INDEPENDENT NSW MLC Justin Field has slammed a NSW Government decision to extend logging contracts on the North Coast until 2028, warning that ongoing unsustainable logging of NSW forests will set back post-fire recovery and further damage habitat for threatened species including the koala, which was recently listed as an endangered species in NSW.

Mr Field said, “This is a terrible decision for our forests which will see an accelerating decline in forest health, destroying more critical habitat including for koalas, and reducing the capacity of our forests to capture and store carbon.

“I’m disgusted these contracts have been extended despite the fact the NW Government has been sitting on independent expert advice for over a year that recommends logging restrictions in response to the 2019/20 fires.

“Once again we see the National Party ignoring science and the environmental and climate impacts of their decisions and the Liberal Party, and particularly Environment Minister James Griffin and Treasurer Matt Kean, just go along with it.”

He claims the NSW Government has refused to release the advice from the NSW Natural Resources Commission (NRC) into post-fire logging, claiming cabinet confidentiality, however the report was leaked to the Guardian late last year.

“The NRC warned of ‘…serious and irreversible harm to environmental values from the cumulative impacts of fire and harvesting’ in some areas of burnt forests and recommended significant additional restrictions on logging.”

Nature Conservation Council Forests Campaigner, Wilson Harris, agrees, saying, “This decision flies in the face of advice from the Natural Resources Commission, which assessed the public forest estate after the Black Summer bushfires.

“Those fires hit state forests hard, ripping through more than 830,000 hectares of the native forest estate, more than 80 percent.

“Despite the devastation and against the advice of the Natural Resources Commission, the NSW Government has insisted on cutting down native forests at the same rate as before the fires.

“How can the government sign-up to deliver logs at pre-fire levels when we know the fires damaged huge areas of forest and there are calls by their own experts to put in place logging restrictions?

“It makes a mockery of this independent, evidence based process and leaves the forests and our threatened species like the koala carrying all the risk.

“Victoria and Western Australia have both announced they will end native forest logging to preserve the forests they have left.

“NSW should do the same.”

Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the additional five-year deal has aligned the expiry date for all timber supply contracts right across the region, and confirmed the government’s support for the hardwood timber sector.

“Most agreements on the North Coast were due to end in 2023, while others run through to 2028, but now these critical timber mills have all been put on the same timeline to help provide investment and business certainty,” Mr Toole said.

“The timber industry plays a critical role on the North Coast and employs hundreds of locals, so extending the current agreements will help future-proof local processors, whether they’re a small family business or a larger operator,” Mr Toole said.

“This brings immediate relief to the local industry, which generates about $349 million each year, and is a timely manufacturing boost for the hardwood products that are processed here.”

Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Dugald Saunders says timber is the ultimate renewable product, and it is critical for governments to nurture the industry so we can keep using it well into the future.

“Timber supports our towns, and the stock grown on the north coast goes towards essential materials that we use every day, including power poles, wharf piles, bridge decking, flooring and transport pallets,” Mr Saunders said.

“Under the Regional Forest Agreements, NSW has committed to growing and re-growing timber in an environmentally responsible manner, to meet community demand in a sustainable way.”

By Andrew VIVIAN