This response is part of the Ongoing Debate: Bushfires, Logging, Burns and Forest Management

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, 21 January 2022

Last year I provided a statement for this publication decrying the shameful attempts by those who are ideologically opposed to forestry to blame our sustainable forest operations for bushfires.

Sadly, little has changed since that time. Those zealots continue to demonise the industry, despite the fact that as we stand no unequivocal or generally accepted evidence exists to prove that forestry operations increase fire risk.

As I have consistently said, science, facts and non-emotive debate are what is needed when it comes to making the big decisions about the future of our primary industries – or indeed any public policy decision.

Unfortunately the same view is clearly not held by anti-forestry ideologues, including those Labor governments in both Victoria and Western Australia who have decided to shut down their sustainable forest industries without any discernible evidence to do so.

I have requested the science and evidence that was used to make these decisions from those governments and have not received any such evidence. I can only assume, therefore, that no such evidence was considered.

These are political decisions made in a policy vacuum by inner-city politicians, with little regard for the devastating results for regional families, employment, or indeed the environment.

They will ultimately lead to demand for timber products and Aussie jobs being pushed offshore to countries where they do not have the same high environmental standards as Australia.

And Labor are making these decisions at a time when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that we should be backing in this industry to aid in our carbon mitigation efforts, not shutting it down. Indeed, the IPCC’s 4th Assessment report states that “a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit”.

As has been recognised by this publication, the question of how our forests are best managed is a complex issue with a myriad of contributing factors. But one thing is clear. Knee-jerk policies based on pandering to ideologues with a political agenda rather than science and evidence are not in anyone’s best interests – least of all the environment’s.

Australian Rural & Regional News sought the Assistant Minister’s response also on the issues of increasing mild burning and a new national forest policy:

Mild burning

Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonno Duniam said that while forest management was ultimately a matter for state and territory governments, he supported reducing bushfire risk through mild burning and other forest management techniques where they were supported by science.

“Hazard reduction burns are an important step to minimising bushfire risks, but these activities should not be Canberra-led. They should be led by led locally, drawing from the experience of the scientists, experts and locals who have lived on the land for generations,” Assistant Minister Duniam said.

National forest policy

Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonno Duniam said Australia had a robust and comprehensive framework for the conservation and sustainable management of its forests, underpinned by the Regional Forest Agreements.

“While primary responsibility for managing Australia’s forests rests with state and territory governments, the Australian Government is committed to working with the jurisdictions through the Regional Forest Agreements to ensure that we strike the right balance between positive social, economic and environmental outcomes,” Assistant Minister Duniam said.

“Through the 2018 National Forest Industries Plan, the Australian Government has also invested over $150 million in initiatives to reduce barriers to investment and grow Australia’s forest industries.”

Related stories: Bushfires and logging debate: Senator Jonno Duniam, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries and see Open for Debate – Bushfires, Logging, Burns & Forest Management