There is ongoing turmoil in the native forest logging industry, as revealed in the ABC’s Four Corners program that aired last night.

The evidence presented was unambiguous: the native forest logging industry has been in financial, social, and environmental decline for decades.

Yet it continues to be financially supported by federal and state government subsidies that are detrimental to the economy, environmental integrity and the efficient spending of taxpayer dollars.

Logging is banned on public land in Victoria. However, Four Corners revealed Victorian sawmills are sourcing wood from native forests in Tasmania, at taxpayer expense.

This is not in the public interest. Instead, governments should facilitate the restoration and protection of native forests.

Is there demand for native forest wood?

Advocates for the native forest logging industry claim that Australians have an insatiable appetite for hardwood, from species like mountain ash and alpine ash.

But government forestry products data tells a different story.

It shows sawn hardwood timber consumption has declined dramatically. In 2001-2002, about 1.4 million cubic metres was consumed, compared with 318,000 cubic metres consumed in 2024-25. This is close to an 80% decline.

In comparison, softwood sawn timber – cut from trees like pine – dominates the sawn timber market, producing an annual average of 4.2 million cubic metres over the same period.

In places like Victoria, over 80% of the wood removed in native forest........

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