NSW court judgement greenlights demise of wildlife

A recent judgement handed down in the NSW Land and Environment Court has effectively given the state-owned Forestry Corporation the green light to destroy endangered and threatened wildlife.

The judgement has caused massive concern in both the scientific and environmental communities.

Earlier this year, the Environmental Defenders Office, on behalf of the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) challenged the corporation’s approval of harvest plans for industrial logging in Braemer and Myrtle state forest compartments under judicial review provisions.

One of the grounds of the legal challenge was the failure of the corporation to carry out ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM), particularly focused on the impacts of logging on koalas, in approving the harvest plans of the two forests.

The blanket approval for logging operations, known as the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA), signed off by ministers for environment and forestry in November 2018, requires ESFM.

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Normal practice, in terms of logging state forest compartments, is for the corporation to approve a harvest plan that details resident species of flora and fauna. Certain requirements for various species of flora and fauna based on CIFOA protocols and conditions provide extremely limited protection. Scientific research used to justify the ongoing destruction is based on significantly out-of-date science.

No changes have been made in terms of forestry operations that reflect the endangered status of koalas, greater gliders and other species impacted by the industry.

Both forests were significantly burnt in the 2019-20 bushfires, impacting important koala populations and their habitat. Koalas were slowly recovering, together with other endangered wildlife.

As a result of the challenge, the corporation had to stop work in both forests.

The NSW Forestry Act 2012 sets out the principles of ESFM which include the precautionary principle:

‘c) where its activities affect the environment, to conduct its operations in compliance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development contained in section 6(2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991...’

However, Justice Sarah Pritchard found that the corporation was not obliged to carry out any ESFM undertakings in approving harvest plans as the November 2018 approval covered the ESFM requirements.

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Dailan Pugh, spokesperson for NEFA, summed up the crisis:

“If logging now resumes, it will be devastating for the future of koalas and 23 other threatened species inhabiting these forests, including the southern greater glider, yellow bellied glider, rufous bettong, masked owl and squirrel glider.”

This article provides a simplistic version of a complex judgement demonstrating the limitations of judicial review with no review of merits, only errors at law.

The judgement also demonstrates a deeply concerning situation with major parties in government ensuring any legal challenges over the corporation’s industrial logging are exceptionally difficult.

Perhaps the only positive outcome of the NEFA challenge was the ruling that the group had standing to mount a challenge, creating a precedent for possible future public citizen legal efforts. However, finding grounds remains elusive.

Taxpayers, meantime, are funding a state-owned corporation running at significant losses.

The CIFOA provisions can only be altered by the two ministers. Neither bushfires nor climate change impacts are included in the document.

Governments turning deaf ears on logging outrage

Governments at both state and federal levels are continuing to ignore the environmental devastation and biodiversity loss caused by logging.

Efforts to persuade ministers to include new provisions to cover the climate threats and upgrade protections for recently declared endangered forest species have been ignored.

A growing mountain of evidence demonstrates the Minns Government has no intention of ensuring koala survival.

Since the election and the Minns Labor Government’s promise to create the Great Koala National Park, a key reason why the party won government, there’s been no let-up in logging of crucial areas. The latest version of the Government’s promise is that the park won’t be created until the end of its first term in office.

By 2027, logging will have wiped out the majority of the park’s koala habitat. The Government has indicated it has no intention of prohibiting logging.

A media release by the NSW Government made the conflict of interest abundantly clear:

‘The Government commits to working closely with the industry to develop a blueprint for the future timber sector that accommodates both the park and the production of timber products.’

As a sop to public concern, Environment Minister Penny Sharpe declared 106 koala hubs to be protected from logging. This amounts to approximately 5% of the park.

Exactly where these hubs are located remains a mystery only defined as accounting for ‘42% of recorded koala sightings in state forests in the assessment area since 2000’.

New koala action plan another policy failure

A new conservation plan designed to protect koalas is once again failing to save the species from extinction.

No details have been provided.

According to the Nimbin Good Times, EPA documents obtained by Greens MLC Sue Higginson showed that since at least May 2023, the EPA attempted to negotiate changes to CIFOA protocols to improve protections for koalas within the Great Koala National Park. Forestry Corp rejected the changes for the park and all forests.

Koala habitat protection is as non-existent as it was under the Coalition Government. Despite being declared endangered by former Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley in February 2022 and listed as endangered under NSW legislation, the Forestry Corporation is immune from any state legislation requiring habitat protection.

With NSW Government commitments to greenhouse emissions reduction targets of 50% by 2030 now enshrined in legislation, the continuing refusal to address the critically important role of forests in carbon reduction is creating little public faith in the Government’s environmental policies.

Al Oshlack, head of the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network, with two challenges against the corporation awaiting judgement, says:

“Forestry Corporation and the useless CIFOA are just green lights to destroy, with no morality or even financial benefit, At least we know their ecological vandalism is out in the open.”

There’s little doubt that the public is tired of the political con game over koalas. Premier Minns’ reputation as an environmentally responsible politician is on the line.

Unfortunately, so too is koala survival.