Native Forest Logging
Ms Cate Faehrmann: I support this motion moved by my colleague Ms Sue Higginson, who has been an incredible forest campaigner for many years. It is disappointing to hear the environment Minister talking about the retention of some hollow‑bearing trees in forests inhabited by endangered greater gliders. It is incredibly disappointing to hear that it is okay if we clear some threatened species habitat—particularly a threatened species listed as endangered at the Federal level after the bushfires—because we are retaining a few hollow‑bearing trees. To clear the habitat of greater gliders in the area of New South Wales where we saw millions of hectares of forest destroyed is an extinction plan. Greater gliders are on the brink of extinction in New South Wales, and clearing their habitat is what extinction looks like.
Time and again, for at least the past 20 years, the community has stepped up and identified breach after breach in these forests by Forestry Corporation in almost every State forest across New South Wales. In the motion Ms Sue Higginson identifies some of those forests, but we could move such a motion about almost any forest that Forestry Corporation has gone into in the past 10 years. This is how it behaves; it is its modus operandi. Every time community members go into a forest with the corporation's prescriptions, knowing the rules around what it can and cannot do, they find hollow‑bearing trees and koala feed trees that should not be knocked over and destroyed. I take my hat off to those community members and applaud them for doing that. The EPA and the Government should be ensuring that Forestry Corporation is sticking to the rules—but it cannot stick to the rules. It goes into those forests and destroys threatened species habitat, in this case the habitat of an incredible Australian animal that will become extinct if this Government does not stop what Forestry Corporation is doing.
Full text of the motion:
Ms Sue Higginson moved:
(1) That this House notes that:
(a) changes made in February 2024 to the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals were agreed to by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority and the Forestry Corporation of NSW;
(b) the changes were designed to protect the habitat trees for greater gliders, which are endangered with extinction and required searches for den trees to be conducted no more than one hour after sunset local time;
(c) 188 breaches of this new condition have been reported to the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority across nine State forests including:
(i) Flat Rock;
(ii) Clyde;
(iii) Currowan;
(iv) Shallow Crossing;
(v) Olney;
(vi) Riamukka;
(vii) Styx River;
(viii) Sheas Nob; and
(ix) Bondo.
(d) illegal native forest logging is currently occurring within forests identified for inclusion in the Great Koala National Park.
(2) That this House calls on the Government to:
(a) direct the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority to issue stop work orders on all alleged noncompliant logging while investigations are underway; and
(b) suspend all current and planned native forest logging until an audit for compliance can be completed.