Regional Bank Rejects Loan on Native Logging Grounds, Opposition Pans ‘Woke Agenda’

A branch of Bendigo bank in Melbourne, Australia on Aug. 20, 2012. AAP image/David Crosling

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has criticised Bendigo Bank for allegedly catering to a “woke agenda” after it refused to provide finance to a forestry contractor on environmental grounds.

In 2022, the Tasmanian forestry firm TP Bennett and Sons applied to the regional bank for a loan to purchase equipment for the business.

After a period of negotiation, the firm’s application was rejected with Bendigo citing Bennett and Sons’ reliance on logging as the main reason.

Bendigo’s 2024 climate report outlines the bank’s commitment to excluding lending to fossil fuel or native forest logging projects.

Bendigo Bank Stands Firm on Lending Criteria

A Bendigo Bank spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the bank did not comment on specific customer matters.

Furthermore, the spokesperson said each customer’s credit application was evaluated according to the bank’s policies, risk appetite, and credit decisioning process.

“From time to time, the Bank has determined not to proceed with lending applications on the grounds that they fall outside our business writing strategy and balance sheet risk appetite,” the spokesperson said.

“We know not all our stakeholders will be supportive of all our decisions.

“We accept this, as we have made these decisions on balance and in the best interests of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and its broader stakeholder group of customers, investors, our people, and the community.”

Dutton Takes Aim at Banking Leaders

During a press conference on Jan. 16, Dutton said a bank’s role was to provide finance to creditworthy customers, not to discriminate against them.

“If a business is legal and it has the ability to service the loan and it’s creditworthy, then the banks should not be discriminating on any other basis,” he told reporters.

“The banks have a moral and social responsibility to consumers and they have a social licence which they need to honour.

“That social licence includes not discriminating against people who are involved in an absolutely essential and critical industry.”

The opposition leader also singled out the woke agenda and the actions of the banking leaders.

“There are a lot of Australians who would say that big banking executives on multi-million dollar pay packets, frankly, have less values and standing than people do in the forestry industry,” Dutton said.

“I think this whole woke agenda and the approach of chief executives trying to please industry super funds and proxy voters and the rest of it has to come to an end.”

Not Supporting Local Industry Means Australia Will Have to Import: Minister

Following the incident, the Tasmanian Liberal government said Bendigo’s decision was “extremely disappointing.”

Tasmanian Business Minister Eric Abetz said the state’s forestry sector provided a high degree of environmental protection and sustainability for forest species.

“We are blessed in Tasmania to have a sustainable, word-class native forestry sector that puts food on the table for thousands of families,” he said in a statement.

“The news that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is looking to withdraw their support for Tasmania’s sustainable, world-class native forestry industry is disappointing and misguided.”

Abetz said he has written to Bendigo Bank’s CEO to express his concerns.

He also noted that Tasmania has a sustainable native hardwood industry, which produces high-value timber that cannot be sourced from plantations.

“If we do not produce them here locally, they need to be imported at great cost,” Abetz said.

“This would see timber being imported from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and South America–countries that frankly do not compare with Tasmania’s approach.”

An aerial view of a timber logging plant in South Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 10, 2010. Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

Response from Other Parties

The Tasmanian Forest Products Association (TFPA) has expressed support for the state government’s call to end the discriminatory lending practices of banks.

“By its very nature, forestry is an industry that requires large amounts of long-term finance. It takes years to successfully grow, harvest and regrow a forestry site,” TFPA Chief Executive Nick Steel said in a statement.

“This is simply another form of greenwashing by one of Australia’s biggest financial institutions, which ironically claims that helping communities thrive is at the heart of what they do.”

Meanwhile, Australian Forest Contractors Association General Manager Tim Lester told the Epoch Times that Bendigo Bank’s decision was “virtue-signaling.”

“Bendigo Bank actually has very, very little exposure to the industry. They were never looking to expand their loan book into the industry,” he said.

At the same time, Lester stressed that sustainable native timber harvesting had almost no impact on biodiversity and that not having the industry would negatively affect local communities.

“The alternative to doing this [native timber harvesting] is we have to pay for the management of the forest through the taxpayer,” he said.

“We don’t get the benefit of hardwood timber. We actually sacrifice that hardwood timber to the import community, where we’re importing more timber. This is happening now.”