Thousands across Australia march to end native forest logging and mining
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 24 March 2026
Marches organised by the Bob Brown Foundation drew 15,000 people across 14 locations. Commonwealth powers must be used to protect native forests and wildlife – sign the declaration!
(above: March in Hobart, photo by Nina Hamilton)
The Bob Brown Foundation Native Forest Declaration speaks of the urgent need for parliamentarians to get behind the statement, knowing that:
- The climate and biodiversity crisis are inextricably linked.
- Many Australian birds that depend on forests face extinction this century.
- Koalas, greater gliders, wombats and quolls are among the many animals killed by logging.
- Logging increases bushfire risks.
- Forests are irreplaceable carbon banks, but, when logged and burnt, emit megatonnes of greenhouse gases.
- Australia has more than enough plantations to meet its wood needs.
Native forests on public land, wherever they remain, need secure and permanent protection in Commonwealth law. Australia needs nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis that includes protection of native forests and pro-forestation of logged and degraded native forests.
Care for the future of life on Earth, and our obligation to ensure that Australia’s natural beauty, diversity and inspiration is not lost to future generations, drives this urgent call on you to protect Australia’s forests. Now.
Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Director said:
“We marched in Hobart, the capital city of a state that logs critically endangered Swift Parrot breeding habitat.
“We marched in Western Australia, in Perth and Margaret River, where the mining companies Alcoa and South32 want to continue clearing forests even though Bauxite mining is now the leading cause of deforestation in the state’s southwest.”
Jenny continued “We marched to federal Environment Minister Murray Watt’s office, as he stands with the logging and mining industries to keep clearing forests.
“In six locations across NSW, we marched, including in regional towns on the frontline of logging destruction and in the capital city of Sydney.”
“We marched across Australia – from the nation’s capital of Canberra to the Melbourne CBD, Adelaide and Mackay.”
Jenny said “Forests are one of the planet’s most powerful tools against the climate and biodiversity crises. We are living in a time where logging and mining native forests endangers people’s lives by making bushfires more severe, exacerbating the heating of the planet and removing habitat for endangered species. It’s well past time for native forest destruction to end. Native forests produce oxygen, store carbon, produce water and bring rain, and they are critical habitat for countless rare and threatened species, our national forest estate must be securely protected.”
In NSW, where the Forestry Corporation is illegally logging native forests right across the state, former Magistrate David Heilpern spoke at the Bellingen March:
David said:
”Apart from a march for our forests, this is also a gathering for victims of crime. We know who the criminals are: Forestry Corporation, and we know who the victims are: ancient trees, animals, riparian zones. But also us: the residents of NSW who waste our resources on these criminals and these crimes.”
In Adelaide, the prominent Australian band Ocean Alley was represented by band member Mitch Galbraith.
Mitch said: “Together, we stand up for those that can’t, our unique and valuable flora and fauna, and together, our voice is loud and will be heard. Forests have been here long before my ancestors arrived here, and they belong to the people and culture that were here long before them. Native forests are rare, special, and deserve our respect. How dare we denigrate this great land and the culture and people that it has nurtured for tens of thousands of years? Irresponsible and ignorant governments keep failing us.”
Tens of thousands of jobs and our way of life depend on our natural environment. Climate change means it’s under greater pressure than ever.
We really need forests, and they are being wrecked at an alarming rate.
NATURE PROTECTION LAWS MUST BE NATIONWIDE!