NSW’s Forestry Corporation (FCNSW) does not consistently monitor compliance of contractors and failed to assess the risk of its timber operations in the state’s west, the state’s audit office said in a report. Some inspectors even lacked equipment such as measuring tapes.
The report, tabled in NSW parliament on Thursday, also found 80% of forests on the south coast were affected by 2019-20 bushfires, reducing long-term timber supplies from the region by about 30%. FCNSW’s total harvest fell to 574,000 cubic metres in 2020-21, which was about 60% of the level of two years earlier.
The audit office found the frequency of contractor supervision to be inconsistent and not tied to a contractor’s past performance. Monitoring results were also not collated and analysed to target audits.
These gaps increased the risk that “non-compliant practices will not be identified, potentially leading to environmental harm”, the report said.
Pressure on NSW to end logging in state forests has increased following Victoria’s plan to end the industry by next year. Western Australia has a similar target.
Liberals in the Perrottet government prepared plans to end such logging in the run-up to the March election, only to have their Nationals partners block the move.
Industry regulator, Environment Protection Authority, was also found not to be assessing risks in western regions. The agency was not inspecting all “high-risk harvest sites”, the report found.
“Most EPA staff have basic training in forestry matters, but few staff have the more advanced training required to effectively undertake forestry inspections,” it said. Some staff also lacked access to necessary tools, such as tapes for measuring tree diameter.
The report also noted the EPA did not have the ability to restrict logging activities in bushfire-hit forests. While the FCNSW initially asked the EPA for extra site-specific conditions it then began implementing its own measures a year later.
“Unlike the [specific conditions], the EPA was unable to undertake enforcement activities for breaches of voluntary measures,” the report said.
Greens’ environment spokesperson Sue Higginson said: “Native forest logging costs NSW tens of millions [of dollars] just in the harvesting and haulage.
“If we add the expenses of the EPA having to monitor all of the non-compliant operations, then the bill blows out even more.”
Carmen Dwyer, an EPA executive director, said her agency had already implemented two of the report’s recommendations.
“Strong and effective regulation is critical to ensuring our state forests are protected for future generations,” Dwyer said.
“By December this year, we will have documented and explained our approach to risk assessments in the Western Integrated Forestry Operations approval areas.”
Forestry Corporation said it accepted the audit office’s recommendations and “was committed to making continued improvements to our operations where necessary.
“Our staff care passionately about the forests they work in and, over the last three years, we have significantly increased our efforts around compliance,” a spokeswoman said, adding that included “investment in technology solutions, putting more staff on the ground and a regular program of internal audits”.
