Victoria ended logging. Now it’s using Tasmania’s native forests

By Jessica Longbottom, Jonathan Miller and Jade Toomey
ABC News, Australia
June 22, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: International

It’s a freezing, foggy morning as the Searoad Mersey II docks at Melbourne Port. We’ve had a tip-off that the truck we’re looking for is on board. …Trees from Tasmania’s public forests are not meant to leave the island. But two years after Victoria banned logging in its own state forests, Four Corners has discovered there are Victorian sawmills now relying heavily on Tasmania for supply. In some cases, Victorian taxpayers are even subsidising the practice. …It’s clear this sawmill, in a state that’s banned native logging in public forests, has shifted its supply. …The state government told Four Corners no logs from public forests like these were leaving the island to be processed interstate. …The environmentalists reckon they’ve spent hundreds of hours at the Devonport ferry terminal, in the state’s north, watching logs leave the island.

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