Rogue VicForests must be wound up after rampant illegal logging exposed

• VicForests caught logging illegally all over state and should be wound up
• Forests must be protected in Great Forest National Park and Emerald Link
• Bunnings and Officeworks may be selling wood and paper products from illegal operations

Victorian government logging agency VicForests can’t be trusted to look after the state’s forests and should be wound up, the Wilderness Society said after the ABC revealed that VicForests has been logging illegally, effectively stealing timber from the government and the people of Victoria.  

“VicForests has gone rogue and can’t be trusted to look after the state’s forests and should be wound up,” Wilderness Society Victorian Campaign Manager Amelia Young said.

“Victoria’s forests must be protected through creation of the Great Forest National Park and the Emerald Link to link the Alps to the sea in East Gippsland.

“VicForests has been caught running illegal logging operations all over the state. The Andrews Government must immediately suspend all VicForests’ operations and launch an investigation into the illegal logging. After all, VicForests is stealing wood that belongs to the people of Victoria.

“The next state government must fund transitions for the workers and industry, and protect what’s left of our extraordinary forests and their native animals through creation of the popular Great Forest National Park and Emerald Link proposals.”

“VicForests has also put manufacturers including the Nippon-owned Australian Paper, the government-owned sawmill at Heyfield, and major retailers such as Bunnings and Officeworks in the unenviable situation of possibly manufacturing and selling wood and paper products sourced from illegal operations.

“Consumers are distraught when it’s exposed they are buying wood and paper sourced from Borneo’s orangutan forests and this situation is no different. VicForests’ logging operations are driving Victoria’s animal emblem, the Leadbeater’s possum, as well as the greater glider to extinction. Illegally logged timber is now in the supply chain, which must be cleaned up.”

Contact

For further comment, please contact: 

• Wilderness Society Victoria Campaign Manager Amelia Young on 0404 074 577
• Wilderness Society Forest Campaign Manager Peter Robertson on 0409 089 020

For more information, contact Wilderness Society Media Adviser Alex Tibbitts on 0416 420 168.

Last night on 7:30 the ABC detailed widespread and systematic unlawful logging occurring across eastern Victoria under successive governments.