Time is running out for New South Wales’ native forest industry, as the consequences of the Minns Government’s September 2025 moratorium continue to cascade across the state’s North Coast. On 7 September, Wood Central reported that Premier Chris Minns and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe confirmed the entire 176,000‑hectare state forest assessment area would be locked up and folded into the new Great Koala National Park.
The announcement triggered an immediate halt to harvesting in the assessment area — and by 8 January, Wood Central understands that Forestry Corporation NSW ceased all timber deliveries to Pentarch’s Herons Creek and Koolkhan mills. Four Type D agreement holders also saw their supply cut overnight.
To soften the blow, the Minns Government offered a 10‑week business continuity package, followed by negotiations over compensation for the cancelled Type D contracts and all North Coast Pentarch agreements.
Those arrangements were finalised in early December, with Wood Central understanding that Pentarch’s business continuity and compensation package was completed on 11 December 2025.
But the clock has not stopped ticking.
With state‑supplied timber to Pentarch’s mills now gone, the company will be forced to rely entirely on private property — a supply base that is smaller, more fragmented and far from guaranteed. The uncertainty is now rippling through the rest of the industry.
Maree McCaskill, CEO of Timber NSW, said questions now remain on what supply will look like for the remaining crown supplied sawmills and even more critical – why has the work not been done on the promised Forest Industry Plan for the future.
According to McCaskill, Premier Minns has repeatedly told parliament that a sustainable native forest industry will continue, and that a Forest Industry Plan will be delivered. Yet the first stage of research underpinning that plan was completed in December 2023, and no further work has been undertaken.
“We understand nothing will occur until the Premier directs work to be done, and that has not happened. It leaves questions on the real agenda,” said Maree McCaskill, CEO of Timber NSW.
For many in the industry, the silence is becoming louder than the announcements. Without any action on the plan for the future for both hardwood and softwood, the sense is growing that the window for meaningful planning is narrowing — and fast. And as frustration mounts, one observation is becoming harder to ignore: in New South Wales, buck‑passing is fast becoming a political sport
