All bets off as green groups dump Tasmanian peace deal to push for end to all native forest logging

Conservationist groups are walking away from the Tasmanian forestry peace deal they signed in 2012, alarming industry players and setting the scene for a federal election showdown.

Key green groups have dumped their commitment to Tasmania’s landmark forest peace deal and are instead pushing Labor to end all native forest logging, while resuming market campaigns.

Green signatories to the 2012 Tasmania Forest Agreement – The Wilderness Society, Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Tasmania – told The Australian the deal was no longer relevant and they were pushing to end all native forestry.

Their shift brings these more “moderate” green groups into line with the hardline activist Bob Brown Foundation, creating a potential federal election flashpoint and industry fears of jobs losses.

The TFA – amended but until recently arguably honoured by the state government – allowed logging to continue in agreed production zones, but green signatories are now demanding an end to all native forest logging across the forest estate.

Wilderness Society campaigners have informed industry players of the shift, warning they can no longer use the TFA to convince customers their product has an ­environmental licence.

“We do not support the logging of permanent timber production zone land and acknowledge that the TFA was abandoned over a decade ago and is no longer relevant,” Wilderness Society campaigns manager Alice Hardinge told mill operator Ta Ann in a letter obtained by The Australian.

“In a dual climate and biodiversity crisis, protecting native forests is essential. Our organisation will also be working in collaboration with other ENGOs (environmental non-government organisations) to ensure that your customers are also contacted and that the record is corrected.”

In a response, Ta Ann general manager Robert Yong urged the group to reconsider, saying the company had “steadfastly honoured” its commitment to only source logs from forests approved for harvesting under the TFA.

Mr Yong told the society it “intends to stay true to its word on that agreement”. “We urge that in making any contact with our customers and in your public statements that you are mindful of the impact your actions may have on the more than 200 families who rely on our Smithton plywood plant,” Mr Yong wrote.

The mill boss told The Australian the company was “very disappointed that The Wilderness Society has decided to renege”.

“(We) urge them to reconsider their planned campaign, which is not based on scientific facts or independent environmental evaluation,” he said.

Workers at the Ta Ann plywood mill in Smithton, northwest Tasmania. Ta Ann accuses The Wilderness Society of ‘reneging’ on the forest peace deal, which it uses to reassure customers of sustainability. Picture: Ta Ann

Ms Hardinge cited the state government’s election pledge to log 40,000ha of the TFA forest reserves in justifying the shift.

“Enduring forest protections that recognise the rights and aspirations of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and a just and complete transition to plantations, is what the conversation needs to be focused on in 2024,” she said.

“Ongoing logging in globally significant forests cannot continue. Protection and restoration of native forests is critical. Certain native forest logging industry players such as Ta Ann are clinging to the TFA – hiding behind it to justify their forest destruction.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation said the Liberal government had “effectively trashed” the TFA and its focus had switched to per­suading Labor to end forestry’s exemption from national environment laws.

“Strong national environment laws that close the native forest logging loophole are a key demand ACF will put to all political parties ahead of the coming federal election,” said foundation nature campaigner Jess Abrahams.

Environment Tasmania also flagged a shift away from the ­“imperfect” TFA to campaigning to end all native forestry.

“There is no future for the timber industry in the logging of native forests,” executive officer James Overington said.

“It has finished in New Zealand and most Australian states, and it has no public legitimacy in ­Tasmania.”

Forest activist Ali Alishah, who has been pushing green groups to abandon the TFA, urged them to back this up by informing the industry’s foreign customers of the shift. “The badge of the TFA has allowed these companies to keep processing timber from Tasmania’s forests, including from areas never logged before,” Mr ­Alishah said.

“They (green signatories) should now communicate to the Japanese and European markets that there is no support for any processing of Tasmanian forest products.”

Activist Ali Alishah chained to a bulldozer in a logging coupe in the Styx Valley, northeast of Hobart. Picture: Bob Brown Foundation

The Bob Brown Foundation, which did not sign the TFA, said most Australians wanted to end all native forest logging, not just harvesting of certain areas “signed off by a few groups”. “We’re calling for the whole public native forest estate … to be protected now,” campaign manager Jenny Weber said.