Federal minister’s lack of control on logging ‘absurd’

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Federal minister’s lack of control on logging ‘absurd’

The federal environment minister is under pressure to immediately claw back control over state-based logging activities that harm native forests.

Federal independents say Tanya Plibersek has an absurd lack of authority over how logging is affecting the habitats of species she’s promised to save from extinction.

They include the koala and the greater glider, both of which are protected under federal environment laws.

However, logging operations covered by regional forestry agreements are exempt from those laws.

Teal independents Sophie Scamps and Monique Ryan and independent Senator David Pocock say it’s a ludicrous situation that a recent review found must change.

They warn imperilled species can’t wait for reforms the Labor government has promised.

“The federal environment minister must immediately take action to bring the logging of state forests within her control,” Dr Scamps said in a statement on Monday.

The independents are working with businessman and environmental campaigner Geoff Cousins, who has previously declared war on the NSW Forestry Corporation.

Mr Cousins helped ***** off the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania and has vowed to do the same to native forest logging in NSW.

Dr Scamps says regulators are failing to rein in rogue logging operations and pointed to the recent conduct of the NSW government-owned Forestry Corporation.

“Since January 2020, the NSW Environment Protection Agency has issued 31 warnings, 13 penalty notices, five stop work orders and eight prosecutions against the Forestry Corporation NSW,” she says.

“Additionally there are currently 17 investigations, with four prosecutions ongoing.”

Dr Scamps says the corporation has also paid out almost $1.7 million in fines over the past four years, with taxpayers shouldering the costs associated with the EPA’s investigations.

“It’s madness to have one government body spending millions of dollars to chase another, and a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Senator Pocock says the prime minister confirmed earlier in September that promised environmental law reforms won’t happen in this term of parliament.

“At a bare minimum we need to act now, through legislation currently before the Senate, to remove the regional forest agreements exemption from our national environmental laws,” Senator Pocock said.

“This extremely modest amendment would just mean that native forest logging is subject to assessment under federal environment law, because currently it is not.”

AAP has sought comment from Ms Plibersek, NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe, and the Forestry Corporation of NSW.

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