MEDIA RELEASE 15 May 2006

HAS TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT MADE A LIAR OF SENATOR ABETZ?

Taxpayer funds used to build new road into Upper Florentine oldgrowth

The Tasmanian Government may have made a liar of federal Forestry Minister, Senator Eric Abetz, by using taxpayers’ funds from the $250-million forests package on building a new logging road into pristine oldgrowth forests in the Upper Florentine.

Yesterday, Senator Abetz denied that taxpayers’ funds are being used to prop up oldgrowth woodchipping.

However, the Wilderness Society’s Tasmanian Campaign Coordinator, Geoff Law, said that he has been told by Forestry Tasmania that money from the package will be used on a new logging road into pristine oldgrowth forests in the Upper Florentine.

“Taxpayers’ funds are being used to build a new logging road into an area the Prime Minister promised to protect,” Mr Law said. “Most of the oldgrowth logs extracted will go to woodchip exports.”

“This contradicts Senator Abetz’s denial that taxpayers’ funds are being used to financially prop up oldgrowth woodchipping.”

“Today’s Mercury has reported that the Governments will not financially assist redundant contractors to leave the industry will dignity. Yet the Governments are prepared to pour taxpayers’ funds into propping up oldgrowth logging in places such as the upper Florentine.”

The Australian Government promised to protect 18,700 hectares of oldgrowth forests in the Styx and Florentine, but failed to keep that promise, protecting only 4730 ha. Only 10 days after the March state election, Forestry Tasmania began constructing a new logging road into the upper Florentine. This prompted protests by the Wilderness Society. Forestry Tasmania’s logging plan says that 70% of the logs extracted from this oldgrowth forest will go directly to woodchipping.

A transcript from yesterday shows Senator Abetz denying that taxpayers’ funds are being used to prop up oldgrowth woodchipping:

Law: Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds to fight market forces and prop up old-growth woodchipping at a time when that industry would otherwise be unsustainable.