Axe falls on Victorian native forest logging

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The state government will end native forest logging early in Victoria, bringing forward its 2030 deadline.

The government confirmed it will provide $200 million to support workers and their families as part of the package in Tuesday’s budget to phase out native timber logging by January 1 next year.

The state government will end native forest logging early in Victoria.Credit: Steven Siewert

Environmentalists hailed the decision, saying it was long overdue.

Environmental groups have fought for decades to end native timber logging in Victoria, with some launching multiple legal challenges in a bid to force the government’s hand.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the decision gave communities, businesses and partners in the supply chain the certainty they deserved.

“It’s not good enough for us to just cross our fingers and hope for the best,” he said. “We need a plan to support workers, their families and support local jobs.”

Post-fire forests in Rich Forest, east of Orbost in East Gippsland.Credit: Goongerah Environment Centre

Australian National University forest ecology professor David Lindenmayer said the move was the correct decision.

“I support what the Victorian government has done here,” he said.

Lindenmayer said state-owned logging agency VicForests had been losing money for years and keeping it afloat was not financially viable.

The latest annual report from VicForests shows the agency recorded a $54 million dollar loss in the past financial year.

Lindenmayer said ending native logging would allow for economic opportunities, including expanding tourism in those areas and reforestation programs to enable logged forests to recover.

Lindenmayer said 30 per cent of logged native forests had not regenerated properly. However, he said ending native logging six years early was the equivalent of preventing the emissions from 730,000 cars every year.

The Victorian Greens deputy leader Ellen Sandell said the government had been dragged “kicking and screaming” toward the realisation that native logging was unsustainable.

“For too long Labor has given millions of taxpayer dollars to the logging industry to destroy our precious native forests,” she said.

The decision comes after Opal Australian Paper, which is controlled by Japanese company Nippon, confirmed in February it would cease the production of white paper.

The Victorian government is contractually required to supply pulpwood to Maryvale pulp and paper mill, which is the biggest employer in the Latrobe Valley. Pulpwood is a byproduct of harvesting saw logs.

Earlier this month, The Age revealed legal advice commissioned by environmental groups could be released early.

Ellen Sandell of the Victorian Greens said the government had been dragged “kicking and screaming” toward the realisation that native logging was unsustainable.Credit: Simon Schluter

The Wilderness Society national campaigns director Amelia Young said Victoria’s native forests should be managed for the community’s benefit and not multinational paper and packaging companies.

“Living, breathing, intact forests are the best safeguard we have to mitigate climate change,” she said.

The Age has contacted VicForests for comment.

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