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Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Darren Chester has slammed the ABC for its ‘one-sided coverage’ of the Australian timber industry. Source: Timberbiz Mr Chester said the Four Corners program, which aired on Monday night, was another example of biased reporting focused on environmental activism. “From the first sentence of the program, it was obvious the ABC wasn’t going to be interested in presenting a balanced view of our world-class and environmentally sustainable native hardwood timber industry,” Mr Chester said. “There was no attempt to include the views of some of Australia’s leading forest scientists who support the hardwood timber industry, as the ABC dragged out the same old activists. “Instead of objective reporting, we were exposed to taxpayer-funded propaganda for the Labor-Greens, who have demonstrated complete and utter contempt for the forest industry in Australia for several decades. “Driven by his desperate need to secure Green preferences in the city, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sold out blue-collar workers in regional communities. “Thousands of jobs have already been lost, communities have been destroyed, and the regions are less safe because we have lost the equipment and the skilled workforce which we’ve always relied on during major bushfire events. “We’ve already seen the Labor Party in Victoria, Western Australia, and New South Wales capitulate to the Greens and the Federal Government’s EPBC Act changes just make it harder to source Australian-grown fibre and result in more imported timber products.” Australian Forest Products Association CEO Richard Hyett said the Four Corners program was not interested in accurately reflecting the latest science, environmental credentials, and economic importance of Australia’s innovative forestry industry. “The story was not balanced, accurate or fair, and blatantly prioritised activism over credible journalism,” Mr Hyett said. “The program ignored the evidence supporting Australia’s world-leading forest management systems and failed to present a balanced assessment of a sustainable industry that provides renewable products, regional jobs and significant environmental benefits.” Mr Chester said the ABC had completely ignored the consequences of Labor Party policies to shut down the native timber industry. “When it comes to timber, governments have two choices. You either harvest your own in an environmentally sustainable manner, or you take someone else’s,” Mr Chester said. “Australia has a trade deficit in timber products, and our dependence on countries like Brazil and Indonesia will only grow in the future if we shut down our own industry. “It’s an insult to hard-working Australians in the timber industry throughout regional Australia that our national broadcaster shows no regard for the social and economic consequences of Labor-Greens policies which target the timber industry.”

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The Tasmanian Forest Products Association has criticised the ABC’s Four Corners program on native timber harvesting for presenting a one-sided and misleading portrayal of Australia’s sustainable native forestry sector while ignoring the science, regulation and sustainability standards that underpin modern forest management. Source: Timberbiz “Tasmania’s forestry sector operates under one of the most highly regulated forest management systems in the world,” he said. “It is independently certified to internationally recognised standards and is specifically designed to deliver ecologically sustainable forest management, strong environmental outcomes and a long-term supply of renewable timber products,” Mr Steel said. “The program failed to acknowledge the significant environmental, economic and social benefits delivered by sustainable forestry, as well as the consequences of reducing domestic timber supply.” Mr Steel said demand for timber has not disappeared. Australia still needed timber for housing, construction and manufacturing. When governments reduced domestic supply, those products are sourced from overseas instead. “Recent decisions to end native forestry in Victoria and Western Australia have increased reliance on imported timber, often from countries that do not operate under Australia’s world-leading forest management standards,” he said. “Restricting domestic production does not reduce demand but simply shifts environmental impacts offshore. “If we stop producing sustainably sourced timber in Australia, we risk increasing pressure on forests in other parts of the world while undermining regional jobs, investment and manufacturing capability at home.” Mr Steel said Tasmania had demonstrated that sustainable timber production and environmental protection can coexist. “Forestry and environmental outcomes are not mutually exclusive. Tasmania has shown that renewable timber production, biodiversity conservation and responsible forest management can work together,” he said. “Rather than attacking a sustainable industry that produces essential products Australians use every day, the focus should be on supporting evidence-based policy and investing in a renewable resource that delivers environmental, economic and community benefits.” Forestry Australia President Dr Michelle Freeman echoed Mr Steel’s view that just because Victoria banned native forest harvesting the demand for timber had not vanished when the harvesting stopped. “I must admit, I’m rather bemused by all the reporting that’s been coming out about this recently, because it’s not surprising at all,” she told 3AW Mornings host Tom Elliott in Melbourne. “Stopping timber harvesting in one area doesn’t magically make demand for that timber go away. Australians want and need timber products, and they should.” She argued the real-world alternative to homegrown timber is rarely no timber at all, but a switch to materials with a heavier environmental footprint. “If we’re not sourcing timber from our own backyard, we have to get it from elsewhere, or substitute it with other products that are almost always non-renewable, like steel, concrete or plastic,” Dr Freeman said, noting timber’s role as a renewable, carbon-storing material with proven health benefits for the people who live and work around it. Pressed by Elliott on suggestions that Tasmanian logs are reaching Victorian mills through a regulatory loophole, Dr Freeman declined to comment on the specifics of the legislation but defended the integrity of the supply chain. “Harvesting in Australia is highly regulated and independently certified,” she said. “I’m confident that whatever is happening is in line with the rules and regulations, because the oversight is strong and there’s such high scrutiny on these operations, particularly from environmental groups. They really can’t be getting away with doing anything untoward.” Her most pertinent warning was reserved for what happens when domestic supply is wound back and Australia leans harder on imports it cannot always trace. She pointed to a timber trade deficit running at around $2 billion a year, “a significant proportion” of it sourced from what she called high-risk countries: “those where the sustainability, environmental and social credentials are hard to verify.” That, she said, includes conflict timber from Russia entering Australia via China. “So, Australia really needs to decide what it wants,” Dr Freeman said. “For me personally, I would much rather we sourced our timber needs locally, from our own forests, where we know where it’s come from and we can verify it.” Mr Steel said that Tasmania’s forestry sector operates under one of the most highly regulated forest management systems in the world. “It is independently certified to internationally recognised standards and is specifically designed to deliver ecologically sustainable forest management, strong environmental outcomes and a long-term supply of renewable timber products. “The program failed to acknowledge the significant environmental, economic and social benefits delivered by sustainable forestry, as well as the consequences of reducing domestic timber supply.” Mr Steel said demand for timber has not disappeared. Australia still needs timber for housing, construction and manufacturing. When governments reduce domestic supply, those products are sourced from overseas instead. “Recent decisions to end native forestry in Victoria and Western Australia have increased reliance on imported timber, often from countries that do not operate under Australia’s world-leading forest management standards,” he said. “Restricting domestic production does not reduce demand but simply shifts environmental impacts offshore. “If we stop producing sustainably sourced timber in Australia, we risk increasing pressure on forests in other parts of the world while undermining regional jobs, investment and manufacturing capability at home.” Mr Steel said Tasmania demonstrates that sustainable timber production and environmental protection can coexist. “Forestry and environmental outcomes are not mutually exclusive. Tasmania has shown that renewable timber production, biodiversity conservation and responsible forest management can work together. “Rather than attacking a sustainable industry that produces essential products Australians use every day, the focus should be on supporting evidence-based policy and investing in a renewable resource that delivers environmental, economic and community benefits.”

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Sustainable Timber Tasmania says it has substantially completed the development of new long-term wood supply arrangements that will guide timber supply through to 2040, replacing existing agreements due to expire in 2027. Source: Timberbiz It says a key feature of the new contracts is a requirement that logs sourced from Tasmania’s public production forests are processed in Tasmania. STT says new wood supply contracts would additionally result in future sawlog supply reflecting the increasing role of Tasmania’s maturing plantation resource, while sustainably managing native forests. STT CEO Dean Kearney said the new arrangements supported both the future evolution of Tasmania’s wood supply mix and continued investment in local processing. “The future of Tasmania’s wood supply is increasingly about the right mix of plantation and native forest resources, backed by local processing, local investment and long-term certainty for industry,” he said. “Tasmania’s sawmilling sector is continuing to invest in new technology, new products and expanded processing capability. These contract changes recognise that investment and support the continued growth of local processing and value-adding.” The new on island processing requirement is intended to support local jobs, encourage further investment and ensure more of the value generated from Tasmania’s public forest resource remains within the State. “Our responsibility is to manage Tasmania’s public forest resource for the benefit of Tasmania. By strengthening on-island processing, we can support local businesses, local jobs and the next generation of investment in Tasmania’s wood processing sector,” Mr Kearney said. The on-island processing requirement forms part of STT’s broader long-term wood supply arrangements, which are designed to provide certainty for customers while supporting sustainable industry development and economic outcomes for Tasmania.

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Monday’s Four Corners investigation into Australia’s native forestry sector has been described as flawed, one-sided, unbalanced and lacked important scientific evidence and industry context. Source: Timberbiz AFPA Acting CEO Richard Hyett said the misleading program was not interested in accurately reflecting the latest science, environmental credentials and economic importance of Australia’s innovative forestry industry. “(The) story was not balanced, accurate or fair, and blatantly prioritised activism over credible journalism,” Mr Hyett said. According to the ABC, after Victoria banned native forest logging in 2024, questions were repeatedly asked in Tasmania about whether logs were crossing Bass Strait to be processed by Victorian sawmills in receipt of compensation payouts. The Four Corners investigation showed that this was the case, resulting in state-owned logging company Sustainable Timber Tasmania updating an answer it had given in parliament. Tasmanian sawmill operator James Neville-Smith confirmed to Four Corners that some logs had been sent to Victoria, where processors had received compensation from the Victorian government as part of its industry shutdown. Mr Neville-Smith told the program the decision was due to retooling a sawmill to be plantation-only, meaning that hardwood logs needed to be processed elsewhere. The ABC conceded that contracts with sawmillers did not include an explicit requirement for logs to be processed in Tasmania, but that it would be included in contracts under negotiation to cover 2027 to 2040. But Mr Hyett said the program had ignored the evidence supporting Australia’s world-leading forest management systems and failed to present a balanced assessment of a sustainable industry that provides renewable products, regional jobs and significant environmental benefits. “Disappointingly, Four Corners revoked an opportunity for AFPA – the peak national body for forestry – to provide an industry response, despite inviting our spokesperson to speak in April. “We were one of many industry representatives who were ignored or misrepresented by Four Corners.” Mr Hyett said the program also failed to acknowledge the real-world consequences of the short-sighted decisions to end native forestry in Victoria and Western Australia. “Evidence-based research shows domestic demand for timber and wood products does not stop – and these shutdowns only increase our reliance on imported hardwood products, sourced from Indonesia and Brazil that don’t operate under Australia’s world-class forest management systems,” Mr Hyett said. “Native bans in Victoria and WA have also had devastating impacts on regional jobs and communities, local economies and long-term investment in Australia’s sixth-largest manufacturing sector. “Rather than slamming an industry contributing more than $24 billion a year to the economy, Four Corners should have focused on the need to invest in sustainable forestry and support essential Australian-made products used every day, including flooring, decking, furniture, pallets, packaging, paper and power poles. “The 80,000 Australians employed in forestry in many regional communities would also take offence to working for a ‘zombie industry’, as one academic incorrectly claimed in the story. “No wonder the One Nation vote is soaring in Australia, given this type of baseless rhetoric from our national broadcaster. “We can’t afford to weaken our sovereign manufacturing capability or continue outsourcing timber production overseas.  Sustainable native forestry has an important role to play in Australia’s economic and environmental future.” The ABC reported that on Saturday, Sustainable Timber Tasmania chief executive officer Dean Kearney wrote to a government business scrutiny committee to update an answer given in parliament in November. “STT’s acting chief executive officer advised that all sawlogs delivered by STT to its customers were processed in Tasmania,” he wrote. “That advice was understood to be correct at the time, and it was provided in good faith. “STT has since become aware that a small quantity of sawlogs delivered by STT to Tasmanian customers were on sold and processed interstate. “STT was not informed of these arrangements at the time.” In an interview with Four Corners, Resources Minister Felix Ellis said all logs from public forests were provided to mills in Tasmania. He was later made aware that some were being on sold to interstate processors. Mr Ellis described that as “disappointing”.

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