24th Feb 2021, 4:14 PM – Senate Motions - Forestry - End native forest logging

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Victorian Senator Janet Rice (Greens), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) Australia's native forests are under threat – more than 12.6 million hectares were burnt and over 3 billion animals killed during the 2019-20 summer – and logging has restarted in and near forests burnt in the fires,

(ii) campaigners around the country are protesting to protect Australia's native forests, including:

(A) in the Wentworth Hills in Tasmania's Central Highlands,

(B) in the Tarkine, protecting Australia's largest temperate rainforest,

(C) on the Errinundra Plateau in East Gippsland,

(D) in Olney Forest, New South Wales, and

(E) in Western Australia's South West forests,

(iii) legal challenges have shown that regional forest agreements (RFA) are unsustainable, with the win for the Friends of Leadbeater's Possum in Victoria, and the Bob Brown Foundation's legal case showing that RFAs do not have to protect threatened wildlife, and

(iv) the Samuel review noted that 'environmental considerations under the RFA Act are weaker than those imposed elsewhere...and do not align with the assessment of significant impacts on MNES required by the EPBC Act…', and that 'Commonwealth oversight of environmental protections under RFAs is insufficient…'; and

(b) calls on the Government to end native forest logging, and provide a just transition for forestry workers including in the plantation timber industry.