Tasmania could best Victoria and transition out of native forest logging sooner than 2030

• Tasmania’s logging industry must transition out of native forests like Victoria
• Tasmania’s government should also set a transition deadline - but sooner than 2030
• Like most other Australians, most Tasmanians want the island’s ancient forests protected 

The Wilderness Society today called on the Tasmanian government to match or better Victoria’s 2030 deadline to finally transition industrial logging out of native forests, and immediately end old-growth logging on the island and support workers facing inevitable change. 

“‘Sustainable’ Timber Tasmania’s dirty secret is that it continues to log the state’s ancient old-growth native forests, funded by taxpayers and in direct conflict with the Tasmanian brand,” said Tom Allen for the Wilderness Society Tasmania. 

“Now Victoria is set to transition out of native forest logging, Tasmania risks looking like a logging pariah if it fails to modernise too. Tasmania could get the jump on mainland states and transition first. 

“The Tasmanian government, through its state-owned logging agency, ‘Sustainable’ Timber Tasmania, should direct it to stop logging old-growth forests immediately, as Victoria has committed to do.

“Like most other Australians, most people in Tasmania oppose continued native forest logging and want the state’s ancient and precious forests protected. Even the industry’s own research shows clear opposition to continued logging of native forests from communities in rural and regional areas, as well as from urban areas. It’s across the board.

“The timber industry’s future is in plantations and recycled fibre and this is also where security lies for forestry workers. State-sponsored, publicly-subsidised logging of public forests in a climate and extinction crisis is as anachronistic as it is counter-productive.

“For the sake of Tasmania’s Gondwanan forests, the workers in them and industry plagued by uncertainty, the Wilderness Society calls on the Tasmanian government to help Tasmania’s forestry industry match or better Victoria’s transition out of native forest logging once and for all,” said Mr Allen.  

For further comment contact Tom Allen, 0434 614 323