MEDIA RELEASE
22^nd November 2024 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation has today welcomed passage of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024 as an important first step in reforming NSW nature laws. 

“We have been calling for reform of the broken scheme for many years, and today we finally have an important first step to deliver better protections for nature.” said NCC Policy and Advocacy Director, Dr Brad Smith.

Statements attributable to NCC Policy and Advocacy Director, Dr Brad Smith:  

“This Bill will finally create legal standards to make it clear that offsets should only be used as a genuine last resort, through the avoid and mitigate hierarchy - this is long overdue.”  

“It will also transition the scheme to achieving ‘net positive’ outcomes for biodiversity, something we urge the government to deliver as soon as possible.” 

“It is very encouraging to see the Government also recognise the need to consider ‘Part 5’ government development under the scheme, as the Minister said: “If the government expects the private sector to abide by biodiversity rules, we should do the same.” 

“We also welcome recognition of the need to reform the ‘serious and irreversible impacts’ provisions as part of the next tranche of work. This must be strengthened to prevent the destruction of irreplicable, high conservation value land. This is a crucial piece of puzzle to achieve nature positive outcomes in NSW.”  

“Despite today's progress, the biodiversity offsets scheme is still deeply flawed. We welcome the Minister’s comments that “There is a lot more work to be done do to get the scheme right. This is just the beginning”.  

“We look forward to working with the government and all sides of politics to rein in habitat clearing and strengthen protections for biodiversity.” 

ENDS 

MEDIA RELEASE
November 11th, 2024

The lack of action on logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park has received international spotlight with a scathing article in the Washington Post.

The Forest Alliance of NSW is calling for an immediate moratorium on logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park and in other identified endangered species hotspots throughout the state's public native forests.

Jacqui Mumford from the Nature Conservation Council NSW said:

”This is an international embarrassment and highlights the urgency of the problem. 

“The NSW Government has been dragging out the process for establishing the Great Koala National Park for over 18 months now.

“While this slow bureaucratic process of gazetting the park has been underway, logging in the park boundaries has continued and even increased in pace. 

“Premier Minns needs to use his power to stop logging in the proposed park immediately.

Justin Field from the Forest Alliance NSW said:

“Yesterday's Washington Post article, together with the SMH article have thrown a much needed spotlight on the continued intensive logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park.” 

"The message is clear, we must stop logging in the proposed park immediately. 

“The longer the Minns' Government delays, the further we push Koalas to extinction.” 

Every day the Forestry Corporation is targeting key habitat areas. Forestry Corporation claims they are targeting this area because it contains "the most productive forests". 

These are also the areas that tend to have the highest biodiversity, habitat and the remaining big, old trees.

ENDS

 Spokespeople available on request 

"James Jooste, NSW chief executive for the industry lobby group Australian Forest Products Association, said there was more logging within the assessment area because it contained the most productive forests." SMH Article

Help end the destruction - This your chance to make your voice heard

Right now we have a chance to end native forest logging for good as the NSW Government is reviewing the forestry industry and deciding on a plan for the transition from native forest logging. What happens next will decide whether native forest logging continues decades into the future or is phased out immediately. The Forestry Industry Action Panel (FIAP) wants to hear from you to inform the next steps. Let’s make it clear that we demand change now.

Please help us build the momentum by engaging directly with the Forestry Industry Action Panel. Making a submission to the Panel is an action you can take so we can see an end to the wholesale destruction of our forests. Read on below for our step-by-step guide.

Take the time to make a submission to the Panel so they know that the public overwhelmingly wants to see an end to native forest logging in NSW. Below are step-by-step instructions and a handy guide for making your submission.

This is your chance to demand change.

Our new forest campaigner Steve has already been out to survey for endangered Greater Gliders in a forest slated for logging. Forest campaignersaround the state are having a direct impact on logging operations in NSW through their forest surveying. Read on for the whole story>>

I have just come back from a mission to find as many endangered Southern Greater Gliders and their den trees as possible in an area of the Styx state forest, which is slated for logging.  

These surveys are supposed to be done by Forestry Corporation NSW but their goal is logging habitat and our goal is saving it. Unsurprisingly, the different intents have vastly different outcomes. The way FCNSW does forestry surveys has more holes than a 200-year-old habitat tree. 

All around the state, citizen scientists are pulling up their hiking boots and heading out into the forests to ensure that as much habitat as possible gets protected in forests on the chopping block. 

Each den tree identified results in a 50-metre logging exclusion zone and buys some time for this precious species and many others like it.  

This critical work is about protecting as much habitat as possible, whilst we simultaneously push those in power to end native forest logging once and for all.

Did you know the native forestry industry is uneconomic and runs at a loss? That means your taxes are being used to prop up the decimation of our native forests, mostly for low grade products like woodchips. 

The pressure is mounting for a transition for the industry, with the government starting consultations as part of their Forestry Industry Action Plan. This is a huge opportunity to chart a new way forward to a 100% plantation-based industry, but it means our movement needs to be at full power to see it through.

It can take over a century for tree hollows to form and these hollows provide shelter for many forest animals. Logging removes old, large trees with hollows and removes the trees that will provide the next generation of hollows. Over time logging degrades forests like the Styx, until it can’t support healthy populations of hollow-dwelling marsupials. 

Our weekend survey identified 12 den trees and 92 Greater Glider sightings, adding to other recent surveys finding an additional 10 den trees. That’s 17.3 hectares of logging exclusion of key habitat. Not bad for a weekend’s work. 

The Minns Government faces a stark choice: to end native forest logging or send species to extinction. It's that simple. We have an historic opportunity, but we need to work hard to make it a reality. The next six months are critical for the future of species that depend on healthy, mature forests for their continued existence.

Steve Ryan
Forests Campaigner
Nature Conservation Council NSW

Forest Alliance NSW
MEDIA RELEASE
26 August 2024

The Forest Alliance NSW is calling on a newly announced expert panel, set up by the Minns Labor Government to advise it on the future of forestry, to put ending native forest logging front and centre of their investigation. 

Justin Field from the Forest Alliance NSW said: “The Alliance welcomes the process and will work constructively with the panel but it must fully investigate ending native forest logging to shift to a sustainable plantation based timber industry and to protect the state’s most iconic species like the Koala and Greater Glider.’ 

Stuart Blanch from the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia (WWF-Australia) said: “Forests need protection, timber workers need jobs, home buyers need more sustainable timber. A fair and just transition from native forest logging to plantations will deliver these.”

Andrew Wong from Wilderness Australia said: “This process is likely to result in the most significant changes to the native forest logging in NSW in more than twenty years. It means the Minns Government accepts that business as usual isn’t working. We’re supportive of the government’s desire to do better in our forests. 

“A critical early recommendation for the panel must be that logging is halted immediately in areas containing high numbers of koalas, greater gliders and other endangered species. We can’t discuss how to protect something while it is being destroyed in front of our eyes,” Andrew Wong said.  

Susie Russel from the North Coast Environment Council said: “We do not want to see this process delay action to protect the koala and greater glider. The NSW Government is currently logging parts of the proposed Great Koala National Park and the state owned logging company has been reported for repeated illegal logging in glider habitat. 

“The Government can and should act now to stop logging in these critical areas. They don’t need an expert panel to tell us logging shouldn’t be occurring in National Parks or be allowed to destroy the homes of threatened species,” Susie said.  

Jacqui Mumford from the Nature Conservation Council NSW said: “The balance to be struck is to meet our timber needs from plantations while allowing our native forests to sequester carbon, be a refuge for our koalas, gliders and cockatoos and clean our air and water. Victoria and Western Australia have recently ended native forest logging and now it’s time for NSW to do the same.” 

Justin Field said, “The Alliance wrote to Premier Minns last week outlining our expectations for this process and we reiterate calls for this panel to be informed by an independent expert in forest ecology and that any data provided by Forestry Corporation about wood supply and forest yields be subject to peer review and be made public. 

For this process to be credible it needs to be open and transparent and the information the panel relies on needs to be public and subject to independent analysis,” Justin Field said. 

For further comment contact:
Anna Greer 0493 733 529 [email protected]

MEDIA RELEASE
17 July 2024 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today cautiously welcomed the ambitious reform plan set out by the NSW Government in its response to the Henry Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act. However, the peak group has also expressed frustration at the drawn-out process of fixing NSW’s habitat clearing laws. 

“Right now, biodiversity laws in NSW are incapable of protecting nature, let alone restoring it,” said NCC Chief Executive Officer, Jacqui Mumford. 

“The government’s response indicates openness to heading in the right direction, and some important policy shifts.  

“What we have seen today is a partial win for the environment movement with several reforms we have been asking for secured for implementation. However, the lack of urgency is a real problem.  

“Real reform for runaway habitat clearing is set for beyond 2025. 

“In the past year while the government response has been stuck somewhere in the halls of parliament, NSW will have lost another 95,000 hectares of habitat to runaway habitat clearing*. And now we are being asked to accept another year of delay?” 

All statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford:

Habitat Clearing 

“It is unequivocal that habitat clearing is the greatest threat to species in NSW, and that it also has a significant impact on our emissions.**  

“We know that Australia’s East Coast is a deforestation hotspot of global proportions. Our existing laws are failing to protect nature or support landholders wishing to protect the important habitat on their property.  

“Whilst we cautiously welcome the NSW Government demonstrating openness to going back to the drawing board on the deeply problematic land management framework, it’s disappointing that this crucial work won't even begin until 2025.   

“We know the loopholes that are causing the problems. Every day we wait, up to 260 hectares of habitat are lost. That’s more than 360 soccer fields cleared every day.*  

“Whilst we are frustrated at the long, drawn-out process, there is potential for real change if the NRC review is consultative, solutions focused, engages communities with opportunities in natural capital and biodiversity stewardship, and puts nature first. 

“We are excited to see support for landholders to access emerging natural capital markets, and incentives for sustainable farming, protection and restoration practices for environmental assets.” 

Biodiversity Offsetting  

“We can see there are positive changes to the scheme overall, but we can also see some serious gaps in this response.   

“It is good to see genuine steps to limit offset use, to avoid and minimise impacts, a reduction in harmful practices like discounting and exemptions, a transition to ‘net positive’ offsets and better data and transparency. But we haven’t made it to best practice yet.  

“We want to see indirect offsets totally ruled out, and we want to see offsets absolutely required to be like for like. 

“We need a working offsets scheme that actually prevents unsustainable development from going ahead.”  

Other Biodiversity Conservation Act Reforms 

“It’s very pleasing to see the government commit to developing a Nature Strategy which will set legal targets for conservation and restoration.  

“We welcome that the Biodiversity Conservation Act will be brought into the modern day with new objectives that incorporate international commitments and consider Aboriginal cultural values and traditional knowledge, climate change and cumulative impacts.  

“Better data, transparency and reporting across the board is something we have been calling for.  

“We hope that the acknowledgment in the government response of the intrinsic relationship between biodiversity and Aboriginal culture and the benefits that flow from traditional care for Country, are actualised meaningfully in a reformed Biodiversity Conservation Act. 

“It is essential that the practice of free, prior and informed consent is incorporated across all relevant legislation where there are biodiversity impacts.” 

Statement ends 

Media contact: Anna Greer 

E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482  

Note: NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford is available for comment on request  

References 

* An average of ~95 000 ha statewide total per year (2018 – 2021 SLATS data)/ 365 for the hectares per day figure. 

** Habitat clearing is a key threatening process listed in the Biodiversity Conservation Act. The 2021 State of the Environment Report recorded it as the single greatest threat to biodiversity in NSW. The 2023 Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (the Ken Henry review) identified land clearing as a primary risk to biodiversity. Clearing accounts for about 10% of Australia’s emissions.  

MEDIA RELEASE
10^th July 2024  

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has welcomed the establishment of the NSW Net Zero Commission and appointment of inaugural Commissioners.   

The independent, expert commission has been established to provide expert advice on the steps we must take to achieve our legislated climate goals.  

NSW has legislated targets to reduce emissions by at least 50% by 2030, 70% by 2035 and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Recent government modelling has shown the state is currently tracking to undershoot these targets: -44% by 2030 and -65% by 2035.   

“We welcome the establishment of the Net Zero Commission and the independent expertise it will bring to climate policy in NSW,” said Nature Conservation Council NSW chief executive officer Jacqui Mumford. 

“This commission is an excellent framework to accelerate climate action and it is an opportunity to address some of the barriers to achieving our emissions reduction targets. 

“A sure-fire way to help get the state back on track to achieving our emissions reduction targets is to phase out destructive native forest logging and tackle runaway habitat clearing.” 

Quotes attributable to NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford:   

“NSW needs to urgently redouble emissions reduction efforts considering recent projections and the catastrophic impacts we continue to witness around the world. 

“Phasing out native forest logging and reining in habitat clearing would make immediate and significant contributions to our emissions efforts.  

“Land clearing is responsible for approximately 10% of Australia’s emissions, whilst ending native forest logging in NSW would prevent an estimated 2.4 million tons of greenhouse emissions every year.  

“Protecting and restoring forests and habitat is a crucial mitigation action if NSW is to meet our targets. 

“We will be writing to the commission to encourage their consideration of these nature-based solutions.  

“NCC also welcomes the recent parliamentary appointments to the Joint Standing Committee on Net Zero Future, which will have oversight of the Commission.  

“We look forward to working with all members to accelerate climate action.” 

Statement ends 

Sources for emissions data:  

Land clearing - Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: June 2022, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/nggi-quarterly-update-june-2022.pdf   

Native Forestry - Sanger J, The Carbon Benefit from Protecting Australia’s Public Native Forests, sourced at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7031078401469800448/

Media contact: Anna Greer  
E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482   

Note: NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford is available for comment on request

The NSW Forestry Corporation is logging in areas of the proposed Great Koala National Park at a rate more than three times the rest of Northern NSW according to analysis conducted by the Forest Alliance NSW.

Based on Forestry Corporation’s own maps as at 25 June 2024, of the 20 active logging operations on the North Coast from the Hunter to the Queensland border, more than half were in the Great Koala National Park footprint. That’s despite the proposed park area containing just one fifth of State Forests in the region. 

The Minns Government committed to create a Great Koala National Park at the 2023 State Election and has since established a long-winded process to determine the boundary of the park leaving most of the area subject to ongoing intense logging by the State Owned logging corporation. 

Dalian Pugh from North East Forest Alliance said, “The Minns Government is allowing the State owned logging company to target the proposed park to take as many trees as they can, degrading the proposed park before it’s even established. It’s outrageous.

“We warned that this would be the result if a moratorium was not put in place while the park was designed and that’s exactly what has occurred.  

“The Community Advisory Panel’s recommendations for a moratorium, or to at least undertake pre-logging surveys to identify core Koala habitat to protect while the assessment is undertaken, have been rejected by the Government.

Jacqui Mumford from the NSW Nature Conservation Council said, “The Minns Government made a commitment to a Great Koala National Park which would be a proud legacy for a Labor Government however they are allowing the Forestry Corporation to erode that legacy.

“We’re reiterating our call for logging in the proposed park boundary to cease while the process to establish the park is completed.”
 Justin Field from the Forest Alliance NSW said, “Clearly the Great Koala National Park area is being targeted for logging by the Forestry Corporation.

“It’s bad faith from the state owned logging company. They know the direction the Government is heading and they are making a mockery of that commitment. The Minns Government needs to step in and stop this destruction if the park is going to be the reserve Koala’s need to survive.” 

STATEMENT ENDS

Media contact: Anna Greer 
E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482  

MEDIA RELEASE
June 18, 2024 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today expressed disappointment that the NSW budget has again failed to deliver for nature.  

In the middle of an extinction crisis, funding for ecosystem restoration and threatened species is going backwards.  

NSW habitat is so degraded it can only support 29% of the plants and animals it once did. 1043 plants and animals in NSW are currently listed as at risk of extinction, a 50% increase in 10 years.   

Without significant public investment to grow protected areas and restore degraded ecosystems, many of the ecosystems that make our state so special will simply collapse.  

The NSW Labor Government is spending just 1.61%* of the budget on the environment, which is even less than last year.   

“Labor came into power promising to turn the tide, and yet this is the second year in a row nature funding, as a percentage, has declined,” NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford said. 

“Without a seismic shift in nature investment NSW will see more extinctions and fail to meet our ‘30 by 30’ Global Biodiversity Framework targets.”  

Statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford 

“The nature deficit needs to be addressed by proper investment in NSW’s biodiversity.  

“Whilst Premier Chris Minns loves spruiking the beauty of NSW nature and posting selfies in pretty places, it’s clear biodiversity isn’t a priority for this government.  

“There is a substantial investment in renewables, but NSW needs to do a lot more to turn the biodiversity crisis around. 

“We need to recognise that we have a dual crisis and that spending on renewable infrastructure will not in itself stop extinction and the tragic loss of biodiversity occurring all around us.  

“The number of listed threatened species continues to rise. However not even half (~40%) of these species are being managed under the Saving our Species (SoS) program. Clearly more funding is needed. 

“Taxpayers are again footing the bill for the horrific destruction of our native forests, with no plans to follow Qld, Victoria and Western Australia and save the budget millions of dollars a year by ending native forest logging.”  

Propping up the industrial logging of our native forests is an ongoing financial burden to NSW taxpayers. In the last 3 years, the native hardwood division of Forestry Corporation has lost $44m. NSW remains the only mainland state without a plan to phase out native forest logging, this must change. 

Statement ends 

Background 

*Budget Paper Number 1, General government sector expenses by function shows Environmental Protection receiving $1,964m in 2024-2025, which represents 1.61% of total expenditure v 1.67% in the 2023-24 Budget v 1.73% in the 2022-23 budget.

Media contact: Anna Greer 

E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482  

Note: NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford is available for comment on request