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Firefighter safety in Australia requires urgent attention as forest structure, fuel loads and fire behaviour shift toward more dangerous conditions. Past crown fires have created dense shrub dominated understoreys, abundant dead wood, reduced height stratification and continuous vertical and horizontal fuel pathways. Source: John O’Donnell These changes favour highly combustible species, replace grassy forest types and generate higher fuel loads, easier crown access and more uniform landscape connectivity. The result is greater intensity, severity and duration in subsequent fires and a recurring cycle of extreme bushfire behaviour that significantly increases firefighter risk. O’Donnell (2023) identifies 21 major firefighter safety concerns across southeastern Australian forests. These include insufficient prescribed burning, inadequate resilient forest management, unsafe access and evacuation routes, poorly located water supplies, ineffective suppression techniques, declining backburning expertise, misuse of aircraft, under adoption of safety technologies, loss of local knowledge, hazardous smoke exposure, declining skilled workforce and other concerns. O’Donnell (2025a) further argues that failures in mitigation, policy and accountability force crews into long unburnt, high fuel forests where flame heights, spotting distances, tree fall hazards and poor access routinely exceed safe suppression thresholds. It is noted that dense understorey fuels and dead timber represent major hazards across southeastern Australia and that future bushfires under bad weather and drought conditions will likely be of high intensity, high severity and long duration, making firefighting extremely difficult. Prescribed burning is central to reducing these risks. Burrows and Sneeuwjagt (2020a) emphasise that fuel reduction burning makes fires slower, less intense and far easier and safer to suppress. Long unburnt eucalypt forests accumulate deep layers of dead fine fuels exceeding 50 t/ha, dramatically increasing flame height, spotting potential and suppression difficulty. Historical data from southwest Western Australia show wildfire extent escalates when annual fuel reduction falls below about 8% of the landscape. Burrows and Sneeuwjagt (2020b) highlight that prescribed burning expands the suppression window, reduces flame height and spotting, improves access and egress, creates anchor points and enables safer backburning and rapid containment line construction. Recent research reinforces the dangers of high severity and repeat fires. Barker and Price (2018) show that high severity fire produces structural legacies that increase the probability of extreme severity in the next fire, creating a positive feedback loop. Barker et al. (2021) demonstrate that high severity fires produce denser midstorey fuels and reduced canopy cover, increasing vertical fuel continuity and crown involvement. Kasel et al. (2024) highlight that short interval, high severity wildfires deplete diversity, alter species composition and increase flammability, exposing resilience debt and driving long term ecological instability. van Wagtendonk et al. (2012) show that reburn severity reflects combined legacies of fire history, vegetation structure and weather. The review also incorporates international safety insights. Kantor et al. (2026) provide quantitative data linking specific fire management activities to injury frequency and severity, showing that many injuries arise from environmental hazards rather than unsafe behaviour. The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Centre provides extensive incident data on medical events, tree strikes, entrapments, vehicle incidents, heat illness and aviation incidents. Gabbert (2016) shows that medical issues, aircraft accidents and vehicle accidents each contribute more fatalities than entrapments, but the latter is a major issue. Section 10 outlines 54 opportunities to improve firefighter safety, including explicit fuel reduction targets, ridge top burning, dead timber treatment, improved access and egress, statutory safety objectives, independent oversight, enhanced training, updated suppression doctrine, entrapment avoidance procedures, tree hazard assessments, contingency planning and national aviation operating procedures. Read the full firefighter safety review here.

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Twenty-four staff members from Parkside Group’s Wandoan, Theodore and Wondai Mills have graduated from the FWP30322 Certificate III in Timber and Wood Products Operations traineeship under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALMS) program. Source: NTHA The PALMS workers, who are from Tonga, arrived in Australia from March 2024 as part of an up to four-year program. They completed their chainsaw units in June, finalising their traineeships and achieving their timber industry qualification. Parkside Group has been a great supporter of the PALMS workers program and NTHA Training, providing living, employment and training opportunities for these workers to develop their skills and experience within the timber industry. The program provides workers with valuable skills they can eventually take back to Tonga and implement within their own communities and workplaces. Parkside also places strong value on the ongoing upskilling of its Australian workforce, supporting employees through traineeships and qualification training, including the FWP30322 Certificate III in Timber and Wood Products Operations and BSB40520 Certificate IV in Leadership and Management. Parkside has welcomed regular intakes of PALMS workers since 2023, including workers from Samoa and Tonga. From NTHA Training’s perspective, the trainees have been extremely keen, appreciative and a pleasure to train and work with throughout the program. Dave Milard from Parkside Group has been instrumental in getting the program up and running and supporting its ongoing success. The partnership highlights the value of industry-led training programs in creating employment pathways, developing skills and supporting workforce capability across the timber industry.

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Stephen Green is retiring from Tigercat, ending an accomplished career spanning 26 years of support for the Tigercat product throughout Australasia, particularly Australia. His retirement marks the conclusion of a career defined by technical expertise, customer focus, and a genuine passion for the forestry industry. Source: Timberbiz Mr Green’s connection with Tigercat began long before he officially joined the company. For eight years, he supported Tigercat equipment through former dealer Forest Centre, developing a deep understanding of both the products and the people who relied on them. He formally joined the Tigercat support team on 1 August 2008, beginning what would become 18 years of dedicated factory support service. Throughout his career, Mr Green earned a reputation for professionalism, loyalty, and practical problem-solving. Whether assisting dealers with technical challenges, supporting operators in the field, or helping customers maximize machine performance, he became a trusted resource throughout the region. “I have been fortunate to spend my career working with outstanding customers, dealers, and colleagues across Australia and New Zealand,” said Mr Green. “The forestry industry is built on strong relationships, and I am grateful for the many friendships and experiences that have made this career so rewarding. I would like to thank everyone who has been part of the journey and wish the Tigercat team continued success in the years ahead.” Over the years, Mr Green became a familiar face across the Australian forestry sector, serving as an important link between customers, dealers, and the factory. His commitment to providing responsive, hands-on support reflected the customer-first approach that has long been central to Tigercat’s success. As Tigercat continues to strengthen its support presence throughout Australia, Mr Green’s responsibilities will be shared among the existing Australian-based team, including Damien Ambrose, Jake Peters, and Warren Nolan, who will continue assisting customers and dealer partner Onetrak. After 26 years supporting the Tigercat brand and 18 years as a factory representative, Mr Green leaves behind a legacy of dedication, integrity, and service excellence. His contributions have helped strengthen Tigercat’s reputation throughout Australasia and positively impacted customers, dealers, and colleagues alike. “Steve’s professionalism, passion, and commitment to customers, dealers, and the Tigercat team has left a lasting impression across the Australasian forestry industry,” said Glen Marley, Tigercat District Manager, Australia and New Zealand. As he begins the next chapter of life, everyone at Tigercat extends sincere thanks for his years of service and wishes Mr Green, his wife Liz, and their family many years of health, happiness, and fulfillment in retirement.

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Pan Pac was awarded Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti Exporter of the Year at the ExportNZ ASB Hawke’s Bay Export Awards 2026 held on 6 August. Source: Timberbiz The company said that winning Exporter of the Year was a tremendous honour and a win for all staff for their hard mahi over the past three years, as well as the contractors and suppliers who supported us. The Exporter of the Year award is given to a business that has demonstrated sustained and outstanding performance and results in terms of: Earnings, growth and profit Leadership and direction Excellence in marketing Strategy and business planning Commitment to quality management Governance.   Managing Director Tony Clifford said the award recognised all the people who have supported Pan Pac, including employees, contractors and all the other links in our supply chain, including NZTE, Chamber of Commerce, Port of Napier, and PWC, who contributed to Pan Pac’s ability to make and sell to export markets. He noted that all business is challenging but exporting has extra challenges that are often out of your control such as currency movements, shipping costs, and tariffs, but the effort is worth it in the end. The award judges recognised Pan Pac’s ability to rebuild export momentum following Cyclone Gabrielle, despite its mill being closed for 12 months. They said Pan Pac stood out as an established exporter that had returned to global markets with focus and ambition, supported by strong customer relationships, an integrated forest products model, and a disciplined approach to rebuilding supply. ExportNZ Regional Manager Amanda Liddle said Pan Pac’s success demonstrated the strength of the region’s export sector. “Pan Pac’s story is one of resilience, scale, and ambition. The team has recovered from significant disruption and returned to global markets with real focus, while continuing to make a major contribution to Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand,” she said.

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Forest & Wood Communities Australia (FWCA) has escalated its complaint about ABC Four Corners’ Timber Turmoil to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, after rejecting the ABC Ombudsman’s finding that the broadcast did not breach the ABC Code of Practice. Source: Timberbiz FWCA Chair and Director Steve Dobbyns said the Ombudsman’s decision failed to deal with the substance of the complaint and set an unacceptably low bar for accuracy, impartiality and fair dealing. “The ABC has effectively marked its own homework and declared there is nothing to see,” Mr Dobbyns said. “FWCA rejects that conclusion. Timber Turmoil was not balanced, rigorous or properly contextual journalism. It was an activist-framed prosecution of Australian native forestry.” FWCA is asking ACMA to review whether the broadcast complied with the ABC Code of Practice, including requirements that material facts be accurate and presented in context, that news and information be presented with due impartiality, and that organisations subject to damaging implications be dealt with fairly. Mr Dobbyns said one of the clearest failures was the treatment of Professor David Lindenmayer. “Four Corners presented Professor Lindenmayer as a leading forest ecologist and the principal scientific authority in the story,” he said. “But viewers were not given a careful scientific explanation of contemporary regulated native forestry. They were given highly charged opinion – including claims that native forestry is a ‘zombie industry that just won’t die’ and that the industry had ‘raped and pillaged the forests of Victoria’. “Those are not neutral scientific findings. They are emotive, activist-style characterisations. “If Four Corners was going to give that commentary the authority of science, it had an obligation to test it against equivalent scientific evidence from forest scientists, silvicultural experts and practitioners with direct knowledge of modern regulated harvesting, regeneration, threatened species prescriptions, certification and regrowth management. “It did not.” Mr Dobbyns said the Ombudsman appeared to accept that comments from a politician and a timber business representative were enough to balance Professor Lindenmayer’s scientific authority. “That is plainly inadequate,” he said. “A politician or business owner referring to sustainable forestry is not an equivalent scientific response. “Balance is not achieved by counting heads. It depends on authority, airtime, sequencing, imagery, tone, framing and whether the strongest claims from each side are properly tested.” FWCA said the program gave anti-forestry and activist voices the narrative momentum, emotive imagery and dominant storyline, while forestry voices were often placed in defensive or limited roles. Mr Dobbyns said production correspondence also raised concerns about the program’s editorial approach. “In an email to Timber NSW Chair Andrew Hurford before the program aired, the Four Corners reporter referred to him as a ‘formidable opponent’,” he said. “We do not rely on that phrase in isolation, but it is consistent with the broader concern that industry representatives were approached as adversaries, not as principal stakeholders whose evidence deserved fair examination.” FWCA also refers to Timber NSW’s account that the Four Corners team repeatedly sought to have Mr Hurford say “End native forestry” to camera before adding his own comments. “If accurate, that suggests an attempt to manufacture a loaded broadcast moment rather than fairly elicit the industry’s position,” Mr Dobbyns said. FWCA said the treatment of Australian Sustainable Hardwoods was another serious concern. “The program told viewers Victorian taxpayers had put ‘more than $110 million into ASH’,” Mr Dobbyns said. “That figure bundled together very different categories of money to create the most damaging number possible. “ASH has publicly stated it did not receive $61 million in 2017, but $3 million applied to union-negotiated redundancy entitlements, leaving it with a net position of zero. “ASH has also stated the $49 million referred to in the program was not a subsidy, but a contractual failure-to-supply penalty arising from the Victorian Government and VicForests failing to meet agreed timber supply obligations. After tax, ASH says the actual amount received was $34 million, and every cent of it, and more, was reinvested into stock, jobs, plant, equipment and manufacturing capability. “The ABC should have clearly distinguished between subsidies, contractual penalties, shareholder transactions, grants, redundancy payments, tax and reinvestment. It did not. “If a program uses forensic accounting commentary, the public is entitled to expect forensic precision. That did not happen.” FWCA said the broadcast also failed to properly examine import leakage – the central environmental consequence of shutting down Australian native timber supply. “Closing Australian native forestry does not make timber demand disappear,” Mr Dobbyns said. “Research by Venn, Huang and Lachhwani indicates that for every 1,000 cubic metres reduction in Australian native forest sawlog production, Australia imports approximately 813 cubic metres of solid wood products to replace it. “In other words, more than 80 per cent of reduced domestic supply is effectively replaced by imports. “As Timber Turmoil itself illustrated, closing Australian native forestry does not end demand; it displaces much of that demand to other jurisdictions.” Mr Dobbyns said Australia already imports timber from countries with weaker forest governance, higher deforestation risk, poorer legality controls and less transparent supply chains. “If the ABC is going to present native forestry closure as an environmental good, it must examine where replacement timber comes from, what standards apply there, and whether Australia is simply exporting harvesting pressure, biodiversity risk, carbon emissions and legality concerns to other nations,” he said. “Mentioning import concerns in passing is not enough. A principal counterargument must be investigated, tested and weighed.” FWCA said the program also failed regional workers and communities. “Workers, contractors, truck drivers, forestry families, mechanics, sawmill towns and small businesses were treated as background scenery in a story about their own future,” Mr Dobbyns said. “Four Corners found time for activists, log chasing, dramatic imagery and highly charged commentary. It should have found time for the workers and communities whose livelihoods were being judged.” FWCA is asking ACMA to review whether Timber Turmoil breached the ABC Code of Practice and is calling on the ABC to publish a clarification on the ASH financial figures, provide a genuine right of reply […]

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The Tasmanian Government will move to establish a Select Committee to interrogate the sale of Rushy Lagoon in Parliament this week. Source: Timberbiz The proposed Select Committee will inquire into matters including the influence of Commonwealth funding on the sale, the extent to which Commonwealth funding facilitated the conversion of productive agricultural land in Tasmania to carbon sequestration, and the transparency around the process. Premier Rockliff said the Federal Government’s role in funding and approving the sale of Rushy Lagoon needs further scrutiny. “Rushy Lagoon has long been recognised as one of Tasmania’s premier agricultural enterprises, supporting jobs, regional economic activity and food production,” Premier Rockliff said. “Our government is a strong supporter of the forestry industry, however, there is genuine community concern about the implications of this sale, how it happened and what it means for productive agricultural land across our State. “Tasmanians want confidence that strategic farming assets will remain available to support food production, regional communities and future generations of farmers. “The Parliament has an important role to play in this – it is incredibly serious for the future of Tasmania.” Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Gavin Pearce, said we have been working with and listening to TasFarmers and the broader agricultural community. “TasFarmers, producers and regional communities have been very upfront about their serious concerns about the future of this highly productive agricultural land,” Minister Pearce said. “We need answers to questions about the impact on food production, agricultural employment, regional investment and opportunities for future agricultural ownership. “There are serious questions that need serious answers, and it should be a line in the sand for Labor, will they keep running protection for their overlords in Canberra? “Tasmania’s agricultural land is one of our most valuable strategic assets and it is important that Parliament examines whether we have the right settings in place to protect our long-term agricultural interests. “This inquiry is about ensuring Tasmanians can have confidence that decisions impacting our most significant agricultural assets are being properly scrutinised and that the interests of regional communities are being considered.”

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