The body responsible for managing logged forests in NSW is failing to ensure protected trees aren’t being cut down but has improved its compliance monitoring since copping several fines from the environmental regulator.
State-owned Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) was still failing to properly monitor contractors and track its own efforts for tighter oversight, according to a report released by the auditor-general on Thursday.
It found FCNSW was inconsistent in its monitoring of logging contractors and should focus on those at higher risk of non-compliance.
“FCNSW staff are advised to increase the amount of supervision for new or less experienced contractors, higher-risk sites, and contractors who have previously had poor quality assurance assessment results,” the report said.
While contractor compliance appears to be improving, gaps and inconsistencies remain in the corporation’s documentation of this and it is failing to measure overall compliance.
Greens MP Sue Higginson said the report came as little surprise considering FCNSW’s track record.
“The lack of risk-based assessments for logging sites and for quality assurance is a red flag Forestry Corporation is playing fast and loose with their responsibilities,” she said.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority has prosecuted the Forestry Corporation numerous times for felling trees in protected areas and destroying native habitats.
“It is unreasonable that a government agency has to sue a state-owned corporation at a cost to NSW residents to enforce compliance of the law while damaging our forests,” Ms Higginson said.
A FCNSW spokeswoman said the corporation accepted the findings and would work through the recommendations to identify areas for improvement.
“Our staff care passionately about the forests they work in and over the last three years we have significantly increased our efforts around compliance,” she said.
“This has included investment in technology solutions, putting more staff on the ground and a regular program of internal audits to supplement the external audits undertaken by our third party certifier and the EPA as the regulator.”
The EPA itself also came under fire in the report for failing to provide compliance staff with more advanced training to effectively undertake forestry inspections.
In 2020, the EPA abolished a separate forestry branch responsible for conducting inspections and responding to complaints, with forestry matters now dealt with as part of general compliance operations.
FCNSW manages over two million hectares of public native forests and plantations, including conducting logging to provide timber to sawmills across NSW.
– AAP
