For decades, native forest logging has been exempt from the national environment laws designed to protect Australia's most threatened wildlife.

Thanks to the Greens, that exemption is finally ending. But the Minns Labor Government wants to give the logging industry another 20 years.

Instead of making individual logging operations face proper environmental scrutiny, Labor wants one sweeping approval that could allow logging to continue across NSW without proper assessment under the national environmental laws.

This is another unacceptable free pass for forest destruction.

Our precious native forests are home to threatened koalas, greater gliders and countless other species being pushed towards extinction. We should be ending public native forest logging and permanently protecting these forests, not finding new ways to keep the bulldozers running.

Every logging operation must face our national environment laws. No blanket approvals. No special treatment.

Right now, we have a critical opportunity to stop this. The Government is consulting on the rules for its new forestry assessment, and we have until Friday 16 October to demand that they get it right.

I need you to add your voice. Demand proper national law scrutiny of every logging operation, protection for threatened species habitat and an end to public native forest logging.

We have fought too hard to end this exemption to let Labor bring it back under another name. 

Make your own submission - help protect our forests

If you have a little more time, I strongly encourage you to make a personal submission. You don’t need to be an environmental scientist or forestry expert and you can use the information below.

Your submission should focus on what the assessment must investigate and require, and not just express opposition to logging.

What should your submission say?

1. No blanket approval - every logging operation must face national environmental scrutiny

The Terms of Reference must not presume that another 20-year, landscape-wide approval is an acceptable replacement for the expiring RFA exemption.

Demand that the assessment examine individual Commonwealth environmental assessment and approval of forestry operations as the alternative to a sweeping strategic approval.

Every logging operation should be individually assessed for impacts on Matters of National Environmental Significance. Operations likely to have significant impacts must be subject to full Commonwealth assessment and approval rather than escaping scrutiny through a blanket authorisation.

2. Identify the forests that must be permanently protected

The assessment must identify and map forests that are too environmentally important to log, and recommend their permanent protection.

This must include reviewing the protected area network against the Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative reserve standards and Australia's commitment to protect and conserve 30% of land and seas by 2030.

The assessment must consider proposals for major expansions of protected forests, including the North East Forest Parks proposal, and Great Southern Forests proposal, and identify the additional protected areas needed for threatened species survival.

The assessment must also verify that plantation areas are genuinely plantations and identify areas that should be restored to native forests because of their biodiversity and habitat value.

3. Demand protection for threatened species and their habitat

The assessment must require comprehensive, independently verified surveys and mapping of threatened species, threatened ecological communities, old-growth forests, hollow-bearing trees, breeding and feeding habitat, and wildlife corridors.

Protection must be based on the habitat that threatened species need to survive and areas of irreplaceable habitat must be excluded from logging.

4. Assess the full environmental damage caused by logging

The Terms of Reference must require assessment of the cumulative impacts of logging across the landscape, including forest fragmentation, damage to waterways, repeated harvesting, road construction, bushfires, drought and climate change.

The assessment must identify and protect rainforest, riparian vegetation, wetlands, water catchments, climate refugia and corridors that allow wildlife to move between habitats.

It must also identify forests and ecosystems requiring restoration and recovery.

5. Require independent science, transparent reporting and enforceable protection

The assessment must be based on ecological evidence, independent scientific review and genuine engagement with Traditional Custodians and local communities.

It must assess the actual condition and recovery of threatened species populations and habitat, not simply whether logging companies have complied with existing rules.

There must be independent monitoring before and after logging, strong compliance and enforcement powers, and automatic suspension or review of logging approvals where environmental thresholds are breached.

6. Apply the same environmental standards to private native forestry

The assessment must not allow threatened species habitat to be destroyed just because it is on private land.

Private native forestry must be subject to comprehensive environmental assessment, including individual approval processes and effective compliance monitoring.

How to lodge your submission

Go to the NSW Government Strategic Assessment consultation page.

Use the online survey, or send a written submission by email to [email protected] with the subject Submission on the Draft Terms of Reference - Forestry Strategic Assessment.

State that your submission relates to the draft Terms of Reference. Explain why you oppose a 20-year blanket forestry approval and choose any of the points above to support your submission. Include your name and contact details.

You should also add your personal experiences of NSW forests, the wildlife you care about, and why protecting these places matters to you.

The Natural Resources Commission may publish submissions unless they are marked confidential, so avoid including personal information that you do not want made public.

Submissions must be received before 11:59 pm Friday 16 October 2026.

Let's make sure the governments hear us. Our forests are worth fighting for, and we have an extraordinary opportunity to secure real protection for them.