Audit office finds NSW Forestry failed to monitor contractors amid calls to end native forest logging

The report found 80% of forests on the NSW south coast were affected by 2019-20 bushfires, reducing long-term timber supplies from the region by about 30%. Photograph: Getty Images

NSW’s Forestry Corporation (FCNSW) does not consistently monitor compliance of contractors and failed to assess the risk of its timber operations in the state’s west, the state’s audit office said in a report. Some inspectors even lacked equipment such as measuring tapes.

The report, tabled in NSW parliament on Thursday, also found 80% of forests on the south coast were affected by 2019-20 bushfires, reducing long-term timber supplies from the region by about 30%. FCNSW’s total harvest fell to 574,000 cubic metres in 2020-21, which was about 60% of the level of two years earlier.