June 23, 2026
Shadow Agriculture Minister Darren Chester has slammed the ABC, saying a Four Corners program about the timber industry broadcast on Monday night was “biased” and “one-sided”.
The program, “Timber Turmoil”, alleged timber from native forests was being milled in States which had banned native logging, and where companies had been paid to transition away from the practice.
ANU Professor David Lindenmayer said the industry had “raped and pillaged” the forests of Victoria and was now turning to Tasmania “to basically do the same thing”.
“From the first sentence of the program, it was obvious the ABC wasn’t going to be interested in presenting a balanced view of our world-class and environmentally sustainable native hardwood timber industry,” Mr Chester said.
“There was no attempt to include the views of some of Australia’s leading forest scientists who support the hardwood timber industry, as the ABC dragged out the same old activists.
“Instead of objective reporting, we were exposed to taxpayer-funded propaganda for the Labor-Greens, who have demonstrated complete and utter contempt for the forest industry in Australia for several decades.”
Australian Forest Products Association Action CEO Richard Hyett said the Four Corners program was not interested in accurately reflecting the latest science, environmental credentials and economic importance of Australia’s forestry industry.
“The program ignored the evidence supporting Australia’s world-leading forest management systems and failed to present a balanced assessment of a sustainable industry that provides renewable products, regional jobs and significant environmental benefits,” Mr Hyett said.
Mr Chester there were two choices with timber: “You either harvest your own in an environmentally sustainable manner or you take someone else’s.”
“Australia has a trade deficit in timber products, and our dependence on countries like Brazil and Indonesia will only grow in the future if we shut down our own industry,” Mr Chester said.
“It’s an insult to hard-working Australians in the timber industry throughout regional Australia that our national broadcaster shows no regard for the social and economic consequences of Labor-Greens policies which target the timber industry.”
- External link: Timber Turmoil (ABC Four Corners)
