27 November 2025
The Forest Alliance NSW has welcomed today's deal between the Labor Government and the Greens to remove the long-standing exemption that allowed native forest logging to avoid federal environment laws.
Forest Alliance NSW Senior Campaigner Clancy Barnard said the reform is long overdue.
"For the first time, the logging industry will have to comply with the same federal nature laws as every other sector. This should mean an end to logging in forests that are critical for threatened species right across NSW," Mr Barnard said.
"Right now, logging operations routinely destroy the homes of threatened and endangered species. We expect that this will now be in direct conflict with national environmental standards. That means that critical habitat for Koalas, Greater Gliders and many other species should finally receive the legal protection they have always needed."
Victoria Jack, NSW Campaigns Manager with The Wilderness Society noted that the significance of this reform will depend on whether the new national environmental standards protect nationally important habitat.
"A key test for these reforms will be whether the new national standards are robust enough to provide real protection for threatened species, and not simply enable business-as-usual logging under a different regulatory label."
Justin Field, Former Independent MP and Forest Alliance spokesperson, noted the impact this will have on the future of the Forest Industry in NSW.
"The Minns Government is currently considering the future of the timber industry through its Forestry Industry Action Plan (FIAP). Today's decision significantly raises the stakes," Mr Field said.
"The FIAP process must now assess the impacts of these changes, bring forward protections for these forests, and ensure that no wood supply agreements are extended or renewed until the full implications are understood."
Northern Rivers conservationist and NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said the change fixes a long-standing failure of national law.
"In the past the Federal Government has ignored our appeals to increase protections for nationally threatened species, even when they were uplisted to Endangered, telling us they were a State responsibility because of the Regional Forest Agreement," Mr Pugh said.
"Most protections for threatened species were further weakened or removed when the NSW logging rules were rewritten in 2018, and the Federal Government refused to act. Hopefully, when the new Environmental Standards are applied, the NSW Government will have to stop logging core habitat of nationally endangered species such as Koala, Greater Glider, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Hastings River Mouse, Stuttering Frog, Giant Barred Frog, Rufous Scrub-bird, Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrot."
Andrew Wong, Wilderness Australia Spokesperson, said
"If native forest logging continues in Australia the result will be species extinctions. Native forest logging and the intent of the EPBC Act cannot co-exist; they are mutually exclusive."
Further statements attributable to the Forest Alliance NSW
"The Commonwealth has said it will consult with State Governments, the forestry sector, unions and communities. It is incredibly disappointing that environmental groups have not yet been explicitly included in the process."
"We welcome the recognition that the future of the timber industry lies in plantation timber and engineered wood. However, the $300 million transition package must come with a clear guarantee that none of this funding will support ongoing native forest logging."
Threatened species that live in native forest in NSW that are currently able to be logged.
Forest mammals
- Koala: NSW holds some of the last intact koala strongholds on the east coast.
- Greater Glider: now endangered, with core habitat concentrated in NSW coastal and tableland forests.
- Spotted-tailed Quoll: dependent on large, connected forest landscapes, being heavily fragmented by logging.
- Yellow-bellied Glider: reliant on mature forests that provide year-round sap and den trees.
- Parma Wallaby: restricted to moist forest refuges increasingly within state forests.
Critical forest birds
- Swift Parrot: one of Australia's most endangered birds, migrating to NSW forests in winter to feed in mature eucalypt habitat.
- Regent Honeyeater: critically endangered, with NSW forest remnants essential for feeding and breeding.
- Rufous Scrub-bird: a relict species found only in pockets of high-altitude NSW wet forests.
- Glossy Black-Cockatoo (SE subspecies): reliant on mature she-oak forest and old hollow-bearing trees.
- Gang-gang Cockatoo: vulnerable, reliant on large hollow-bearing trees for nesting.
Threatened reptiles, frogs and small mammals
- Hastings River Mouse: endangered, with major populations inside state forests.
Large-eared Pied Bat: dependent on forested landscapes with old-growth roost trees.
- Stuttering Frog, Fleay's Barred Frog, Giant Barred Frog: species hit hard by fire and highly sensitive to habitat disturbance.
Threatened plants and forest communities
- Native Guava, Big Nellie Hakea, Slaty Red Gum, Moonee Quassia,: nationally threatened flora with significant occurrences in northeast NSW state forests.
Cryptic Forest Twiner, Milky Silkpod, Bordered Guinea Flower and others: flora tied to mature forest structure, old-growth understory and fire refuges.
Under the new laws, these habitats should finally be protected from logging.
Statement Ends
