Native hardwood forests across Victoria would reopen to selective harvesting if One Nation wins November’s state election. That is according to Warren Pickering, One Nation’s Victorian leader, who set out the party’s timber plan on Friday, less than two months out from polling day.
“Locking up forests without this sort of access just invites worse outcomes,” Pickering said, arguing that foresters need regular access to manage pests and bushfire risk. He said Victoria’s forests are “in bad shape,” with public funding for state forests and national parks “completely inadequate.”
Under its plan, One Nation would provide that access through “detailed forest practice plans based on sustainable selective harvesting models successfully used interstate and overseas, with detailed monitoring and oversight.” Old-growth forest and native habitats would be “strictly protected,” Pickering said, with the model “self-sustaining by funding management operations through harvest revenue.”
Tasmania would be the new model for Victorian native forests
Tasmania is the model Pickering has cited, with the island state’s Forest Practices Act 1985 barring any harvesting until a Forest Practices Plan is in place. Each plan must be certified by an officer whom the independent Forest Practices Authority trains and appoints, and, once certified, it becomes a legal document that must be followed.
It comes as Pickering said 17,000 Victorian forestry jobs are at risk, with the home-grown industry “struggling against cheap imports from countries with lower environmental stewardship standards.” That is the same number of direct jobs the Victorian Forest Products Association counts in a state it says leads Australia with more than 380,000 hectares of plantations.
To protect those jobs, One Nation would introduce a “local wood first” rule for government procurement and push for country-of-origin labels on timber and wood products. Pickering made both pledges as the party’s lead Senate candidate for Victoria last year, and has also backed training and education to ensure “a steady supply of workers.”
Both pledges also appear in One Nation’s national forestry platform, with the party backing native forestry at current levels across Australia. Only six of every 10,000 native trees in Australia are harvested each year, according to One Nation, which opposes locking away any more native forest available for harvesting.
Whilst One Nation wants the forests reopened, Labor has stood by the closure and the $1.5 billion it committed to the transition from native timber. It has extended funding for its Forestry Transition Program to the 2027-28 financial year, with Victorian Agriculture Minister Michaela Settle saying on Tuesday that Labor is “growing local plantation timber.”
The Nationals have also backed the industry, with Danny O’Brien, Leader of the Victorian Nationals, vowing to “continue to support the native timber industry in Victoria.” As it stands, the Coalition is still finalising its policy, according to Melina Bath, the Nationals MP whose portfolio includes timber.
Please note: Wood Central will not take a political stance on the 2026 Victorian state election and invites all parties contesting it to provide a contribution to the masthead.
