Australia’s forest and wood product supply chain is backing the Australian Greens’ push to “stamp out misleading and ambiguous environmental claims.” That is according to Diana Hallam, CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), who said the peak body for timber strongly disagrees with several aspects of the Greens’ policy agenda, including “its outdated and longstanding plans to cease sustainable native forest harvesting,” but nonetheless welcomed it’s “refreshing” crackdown on false and misleading claims.
“Radical activists consistently create and promote disinformation about Australia’s forest industries and particularly the sustainable native forest harvesting segment of the sector – and we’d welcome action on that.”
Diana Hallam, CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association
Amongst common disinformation pedalled about the industry include:
- That native forestry is ‘deforestation’. This is completely untrue. The United Nations and the Australian Government defines deforestation as permanent land use change. Every tree in our native forests harvested for timber and wood-fibre in Australia is regenerated and regrown for the future.
- That native forestry is a key reason for the extinction of native flora and fauna. Again, completely untrue. The Federal Government has listed forestry as having the least impact of 11 categories on forest dwelling flora and fauna.
- That plantations can replace native forestry. Not true. Native forestry is essential for flooring, decking, power poles and other appearance grade products. Without it, we’d have to rely more on imports and carbon intense non-renewable substitutes. Australia’s plantations are predominantly softwood, geared towards producing construction timber. Our smaller amount of hardwood plantations are predominantly for the pulp market.
- That Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) are a ‘loophole’ to national environmental laws. Again, not true. An RFA is an alternative mechanism to achieve the objectives of the EPBC Act through a federal-state intergovernmental agreement and the creation of millions of hectares of national parks. They are not a bypass of the EPBC Act and this has been confirmed by the Federal Court of Australia.
“There are many more examples about the myths and disinformation surrounding Australia’s sustainable forest industries, which is a primary reason that as part of AFPA’s election campaign, we’ve launched forestfacts.com.au – a new website dedicated to countering exactly what the Greens want to address,” Ms Hallam said. “I look forward to working with the Greens on cracking down on activists pedalling ‘misleading’ and ‘ambiguous’ environmental claims and call on the other parties to support the initiative.”
Please Note: Wood Central does not take an editorial stance on the Australian native forest industry. It will however publish articles – like this media release – that it deems to be in the public interest and will fact check before posting.
