Victoria’s native forest timber industry: Bid to save jobs lost

The Victorian Opposition has lost its bid to save the native forest timber industry, which is struggling to find saw logs, due to crippling court injunctions.

Saw mills risk running out of timber within three to four months. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

The Victorian Opposition has lost its bid to save the native forest timber industry, which is struggling to find saw logs, due to crippling court injunctions, brought about by green lawfare.

The Opposition tried to convince cross-bench MPs to back amendments to government legislation before the Upper House last yesterday, which would block third-party legal action against timber harvesting.

But the amendment to the Government’s Conservation, Forests and Lands Amendment Bill 2022 was lost, after key cross-bench MPs refused to back it.

Former harvest and haulage contractor and Coalition assistant forestry spokesman Gary Blackwood said the timber industry would be shut down within three to four months unless action was taken to end the barrage of environmental groups’ legal actions now.

“Saw mills are running out of supply and so are downstream clients, for everything from staircases to laminated timber and floors, risking jobs,” Mr Blackwood said.

The Liberal-Nationals Coalition’s amendments were modelled on laws already in place in NSW, whereby only its Environmental Protection Authority can enforce forest harvesting standards, excluding environmental groups from launching their own enforcement action in the courts.

Victoria already has a Conservation Regulator in place to ensure the state’s native timber harvesting manager, VicForests, adheres to the Code of Practice for Timber Production.

But the door has been left open for environment groups to mount their own legal action for breaches of the code, with VicForests currently facing 10 court actions.

One of those cases led Supreme Court Justice Melinda Jane Richards in December to slap injunctions on any coupe where a Greater Glider possum has been spotted.

Timber harvesting ground to a halt across many of Victoria’s Central Highlands and East Gippsland coupes in the wake of the pre-Christmas ruling, leaving VicForests struggling to find backup sites.

Justice Richards’ ruling does not require environmentalists to provide proof that they have spotted a Greater Glider in a coupe for it to be declared off limits.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said “it is clear the Opposition do not understand how our Regional Forest Agreements work - removing third party rights would void our agreement with the Commonwealth Government - and potentially open the floodgates for more legal action.

“This Bill is working to reduce litigation the courts by clarifying the Code of Practice - that the Opposition wrote in back in 2014 - to make it more enforceable.

“The Bill simply creates a way for detailed guidance to the timber industry on how to comply with the existing Precautionary Principle, creating clarity around forestry best practice.”

However it remains unclear how NSW has managed to extinguish third-party litigation rights and not breach the RFAs with the Commonwealth.

The Conservation, Forests and Lands Amendment Bill 2022 grants the Minister and her departmental secretary the ability to amend the Code of Practice for Timber Production at any time, which timber industry operators say will add to the uncertainty they already face.

Originally published as Victoria’s native forest timber industry: Bid to save jobs lost