In staggering testimony yesterday, the Victorian environment department’s deputy secretary for forest, fire and regions admitted the department’s position on old-growth logging is that it should end.

Last week’s rollover of the New South Wales native forest logging laws for another 20 years is nothing short of criminal.

“This disastrous rollover of last century’s Regional Forest Agreements signs the death warrant for threatened species and gives woodchippers everything they have ever wanted - all their Christmases come at once,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens forests spokesperson.

The Senate Inquiry into Australia’s animal extinction crisis today heard testimony that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the need to protect the highest conservation value forests, but buckled under pressure from VicForests, the state-owned logging company, to allow these forest areas to be logged.

A leaked study by University of Canberra academics for the Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) shows two thirds of Australians, including those in rural and regional areas, want an end to native forest logging.

“It’s clear that a huge majority of Australians know that logging of native forests must end,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens spokesperson for forests.

“The Labor and Liberal parties are the only thing standing in the way of protecting our native forests.”

The Greens have condemned Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Premier Daniel Andrews signing off on two year extensions of three of the state's Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) for the East Gippsland, Central Highlands and North East Regions.

RFAs give loggers guaranteed supplies of timber from our forests and exempts them from federal environmental laws. This extension preserves the status quo and does nothing to protect forests from destructive logging.

Quotes attributable to Samantha Dunn MLC:

The Greens have condemned the wilful and deliberate destruction of our native forests by the Turnbull government, following revelations today of documents that show there are legal questions hanging over the government’s policy to extend existing logging laws under Australia’s ten Commonwealth-state Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs).