Senator the Hon. Matt Canavan, Senator for Queensland; The Hon. Dan Tehan, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction; The Hon. Darren Chester, Shadow Minister for Agriculture; Senator the Hon. Richard Colbeck, Senator for Tasmania, Joint Media Release, 30 June 2026

The Coalition will lodge a Notice of Motion in the Senate and House of Representatives to stop Labor’s new carbon credit approval, which will lock up land and destroy regional jobs.

The Coalition has moved to disallow the Carbon Credits Methodology Determination 2026, to stop Labor from paying state governments to permanently cease commercial timber harvesting across entire Regional Forest Agreement areas, in exchange for ‘carbon credits’.

“Labor’s new carbon credit approval will cause irreversible damage to Australia’s sustainable native forestry industry, sovereign timber supply capability, agricultural land and regional communities – locking up productive forest land for 100 years,” Senator Canavan said.

“This will mean less timber to build Australian homes, which, in turn, means less Australian jobs. It will shut down another regional industry and end regional forestry jobs, hurting our economy and making our country weaker. The Australian forest industry directly employs about 80,000 people with a further 100,000 indirect jobs, concentrated in regional communities. This is a crucial industry that we must protect.”

Senator Canavan said at the same time, Labor is also planning to lock up another 39 million hectares of land to meet its 2030 target.

“Victoria is around 22 million hectares – so Labor wants to lock up almost two Victorias worth of land. Australians should be concerned about multi-million dollar companies locking up Australian land for their carbon credits, to appease a woke box-ticking carbon credit offset. This will set a dangerous precedent of what is to come, if approved.”

The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has also reportedly provided the Treasurer advice on the potential sale of Tasmania’s largest farm to a British forestry investment firm.

The deal to buy the almost 22,0000-hectare irrigated beef and dairy farm is expected to exceed $100 million, with large scale tree plantings planned, subsisided by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Minister Chalmers reportedly has until this Wednesday (July 1), to make a formal decision about the proposed transaction.

Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan warned if Labor’s policy is implemented, any state can monetise pre-existing forest closure commitments through the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme.

“When Australian native forest supply is reduced, demand does not fall, it shifts to imports from countries with worse environmental standards, or to steel or concrete which emit far more carbon,” Mr Tehan said.

“In my electorate of Wannon I am seeing the loss of prime agricultural land that is used for dairy and beef production being taken over by plantation forestry under the ACCU scheme which is having a devastating impact on the local communities.”

Australia already faces a projected 43 per cent softwood supply gap by 2050.

Shadow Minister for Agriculture Darren Chester said closing native forestry across an entire RFA region for 100 years accelerates import dependence and pushes construction toward steel and concrete, which has already been seen following the closure of native forestry in states such as Victoria.

“I represent the communities that lived through the shutdown of native forestry in Victoria, and I know this leads to mills closed, skilled workers gone, and proud towns left to pick up the pieces,” Mr Chester said.

“When it comes to timber, you either use your own in an environmentally sustainable way, or you source timber from countries with worse environmental standards than ours.”

Senator for Tasmania Richard Colbeck questioned whether the sale of Rushy Lagoon could be approved by Minister Chalmers and the Foreign Investment Review Board given its consequences adverse to our national interests.

“It is plainly not in our interest for the government itself to subsidise the conversion of a 22,000-hectare irrigated beef and dairy farm to grow trees,” Senator Colbeck said.

“Setting aside the distortion of the local market, the potential conversion of Rushy Lagoon to sequester carbon comes at the expense of growing food for Australians and for our export industries, and potentially jeopardises the local supply chains more broadly.

“As is so often the case this measure will not do what it says it will do. The real science as provided by CSIRO and many other world-renowned forest scientists shows that you will store more carbon in a forest by active management than by locking it up.  This is just an ideological Labor-Green mechanism to shut down the forest industry.”

The Australian Forest Products Association Acting Deputy CEO Dominic Lane said the decision prioritised politics over science and would damage the public confidence and transparency of the ACCU scheme.

“This short-sighted decision risks undermining Australia’s sustainable multiple-use public production forests, which already deliver environmental, economic and climate benefits through active forest management,” Mr Lane said.

“The only apparent beneficiary of this method is the NSW Government, which wants someone else to pay to fund their election commitment to develop the Great Koala National Park.”

Related stories: Carbon Credits to states for ceasing native forestry – announcement and industry response