This response is part of the Ongoing Debate:Bushfires and Logging

Senator the Hon Jonno Duniam, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries, Assistant Minister for Industry Development, Deputy Manager of Government Business in the Senate, Liberal Senator for Tasmania, Response to Australian Rural & Regional News, 8 September 2021

Blaming bushfires on forestry is just another attempt from those ideologically opposed to forestry to shut down an industry they fundamentally disagree with.

There is a constant pattern of behaviour from the those who disagree with the forestry industry of using misinformation and cherry picking from report and science to support their claim.

As we currently stand there is no unequivocal or generally accepted evidence that forestry operations increase fire risk.

Science, facts and non-emotive debate are needed now.

Australia’s forestry industries are a source of critical fire management knowledge, experience and equipment, it is this industry above all others that undertakes tangible measures in preparation for fire seasons including hazard reduction burns, maintaining access roads, front-line firefighting, and post fire recovery such as road clearing.

The claim that “Logging makes the forests more fire prone” is not scientifically proven and there are extensive legitimate scientific reports that strongly argue that this is not the case. In fact there was a report published in May this year, The severity and extent of the Australia 2019–20 Eucalyptus forest fires are not the legacy of forest management in the Nature Ecology and Evolution Journal. One of the authors of that report, Professor Bowman, has said their research found forest harvesting, “had little, if any, effect on the Black Summer bushfires. Rather, the disaster’s huge extent and severity were more likely due to unprecedented drought and sustained hot, windy weather.”

The forestry industry and those who work in it are vital in the bushfire season, they provide essential resources to help protect communities by not only fighting the fires but also providing machinery and ensuring critical roads are accessible for emergency services.

Australia has a world-class, sustainable forestry industry, that employs hard working men and women across regional Australia, it is an industry that deserves to be supported and celebrated, not decimated, by activists.