The Victorian Coalition has unveiled an election pledge to revive the state's shuttered native timber sector by doubling planned hazard-reduction burns and diverting salvaged forest fuels directly to local sawmills.
ABC News Business reported that the alternative government plans to integrate bushfire mitigation operations with commercial timber supply, pitching the strategy as a dual solution to catastrophic wildfire risk and the economic decay of regional timber communities.
Fuel-reduction push to supply regional mills
Under the framework outlined ahead of the state poll, the Coalition aims to substantially escalate fuel-reduction operations across Victoria's public forest estate. Central to the proposition is an initiative to gather fallen timber, residual biomass and felled hazard trees from strategic firebreaks and asset-protection zones, channelling commercial-grade logs into mills that have sat idle or operated at diminished capacity.
Industry advocates have long argued that dense ground-fuel loads exacerbate fire intensity during severe summer conditions, asserting that mechanical thinning and selective salvage can complement traditional prescribed burning regimes. Under the Coalition's platform, the frequency of planned burns would effectively double, combined with systematic biomass extraction designed to create defensible space around vulnerable regional townships.
Reversal of Labor's native harvesting ban
The policy marks a sharp ideological departure from the incumbent Allan Labor government, which brought forward the total cessation of commercial native timber harvesting to January 2024—six years ahead of its original 2030 transition timeline.
The government's decision followed years of protracted legal challenges from environmental organisations, coupled with severe bushfire losses that severely curtailed available wood allocations across public coupes. While Labor committed hundreds of millions of dollars toward industry transition packages and worker redundancy schemes, Coalition MPs have consistently framed the shutdown as an avoidable economic disaster for Gippsland and north-eastern Victoria.
Environmental hurdles and bushfire mitigation
However, any manoeuvre to reintroduce native timber extraction under the mantle of wildfire management faces intense scrutiny from forest ecologists and conservation organisations. Scientists have frequently disputed assertions that mechanical thinning consistently suppresses wildfire severity, cautioning that removing canopy shelter and disturbing the understorey can alter forest microclimates, promote flammable scrub growth and dry out forest floors.
There are also legal and logistical hurdles regarding environmental approvals. The Coalition has not yet detailed how extensive salvage operations would navigate federal environmental protection laws or supreme court precedent protecting threatened species such as the greater glider and the Leadbeater’s possum.
Economic fallout in regional timber towns
Despite these headwinds, the policy seeks to capitalise on enduring resentment across regional communities hit hard by mill closures, contractor insolvencies, and broader economic disruption. For communities that built their local economies around native hardwood processing, the loss of log supply has reverberated through haulage, engineering, and civic services.
With the Coalition seeking to recapture marginal regional electorates, the timber policy places the governance of Victoria’s public land management at the centre of the state’s political contest, setting industry survival on a collision course with conservation policy.
