The much hated North East Regional Forestry Agreement (NE RFA) exempts logging in native forests from the federal biodiversity assessment and logging approval requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
NEFA is asking the Federal Court to declare that the North East RFA does not validly exempt native forest logging from these federal biodiversity laws.
In order for an RFA to exempt native forest logging from the usual federal biodiversity assessment and approval requirements, when the Commonwealth enters into an RFA it is legally required to have regard to assessments of environmental values and the principles of ecologically sustainable management.
The EDO will argue for NEFA that when the North East RFA was renewed, the Commonwealth did not have regard to assessments of environmental values and the principles of ecologically sustainable management, including endangered species, the state of old growth forests or the impacts of climate change, as the EDO will argue it was required to do.
The EDO will argue that the decision to extend the North East RFA was not made in accordance with the relevant legislation. As a consequence, the Federal Court should find the North East RFA does not lawfully exempt logging in the north east RFA region from federal biodiversity assessment and approval requirements.
Want to help? Donate to help fund the EDO/NEFA court challenge to stop the destruction of native forests: https://chuffed.org/project/nefa-is-taking-government-to-court.
See also NEFA: MEDIA RELEASE: NEFA launches court action over north-east Regional Forest Agreement rollover. https://www.nefa.org.au/nefa_launches_court_action
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