PRESS RELEASE: Political expediency trumps science, economics and regional communities
Forest & Wood Communities Australia (FWCA) is disappointed that in announcing the new Great Koala National Park (GKNP), the Minns Government appears to have chosen political expediency before science, economics and regional communities.
According to Executive Officer Steve Dobbyns, FWCA believes that Penny Sharpe, the Minister responsible for dealing with the crossbench and the architect of the flawed GKNP assessment process, has done a back room deal with Independents Alex Greenwich, Michael Reagan and Jacqui Scruby in the Lower House to transfer the full 176,000 hectares of State forest into a new National Park, as trade-off to get changes to workers compensation legislation through the Lower House.
“Workers have been shafted in both directions by Minister Sharpe. This backroom deal to include the full assessment area in the GKNP will not only threaten more than 5700 jobs reliant on our sustainable native forest industry on the north coast but also limits claims by all NSW workers with a psychological injury. It could be viewed as a twin edged sword for those workers who are now out of a job because of the GKNP decision”, said Mr Dobbyns.
FWCA points to real world examples of similar city-centric decisions in Victoria and Western Australia that have come at a significant cost to Government and decimated rural communities.
“The industry package to shut Victoria’s sustainably managed native timber industry is $1.5 Billion!!! On top of which, Victorians are paying an additional $72 Million per year to engage the same harvesting contractors to undertake bushfire prevention and fire suppression. These decisions have also done nothing to dampen demand for our most sustainable building material – timber!!”, said Mr Dobbyns.
In 2024 alone, Australia imported 46% of its solid wood needs due to an ever-decreasing plantation and native forest estate across the country. In a housing crisis, where 1/3 of the timber needs of the average 1 or 2 storey detached home comes from hardwood timber, FWCA believes the last thing Governments across Australia should be doing is locking up any more managed native forests.
Throughout the GKNP assessment process, the Industry Advisor Panel (IAP) provided several options on the potential size of the park and the likely impacts.
“The industry respects the Government’s election promise to create the GKNP, but the second part of their election promise was do so in a manner that maintained a viable, sustainable timber industry. We know the science shows koalas are unaffected by our highly regulated, sustainably managed timber harvesting operations and by which side of the National Park/State forest boundary they live on, so we provided Government with various options so they could fulfil both election commitments. It’s unfortunate that they have ignored that advice and taken the worst case scenario, which will likely cost NSW upwards of $1.25 billion”, said Mr Dobbyns.
(See attached Table)
Despite the timber industry’s good faith approach and participation in the GKNP assessment process over the last couple of years, FWCA is very disappointed that the Government has turned its back on the science, economics and regional communities and taken the politically expedient way out”, said Mr Dobbyns.
For further information or comment, please contact Steve at Forests & Wood Communities Australia on 0427 990 317 in the first instance.
Kind regards
Steve Dobbyns
Executive Officer
Forest & Wood Communities Australia
