will be much political capital to be made by supporting an industry plan to transition to 100% sustainable plantation forestry.” Eurobodalla Shire Councillors resolved to write to state government to advocate to the urgently develop such a transition plan. Other Councillors around NSW are now looking to bring forward a similar motion as part of the groundswell calling for change. Councillor Worthington was at pains to point out this transition can be made while maintaining good relationships between Council and Forestry Corporation. Public native forests would continue to be managed for fire mitigation and weed and pest control, aligned with growing community concern about the state of the environment and the climate. WA and Victoria have already announced new investments in plantations to secure the future of wood supply and jobs in the timber industry when native forest logging ends in those states. Especially in the wake of the Black Summer fires NSW should seize this opportunity for a planned industry transition.
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