Australia’s revamped environmental laws—including a national EPA—must recognise the country’s environmental, economic, and social goals and, crucially, the role of native forestry and plantation forestry in achieving its decarbonisation ambitions. That is according to Diana Hallam, CEO of Australia’s Forest Products Association (AFPA), who attended the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Reforms Roundtable in Canberra today.
“When invited by the Minister (Murray Watt) to speak, I made it clear that we support EPBC Act reform but that sustainable native and plantation forestry must be allowed to continue and grow in recognition of its importance to Australia’s climate goals,” Hallam said. “I alerted those gathered that in the five years since the independent review of the EPBC Act (the Samuel Review) was handed to the government, many developments in science, innovation, and data capture have demonstrated forestry’s improved custodianship of the environment. We have also seen terrible consequences from decisions made in haste that have been detrimental to forest industries and the environment.”
Victorian taxpayers are now paying contractors $72m a year to manage bushfires
Hallam said that since the removal of the Victorian Regional Forest Agreement and the abolition of VicForests, the Victorian Government (and the taxpayer) was forced to pay contractors $72 million every year for bushfire management: “Expanses of Victorian Mountain Ash have failed to regrow following severe bushfires, something VicForests would have been legally required to address, and uncertainty reigns because EPBC Act approval requirements remain unclear without the RFA and VicForests guidance impeding plantation investment.”
Most recently, Hallam said the Federal Court’s decision, in January 2024, confirmed that Regional Forest Agreements are achieving the objectives of the EPBC Act. “It is noteworthy that the NSW North East RFA references the EPBC Act 94 times. Improvements to Australia’s environmental laws will help provide regulatory certainty and allow Australia’s forest industries to be rightfully acknowledged as leading practitioners of ecologically sustainable development.”
“Without native and plantation forestry, we cannot protect the environment and decarbonise the economy. A strong forestry sector is required to meet so many of Australia’s future challenges, and the Albanese Government’s EPBC Act Reforms must support a strong forestry industry going forward,” Hallam said.
