Harvey Norman is one of Australia’s largest furniture and electrical retailers. Harvey Norman stocks many ranges of wooden furniture made from Australia’s native forest.
The journey of many of Harvey Norman’s Australian native forest wood products starts in the forests of Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales. These forests are logged, shipped overseas to China, made into furniture and then shipped back to Australia to be sold back to us in the showrooms of Harvey Norman around the country.
Harvey Norman has no publically available procurement policy that ensures the piece of furniture you buy has not come from an Australian native forest.
What Harvey Norman needs to do:
- Publicly commit to stop selling products made from Australian native forests
- Implement publicly available wood and paper product procurement policies ensuring all its wood and paper products come from environmentally responsible plantations, with preference given to plantation products with full Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
- Work proactively with all key stakeholders, including governments, non-government organisations, the forestry industry, consumers and other retailers to implement a rapid transition for Australia’s forestry industry out of native forests and into responsibly managed plantations.
- Immediately implement a labelling policy that clearly identifies the species from which products are made, whether the trees have been harvested from certified plantations or native/primary forests, and the country in which the products are manufactured.
Markets for Change will work positively and constructively with retail companies and businesses that take action to protect Australia’s and the world’s forests and secure a long-term responsible plantation-based wood and paper products industry.
