Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House the State Government's long-standing pledge to permanently cease extracting native hardwood products from our publicly owned State forests within the South East Queensland Regional Plan area (SEQRPA) by 31 December 2024.

This promise commenced 25 years ago under the current South East Queensland Forests Agreement (SEQFA) and has remained in place despite the announcement of the Native Timber Action Plan in 2019 and the subsequent introduction of the Queensland Sustainable Timber Industry Framework in June 2024.

Whist some of the original conservation commitments of the SEQFA regrettably seem to have been reneged upon the commitment to dedicate 20,000 hectares of State forest in the SEQRPA to National park or conservation park prior to 31 December 2024 remains to be executed.

According to Ministerial Media Statements only 12,224 hectares of State forest in the SEQRPA has been transitioned to National park or conservation park. As such, the dedication of a further 7,776 hectares of State forest in the SEQRPA is yet to be actioned prior to 31 December 2024.

The Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation have accessed Deongwar State Forest under the Comprehensive, Appropriate and Representative (CAR) assessment framework and found it to have the right biodiversity values to justify it being permanently protected as part our National Reserve System.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to bring this commitment to the attention of Premier David Crisafulli and the Minister for Environment and Tourism the Honourable Andrew Powell MP.