Industry shoots down calls to axe native logging

The forestry sector is at loggerheads with those calling for an end to harvesting native timber. (Adrian Black/AAP PHOTOS)

Ending controversial native forest logging would boost manufacturing and jobs in Australia as well as protecting the environment, one of the nation's most influential economists argues.

But the sector has hit back at claims native logging can be replaced, arguing the environmental impacts of the practice are overstated.