Last year’s release of NSW Forestry Corporation’s annual report shows that the taxpayer is again propping up the destruction of our native forests. FCNSW reported a $29 million loss in its native hardwood division, almost double the figure reported the year before.
This brings the total loss over the past 4 years to $73m after reporting losses of $20m in financial year 2020-21, $9m in financial year 2021-22, and $15m in financial year 2022-23.
The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environment advocacy organisation, has said it is time to transition to a 100% plantation-based industry and stop the wholesale destruction of endangered species habitat at the cost of the taxpayer.
“As well as running at a loss, FCNSW has been ordered to pay almost $500,000 in fines and legal costs over the past five years – mostly for damage to threatened species habitat and endangered ecological communities.
“The continued public subsidisation of Forestry Corporation NSW’s native hardwood division is both destructive and wasteful. It’s long past time to end native forest logging in this state.
“The NSW taxpayer is currently paying to destroy forest habitats and push species like the Koala and Greater Glider ever further towards extinction.
I know Forestry Corporation is between a rock and a hard place … but it is a shame that areas such as the Pine Forest just north of Armidale, NSW is so full of noxious weeds that it is the source of weed seeds for surrounding properties. It is also not slashed or kept a pleasant place for families to enjoy.