Forestry Alliance NSW sent the below letter to the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt in October 2025 urging the Labor Government to remove Regional Forest Agreement exemptions from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Dear Minister Watt, 

I am writing to you on behalf of the Forest Alliance NSW, a coalition of environmental NGOs and local environmental groups working together to protect NSW’s forests and threatened species.

We are writing to urge you to implement Labor’s commitment, reflected in both the Government’s Nature Positive Plan (page 4) and the 2023 ALP National Platform, which on page 53 states that Labor will “ensure the application of National Environmental Standards to Australia’s native forests.”

This commitment recognises that the exemption provided to native forest logging under Regional Forest Agreements is no longer tenable. Every other industry, including mining, renewable energy and housing development, must comply with Australia’s environmental laws. It is inconsistent with the principles of fairness and accountability that underpin Australia’s laws that one industry, which is largely loss-making and far from essential, remains exempt from them. 

Forestry should be treated no differently from any other industry under those laws. This requires removing the exemption that currently excludes forestry operations conducted under Regional Forest Agreements from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. 

There is clear and consistent evidence that these exemptions have led to the destruction of critical habitat and ecosystems across Australia. The Samuel Review, which the Government accepted, found that the Regional Forest Agreement exemptions for forestry operations are inconsistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development and have resulted in weak oversight and limited accountability. The Review recommended that forestry operations be subject to the same strong and enforceable National Environmental Standards as other industries, and that compliance be independently monitored and enforced.

Australia has also committed internationally, including through the First Global Stocktake at COP28, and Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use (2021), to halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. Applying the National Environmental Standards to forestry operations would be consistent with those international obligations and with the Government’s own policy direction under the Nature Positive Plan.

To give effect to this, we ask that: 

1. The National Environmental Standards, including the Matters of National Environmental Significance Standard and other relevant Standards, apply in full to forestry operations conducted under Regional Forest Agreements.
   
2. The current round of EPBC Act reforms legislate a process to accredit only those RFAs that comply with the National Environmental Standards, prohibits unacceptable impacts, and significantly strengthen protection of threatened species and ecological communities.
   
3. The Commonwealth establishes clear powers in a federal EPA to enforce compliance with these Standards, with transparent public reporting and independent oversight.

As Minister for the Environment, you have a statutory obligation to protect threatened species. Applying the National Environmental Standards to forestry operations is a direct and practical way to meet that obligation.

Implementing this reform would also honour Labor’s commitments, demonstrate the Government’s commitment to science-based decision-making, restore confidence in Australia’s environmental laws, and ensure that all industries operate under a consistent and accountable national framework.

We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your office to discuss these reforms and how they can be delivered. Please contact Clancy Barnard [email protected] to arrange a time. 

Yours sincerely,

Clancy Barnard

On behalf of the Forest Alliance NSW, which includes:

• The Nature Conservation Council of NSW 
• WWF-Australia 
• Wilderness Australia 
• North East Forest Alliance 
• North Coast Environment Council
• Brooman State Forest Conservation Group 
• The Wilderness Society 
• National Parks Association of NSW 
• South East Forest Rescue 
• Bob Brown Foundation