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The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Half-yearly loss of almost $15m for NSW native forest logging shows industry future shaky, conservationists say
The native forest logging division of the New South Wales government's forestry agency has posted a half-yearly loss of almost $15m, prompting renewed questions about the industry's economic viability. The half-year report for 2024-25, tabled in the state's parliament last week, shows the hardwood forests division lost $14.9m, which is $9m more than the agency had projected – taking the division's total losses since 2020 to $87m. The Forestry Corporation of NSW said in its report that several factors had contributed to the half-yearly loss, including higher than expected land management costs, lower than forecast timber production due to adverse weather conditions, and regulatory changes such as the establishment of 'koala hubs' in the proposed great koala national park. But critics in the conservation sector said the ongoing losses from the division raised questions for the government about its financial sustainability. 'It's long past time premier Chris Minns and treasurer Daniel Mookhey stepped in to stem the losses and re-orientate the timber industry in NSW to a sustainable plantation based future,' said Justin Field from the Forest Alliance NSW. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Field, a former independent member of the NSW upper house, called for more government scrutiny of the financial losses from the hardwood division, saying 'the taxpayer deserves a rethink'. 'Why would they throw good money after bad only to see our native wildlife suffer? It makes no sense,' he said. Forestry Corporation's revenue from all of its operations for the first half of the 2024-25 financial year was $193.9m, according to the report. The report said this was $15m below target 'due to continuous disruptions in hardwood production, a decrease in commercial firewood demand resulting from milder weather, and ongoing suppression of market demand for softwood products'. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion A spokesperson for the Forestry Corporation of NSW said: 'overall the balance sheet is in a net asset position of $1.6bn'. 'The claim that native timber forestry operations are loss making and subsidised demonstrates poor understanding of the information and financial accounting in the half-yearly report,' they said. 'Over the past four years, Forestry Corporation has returned more than $13m in dividends to the people of NSW, while providing community services including free public access, free camping and picnic areas, community roads, fire protection and pest and weed management.' But the chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Jacqui Mumford, said the ongoing losses from the hardwood division suggested 'native forest logging in NSW clearly does not have a viable future'. 'It makes no sense that taxpayers are subsidising a loss-making business that destroys precious habitat when we should be supporting local communities and viable industries that do have a future.' Mumford noted that the softwood plantations division of the forestry agency, which posted half yearly earnings of $14.4m, remained profitable. A government spokesperson said the government was working to finalise the forestry industry action plan – a roadmap for the industry under development. 'We recognise that forestry is facing challenging times, from weather events to regulatory changes,' they said. 'That's why we are working to get this action plan right – to align a sustainable timber industry with the government's key environmental priorities.'
The Guardian
16-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Endangered greater gliders recorded in proposed great koala national park in NSW as logging continues
Government surveys have found tens of thousands of endangered greater gliders could be living within the proposed area for a great koala national park in New South Wales, prompting new calls for the area to be quickly protected from logging. Data from aerial drone and ground-based surveys at 169 sites within the proposed park were used to model the likely presence of Australia's largest gliding possum across the entire 176,000 hectares the NSW government is considering for protection. The Minns Labor government promised to create a koala national park before the state election more than two years ago, but has not taken a decision on the boundaries and has allowed logging to continue. Between April and July 2024, the surveys detected greater gliders at 82 sites. The government's analysis estimated the planned park has between 29,693 and 44,211 gliders, with a mean estimate of 36,483. Some survey sites in the north-west recorded 'extremely high detections' of the species, according to the new report. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter 'This puts paid to any argument that this is not an environmentally significant area and endorses the protection of the complete 176,000 hectares in a national park,' Justin Field, spokesperson for the Forest Alliance NSW and former independent member of the NSW upper house, said. A great koala national park in in the state's north was NSW Labor's key environmental commitment at the 2023 election, but two years on, the government has given no indication of when it will announce how much of the 176,000 hectares it plans to protect. 'The politically pointed question is: why is Chris Minns allowing the great potential legacy of this park to be undermined by a slow decision?' Field said. A NSW government spokesperson said the creation of the park was 'one of our key election commitments, and it will be delivered soon'. 'Creating this park will protect koalas, and that protection will extend to other important species including gliders.' Community groups and conservation advocates have grown increasingly frustrated as the government has allowed logging to continue within the proposed park instead of declaring a moratorium until assessment is complete. 'These gliders do not tolerate logging and this report should motivate the Minns government to immediately end logging in the proposed great koala national park,' the chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Jacqui Mumford, said. 'In fact, logging should cease in all state forest areas identified as containing greater gliders.' Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Kita Ashman, a threatened species and climate adaptation ecologist at WWF Australia, said the report highlighted the significance of the proposed park for multiple species. 'That's the crux of the whole story,' she said. 'Yes, we're calling it the great koala national park. But you could easily call it the great greater glider national park – although it doesn't have the same ring to it.' The forest alliance, made up of community and state environment groups focused on forest conservation, said it was also concerned about the findings of the government surveys for another glider species, the vulnerable yellow-bellied glider. The report found yellow-bellied gliders were less abundant than other species assessed, with the drone and on-ground surveys detecting the animals at only 21% of the sites. Because of the low number of observations, the government was unable to estimate an overall population number for the species within the park area. Field said this highlighted a need for further investigation to understand its conservation status.
