The North East Forest Alliance is concerned that the NSW government’s recently announced Independent Forestry Panel is not actually independent. NEFA is calling for the appointment of a forest ecologist to provide some balance.
Spokesperson Dailan Pugh says the three member Independent Forestry Panel cannot be considered independent because Peter Duncan AM was once the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Corporation and Mick Veitch was previously the ALP’s shadow Forestry Minister.
‘We would welcome a truly independent and impartial review of logging of public native forests in NSW as the evidence is that it is neither economically nor ecologically sustainable,’ said Mr Pugh.
‘In 2022/23 the Forestry Corporation lost $15 million on its native forestry operations, costing the NSW government $1,281 per hectare to log the homes of koalas and greater gliders. In addition, the Forestry Corporation was paid $31 million of taxpayer’s money for its community service obligations in 2022/23, while also receiving regular massive public handouts.
‘Logging increases the risk of extinction of many threatened species, reduces stream flows and inflows to regional water supplies, increases wildfire risks to local communities, spreads weeds, increases erosion, while reducing the carbon stored in forests and forests’ ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,’ Mr Pugh said.
Recent Blueprint Institute research found that ending native forest logging in northeast NSW in 2023–24, and instead utilising the land for carbon sequestration and tourism, would deliver a net benefit valued at $45 million. This includes the estimated cost of providing transitional packages to the industry as it shuts down, as well as the cost of breaking wood supply agreements that extend to 2028.
‘NEFA considers that if the NSW government was fair dinkum about undertaking an independent assessment they would ensure the assessment was undertaken by a balanced panel that will fairly deal with our evidence,’ said Mr Pugh.
‘The appointment of an independent ecologist could provide the balance needed.’
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