Labor rejects ban on native forest logging

The ALP National Conference has rejected a motion from their environment arm, LEAN to end native timber logging in Australia.

LEAN did not secure a ban on native forest logging but they did get a commitment from the ALP to rewrite the federal government’s outdated National Forest Policy Statement, which was last reviewed in 1992 – see the wording below.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek promised to consider establishing a federal environment protection commission in the second term of government – which is not much of a promise.

Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) spokesperson, Felicity Wade, said:

“Native forest logging is a travesty in the 21st century. While it continues, we undermine the government’s policy objectives of ending extinctions and on emission reductions, and we prove ourselves a little bit deaf to the deep environmental concerns of our members.”

Australian Labor Party delegates, including the relevant and powerful unions: Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining And Energy Union (CFMMEU) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) accepted an amended commitment to review the nation’s forestry policy.

This is the amended motion that was passed at the conference:

Labor supports the sustainable future of Australia’s forests and forest products industry and recognises the value and role of our forests in storing carbon and protecting biodiversity.

Labor will work with states and territories to update the 1992 National Forest Policy Statement to ensure it is contemporary and fit for purpose. We will:

• Expand Australia’s plantation estate to meet domestic and international demand for high-value, sustainably sourced wood products, and will develop an industry plan that facilitates regional job growth and vibrant sustainable communities.

• Deliver the management and restoration of native forests, recognising and rewarding carbon and biodiversity values and the need for their active and on-going management.

• Consistent with current government policy, ensure the application of National Environmental Standards to Australia’s native forests.

• Harness the social, environmental, and economic benefits that our forests can provide.

• Recognise the skills, knowledge and competencies of timber workers and their communities, as well as the central role First Nations communities play in restoring country and determining social, economic and environmental benefits flowing from forest management activity.

Australian Workers Union NSW branch vice president, Sandra Doumit, said:

What this amendment does not do is ignore our forestry workers.

It does not make grand statements about transition without any detail or plan. It does not encourage the purchase of unregulated and unsustainable overseas timber without any consideration of Australian jobs and Australian industry.

This amendment offers a practical and considered way forward [for] protecting our forests and Australian jobs.

Another amendment which passed reads:

“Labor is committed to delivering the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on forests and land use which commits Australia to ‘halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030’.

Labor recognises that deforestation increases greenhouse gas emissions. Labor will deploy a variety of policy responses to deliver on our emission reduction and deforestation commitments including robust and additional nature-based solutions to prevent forest loss and degradation.

Labor will work with the states and territories on national vegetation mapping and monitoring programs.“

LEAN’s proposal was based on A National Forest Protection & Workforce Plan for Australia, which we covered in detail.

The ALP rejected an outright ban on the same day that an Australia Institute survey showed a strong majority of Australian voters want bans on native forest logging extended to New South Wales and Tasmania

• Seven in 10 Australians (69%) support extending native forest logging bans to New South Wales and Tasmania.
• A majority of voters for each political party support an end to native forest logging in New South Wales and Tasmania.
• Three in four Labor voters (75%) and three in five Coalition voters (58%) support the policy.
• Support is highest among Greens voters (85%) and weakest among One Nation voters (57%).
• A majority of Australians in every age group support ending native forest logging in New South Wales and Tasmania.

Wade told the conference:

I have to honour the 366 branches who meet week by week in dusty halls and commit to making Australia a better place, that back the call to get moving on getting out of native forest logging.

I also have to honour the seven out of 10 Australians who think the time is up for this industry. Native forest logging is a travesty in the 21st century. It is failing to innovate or find good ways to give real futures to its timber workers.

While it continues we undermine the government’s policy objectives on ending extinctions and emissions reduction, and we prove ourselves a little bit deaf to the deep environmental concerns of our members.

LEAN’s Climate Clearing and Cows land sector climate motion

The draft motion endorsed by 366 ALP branches, before the heavy amendments, was:

[Name] Branch/Sub-branch welcomes the Government’s achievements in acting to arrest climate change and environmental decline. We call on the Government to put protecting the natural environment at the centre of its climate change response and embrace the opportunity of building a world leading carbon drawdown industry.

[Name] Branch calls on the Albanese Labor Government to:

1. Create a climate strategy for the land sector, working with the National Reconstruction Fund, the Powering the Regions Fund and Zero Emissions Taskforce to develop an industry plan for a world-leading land carbon industry which would create thousands of good regional jobs in managing land, forests and mangroves for carbon, and in significantly expanding our plantation base.
2. Move to 100% plantation timber and end broadscale land clearing before the next federal election, creating uplift in regional employment and industrial diversification.
3. Work with the agricultural sector to halve methane emissions from agriculture by 2030.

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The ALP rejected the ban of native timber logging despite the motion being endorsed by a majority of members and branches before the conference began. This table lists the Australian Labor Party local branches and units which endorsed LEAN’s Climate Clearing and Cows land sector climate motion.

Abbotsford NSW ACT Labor Conference Adelaide SA Adelaide FEC SA Albany WA Albert Park, VIC Alexandria NSW Annandale NSW Annerley QLD Arncliffe – Wolli Creek NSW Ashbury NSW Ashfield NSW Ashgrove QLD Ashwood VIC Auburn-Lidcombe NSW Austral – Bringelly – Cecil Hills NSW Balga WA Ballajura WA Ballina SEC NSW Balmain NSW Banks FEC NSW Banyo / Northgate QLD Barcaldine QLD Baroona QLD Barron River QLD Bass VIC Bega NSW Belconnen ACT Bellarine VIC Bellinger River NSW Bendigo – Castlemaine Bendigo East Bendigo West Bentleigh VIC Berala NSW Bermagui-Cobargo NSW Berowra-Mt Colah Berry-Shoalhaven Heads, NSW Berwick VIC Black Mountain ACT Blacktown NSW Blue Mountains SEC, NSW Bondi Beach NSW Boonah QLD Boondall QLD Boothby FEC SA Botany NSW Box Hill, VIC Bragg SA Bribie Island Qld Brighton VIC Brighton-le-Sands NSW Brindabella Daytime ACT Brisbane FOC QLD Broadwater QLD Broken Hill Brooklyn-Mooney Mooney-Lower Hawkesbury NSW Brunswick VIC Bulimba/Hawthorne QLD Bundaberg / Coral Coast QLD Bundamba QLD Burleigh QLD  Byron Bay NSW Caboolture- Morayfield QLD Cairns Central QLD Campsie NSW Canberra North ACT Cannington WA Cannon Hill/Morningside QLD Carrum VIC Casey VIC Cassowary Coast QLD Caulfield VIC Central Coast LGC NSW Cheltenham SA Chermside/Kedron QLD Chifley FEC, NSW Chipping Norton – Wattle Grove NSW City and Haymarket, NSW Clarinda VIC Clovelly NSW Coffs Harbour NSW Colton SA Como-Jannali NSW Concord – Concord West – Rhodes NSW Coogee, NSW Cook FEC, NSW Coopers Plains Acacia Ridge QLD Cowper FEC Cranbourne VIC Cronulla-Caringbah NSW Dandenong VIC Dapto NSW Davenport SA Daytime ACT Deagon QLD Deception Bay QLD Dee Why NSW Dickson ACT Doonside NSW Double Bay – Bellevue Hill NSW Dulwich Hill / Lewisham NSW Dungog NSW Dunstan SA Eastwood NSW Edmonton QLD Eildon- Murrundindi VIC Elsternwick VIC Eltham VIc Engadine NSW Enmore-Camdenville NSW Enoggerra QLD Environment Direct Branch, WA Epping NSW Erskineville NSW Essendon VIC Eureka-Bacchus Marsh Vic Eureka – Ballarat East VIC Evelyn VIC FNQ Policy conference QLD Fivedock NSW Footscray VIC Frankston VIC Fremantle WA Gaven QLD Geelong VIC Geraldton WA Gibson SA Gilmore FEC, NSW Gippsland Central  Gladesville NSW Glebe NSW Glen Waverley VIC Glenwood NSW Gosford NSW Goulburn NSW Grafton NSW Granville NSW Grayndler FEC Greater Springfield QLD Greenway FEC, NSW Greystanes – Pemulwuy , NSW Gungahlin ACT Haberfield NSW Harbord NSW Harris Park NSW Hartley SA Hastings VIC Hawkesbury NSW Hermit Park QLD Hervey Bay, QLD Heysen SA Hillarys WA Hindmarsh FEC SA Homedale NSW Hornsby NSW Hughes FEC NSW Hunters Hill NSW Indooroopilly QLD Ingleburn NSW Ipswich QLD Ipswich North QLD Jervis Bay – St Georges Basin NSW Jubilee QLD Kalamunda Zig Zag WA Kalkallo VIC Katoomba NSW Kawana QLD Kelvin Grove QLD Kenmore/Bellbowrie QLD Kiama NSW King SA Kingborough, TAS Kings Cross NSW Kingsford-Smith FEC Kogarah – Carlton NSW Kororoit, VIC Kurilpa QLD Kuringai NSW Lake Macquarie East, NSW Lalor Park NSW Lambton – New Lambton – Kotara NSW

Lane Cove, NSW Lane Cove SEC NSW Lanyon ACT Lara VIC Laverton VIC Lee SA Leichhardt NSW Lilyfield Rozelle NSW Lindsay FEC NSW Lismore NSW Liverpool NSW Lower Mountains, NSW Lytton QLD Macedon – Daylesford VIC Macquarie NSW Makin FEC Maitland East NSW Malvern VIC Manly NSW Manly SEC NSW Marayong South NSW Maroubra NSW Marrickville NSW Mawson SA Mayfield NSW Mayo FEC Melbourne VIC Melton VIC Mid Mountains NSW Milperra – Panania – Revesby NSW Milton- Ulladulla NSW Mitchell FEC, NSW Monbulk VIC Moore FEC, WA Mordialloc VIC Moree NSW Morialta SA Mornington VIC Mortlake Cabarita NSW Morwell VIC Mosman NSW Mount Ainslie ACT Mount Morgan QLD Mt Rogers/Ginninderra ACT Mullumbimby-Brunswick Valley Nambucca River, NSW Narrabeen Pittwater, NSW Narre Warren North Vic Narre Warren South VIC Nepean VIC New Farm QLD Newland SA Newtown SEC NSW Nightcliff NT Ninderry QLD Noosa District QLD North Lakes – Murrumba East Qld North Rocks NSW North Sydney NSW Northbridge WA Northcote VIC Nowra- Bomaderry NSW Oakleigh VIC  Oatley-Peakhurst NSW Olympic Peninsula NSW Oodgeroo, QLD Paddington NSW Paddington QLD Padstow NSW Parramatta FEC NSW Pascoe Vale VIC Pakenham VIC Parramatta NSW Pennant Hills NSW Penshurst NSW Perth Labor Women WA Petersham NSW Pine Lakes QLD Point Cook VIC Polwarth – Surf coast, VIC Port Adelaide SA Port Curtis and Hinterland QLD Port Douglas – Mossman QLD Port Kembla NSW Port Macquarie NSW Port of Brisbane QLD Prahran VIC Preston VIC Prospect NSW Pumicestone West, QLD Pyrmont Ultimo NSW Quakers Hill and District NSW Queanbeyan NSW Randwick North NSW Reid FEC, NSW Richmond VIC Ringwood VIC Ripon / Ararat VIC Ripon – Creswick – Clunes VIC Rising Sun, QLD Riverstone-The Ponds NSW Rowville , VIC Runcorn – Kuraby, QLD Ryde NSW Salisbury QLD Sanderson Karama NT Sapphire Coast (Eden – Merimbula) NSW Scarborough WA Schubert SA Seven Hills NSW Snowy-Monaro, NSW South Barwon VIC South Brisbane QLD South Gippsland VIC South Toowoomba QLD Southern Highlands NSW Spence FEC Springwood Qld Springwood-Faulconbridge NSW St Peters / Tempe NSW Stanmore-Camperdown NSW Stanthorpe-Wallangarra QLD Stockton NSW Strathfield NSW Stretton QLD Sturt FEC SA Summer Hill NSW Sunbury VIC Sunshine Coast Hinterland Surry Hills NSW Sutherland NSW Sydenham VIC Sydney FEC NSW Tamworth NSW Tathra, NSW Telopea/South Canberra ACT The Gap QLD The Hills NSW The Warren NSW Thirroul NSW Thomastown VIC Tomaree Peninsula NSW Toongabbie NSW Toowong – St Lucia QLD Toronto NSW Toukley – Warnervale NSW Townsville QLD Townsville Local Policy Conference QLD Trevor Davies Branch (Darlington/Newtown) NSW Tuggeranong ACT Tugun QLD Tweed Heads NSW Umina-Ettalong NSW Unley SA WA Labor for Arts WA WA Rainbow Labor WA Waite SA Wallsend NSW Walter Taylor QLD Warrandyte VIC Warringah FEC Wentworth FEC Wentworthville NSW Werribee VIC West Leederville, WA West Perth WA West Torrens SA Westmead NSW Weston Creek Molonglo ACT Williamstown VIC Woden ACT Woodford QLD Wynnum Manly QLD Yarrawarrah – Shire South NSW Yokine WA Young, NSW Young Labor ACT  Young Labor National Conference  Young Labor NSW Young Labor Queensland  Young Labor South Australia  Young Labor WA Yunbenun-Magnetic Island QLD

400 delegates at the 49th Labor National Conference in Brisbane vote on the Party’s policy agenda.

See also: NSW Forestry Corp have a fight on their hands to Save Bulga Forest

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Flawed habitat maps could derail government plans to save the Koala

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