A new report from Environmental Justice Australia, released today following an ABC Four Corners investigation, shows that Victoria's $1.5 billion transition away from native forest logging has failed to deliver the outcomes promised, with native forest logs still moving through Victorian supply chains, native forests still lacking promised legal protection, and serious questions remaining about how such vast amounts of public money were used on a few remaining companies that only represent around 5 per cent of the Victorian forest industry. 

The report, Following the Money: The Unfinished Transition Away from Native Forest Logging, finds that some recipients that received of tens of millions of dollars in transition funding and taxpayer compensation remain involved in native forest logging and processing, including through the use of native logs from Tasmania and New South Wales. 

It also identifies accounting discrepancies and significant gaps in transparency, finding that there is still no comprehensive public account of where all transition funding went, what conditions applied to payments, why such a significant sum of taxpayer funds was justified or whether the funding achieved its intended outcomes.  

Victoria's experience serves as a stark warning for Tasmania and New South Wales as governments consider the future of native forest logging under proposed new national environmental standards and the end of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs). 

The report, based on publicly available information, government records, FOI material, independent forensic accounting analysis and legal review, finds that: 

• Native forests still lack permanent legislative protection despite the $1.5 billion spend and commitments from the Vic government to “deliver the largest expansion to our public forests reserve system in our state’s history.” 

• Native timber from Tasmania and NSW, along with timber from private land logging of native forests and salvage operations now end up in Victorian mills, demonstrating that parts of the native forest logging supply chain are continuing in a different form. 

• Some recipients of substantial transition funding and compensation remain involved in native forest logging and processing - including ASH Heyfield in Victoria, which is 49 per cent owned by the Victorian government and has part shared ownership with a Tasmanian sawmill.  

• There is no consolidated public account showing where all transition funding went, what conditions applied to payments, or whether funding achieved its intended objectives. 

 
Environmental Justice Australia’s Co-CEO Nicola Rivers said: 

“The Victorian government claims to have spent $1.5 billion of public money to transition away from native forest logging, yet logs continue to flow into Victorian mills from native forests in Tasmania and New South Wales, and regulatory loopholes allow native forest logging to continue in Victoria. 

“Our investigation raises serious questions about the scale of public subsidies, the opaque funding arrangements and, most importantly, why forests previously allocated for logging still lack the permanent protection that was promised. 

“Ending logging operations is not the same as permanently protecting forests. After $1.5 billion in public funding, why have no trees been protected, as the government promised? 

"Workers and communities deserve genuine support, long-term certainty and a fair transition. The question isn't whether there should be a timber industry. The question is whether public money is being used to support a genuine transition to plantations or to prolong reliance on native forest logging. 

"Native forests are irreplaceable - they won’t grow back in our lifetime. These forests are far more valuable standing than logged. 

“There is a better path. Governments can invest in plantation timber and help the remaining native forest mills retool, give industry real resource security, provide genuine support for affected workers and communities, and finally deliver lasting protection for the forests that Australians deeply care about.” 

ENDS  

Full report: https://envirojustice.org.au/publication/following-the-money/ 

Images available of log tracking, coupe destruction and native forests. 

Contact: Jessa Latona, 03 8341 3110, [email protected]