The NSW environmental regulator, the EPA, has been defying public policy, exercising personal bias, and bullying the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), which is responsible for forestry policy.
As a result, the NSW Government, both Liberal and Labor, has been kicking the can down the road for five years, creating a toxic environment where the government has just 100 days to renew critical wood supply contracts.
That is according to Mark Banasiak, an influential member of the NSW Upper House, who addressed powerful NSW Environmental Minister Penny Sharpe in the NSW parliament yesterday with several allegations about the integrity and competence of the EPA.
He said the EPA “insisted on things that were physically impossible to achieve, and they knew that. They insisted on black and white things when they knew they never could be.”
It comes less than 24 hours after Wood Central revealed that a delegation of the NSW Supply Chain for hardwoods met with key members of the State Labor Government, the National Party party room, and the Shooters and Fishers Party, addressing key concerns about the Great Koala Park and the transparency of the process.
According to Mr Banasiak, a member of the NSW Shooters and Fishers Party, “chief scientist and Environment Protection Authority forestry regulator, Jacquelyn Miles, was working hand in glove to obfuscate and delay the process,” adding that the EPA “rightfully knew that the industry needs certainty.” Without this, “the industry was on the brink of collapse.”
“The documents show that anything regarding this process stopped to a grinding halt when it reached Jacquelyn Miles’ inbox, and nothing happened unless a Minister asked what was going on.”
However, the issue goes far beyond personalities within the EPA. Mr Banasiak alleges that DPI—Forestry “was being bullied by the EPA” before adding that “DPI’s David McPherson was ineffectual in achieving a resolution.”
“To be completely frank, DPI Forestry were sitting on their hands. The fact is, there is currently a thinning contract on the table, but it contains a clause that says if EPA arbitrarily decides there is to be no thinning, then the contract is void,” Mr Banasiiak said.
Adding that “this is not a certainty for industry and, hence, the industry will not sign that contract. A healthy forest requires, as a bare minimum, thinning to occur. Without thinning, it is not a healthy forest but a fire hazard.”
This afternoon, Wood Central spoke to Maree McCaskill, the CEO of Timber NSW, who confirmed that the organisation had issued four Freedom of Information Requests on the EPA, FCNSW, Chief Scientist and DPI for the period 2019 to 2021 “to track the decision of Cabinet and then Minister Kean concerning the thinning contract of the red gum.”
Ms McCaskill said the EPA was running the process in name only, with the file notes revealing that the policy was “essentially to do nothing.”
“Former Liberal Minister Kean, who represented the seat of Hornsby, and his successor, former Liberal Minister Griffiths, from Manly, did nothing in the way of follow-up, as is shown by the files obtained under Freedom of Information,” she said.
Before adding, “The only conclusion that could be reached from the material disclosed is that deliberate delay and obfuscation was the objective. The EPA was running its own agenda.”
“It is well known that the EPA, the Department of Environment, and the National Parks are run by ideologues who seek the closure of all hardwood operations in NSW.”
According to Ms McCaskill, the government is in complete denial of the fact that the NSW Transport Department uses hardwood from NSW’s native forests to construct wharves in Sydney Harbour and that the Pyrmont Bridge – which is subject to a 14-stage redevelopment.
“They are also in complete denial that electricity utilities in the State require hardwood poles for fire-prone urban areas, which can only be obtained from Australian native forests (and not imports) because the timber is fire resistant,” she said, referring to a Wood Central report which put the cost of substitutes at 3-5 times higher than native hardwood.
As for the future, Mr Banasiak said, “If ministers do not get their departments under control in our regions, businesses like Gelletly Red Gum Firewood will disappear forever.”
Before adding that companies like Gelletly Red Gum Firewood are entwined in the fabric of their community, “During the most recent floods, the Gelletly family worked tirelessly, from dawn to midnight, with their equipment to build up levees to save towns ahead of the floodwater surge from the Murray. I urge Ministers to get control of their departments.”
A copy of the Hansard from yesterday’s NSW parliament is below:
WOOD SUPPLY AGREEMENTS
The Hon. MARK BANASIAK (11:51): My question without notice is directed to the Minister for the Environment. Wood supply agreements for red gum will run out by 30 June this year. Government Information (Public Access) Act documents show that they have been sitting in limbo within the Minister’s department since 2019, with many workers and businesses in north and south-west New South Wales contemplating job security and uprooting their families due to that uncertainty. Will she direct her department to finalise the renewal of that agreement in earnest so that people and communities can plan for their future?
The Hon. PENNY SHARPE (Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment, and Minister for Heritage) (11:52): I thank the member for his question. I was not aware that the documents had been sitting there since 2019; however, I am not surprised, given the failures of the previous government to finalise almost anything. They did not finalise water-sharing agreements, they did not report in the way they were required to report, they decided to do a whole bunch of reviews that just sat there or disappeared, and they never finalised the National Parks Establishment Plan. There is a long list of failures, and none are good. I will find out what is going on, and I will get back to the member.
The Hon. MARK BANASIAK (12:04): I take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment to my question about the red gumwood supply agreements. I appreciate that she agreed to take the details on notice. Having had the benefit of viewing the documents provided under GIPAA, I can better inform the House and the Minister of what has gone on. The documents show that, despite Ministers’ rhetoric stating they want a sustainable forestry industry, people within their departments, whether by design or ineptness, do not support this view. The documents show active defiance of the Minister’s public statements and people within the department exercising personal biases towards or against an industry.
They show that in 2019, when Minister Kean referred this to the chief scientist and the department, it went around in circles for two years. They show the chief scientist and Environment Protection Authority forestry regulator Jacquelyn Miles working hand in glove to obfuscate and delay the process because they rightly know that the industry needs certainty, and a threat to that certainty pushes the industry to the brink of closure. They insisted on things that were physically impossible to achieve, and they knew that. They insisted on things being black and white when they knew they never could be. The documents show that anything regarding this process stopped to a grinding halt when it reached Jacquelyn Miles’ inbox, and nothing happened unless a Minister asked what was going on.
Further, they show that the EPA was bullying DPI Forestry, and DPI’s David McPherson was ineffectual in achieving a resolution to this issue. To be completely frank, DPI Forestry were sitting on their hands. The fact is, there is currently a thinning contract on the table, but it contains a clause that says if EPA arbitrarily decides there is to be no thinning, then the contract is void. This is not a certainty for an industry, and hence, the industry will not sign that contract. A healthy forest requires, as a bare minimum, thinning to occur. Without thinning, it is not a healthy forest; it is a fire hazard. If Ministers do not get their departments under control, crucial businesses in our regions, like Gelletly Red Gum Firewood, will disappear. This company is entwined in the fabric of its community. During the most recent floods, the Gelletly family worked tirelessly, from dawn to midnight, with their equipment to build up levees to save towns ahead of the floodwater surge from the Murray. I urge Ministers to get control of their departments.
- For more information, read this op-ed by Wood Central contributor Jack Rodden-Green, with evidence of the EPA meddling in native forestry.
