Simply, a bizarre claim

Cameron Hindrum

The letter below was published in The Age today (Thurs) in response to a letter from me published yesterday. My letter was in response to an Op-Ed piece published in that newspaper by Tricia Caswell, who is CEO of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries. Her article is Here
Of particular note is her claim that “production forestry, with its vast array of wood and paper products may be the most carbon positive industry on the planet”; typical pro-industry spin.

She goes on to make the simply bizarre claim that attending a harvest coupe is like going to the opera.

My objection to her article, as expressed in my letter, was founded in her implication everything seems rosy in industrial forestry in both Tasmania and Victoria. She infers this for the former, even if it is not explicitly stated. Unfortunately I did not retain a copy of my letter, but I made the point that Tasmania does not have an Environment Protection Authority, and indeed I made the claim repeated below by Mr Wilkinson.

I am posting this on Tasmanian Times because I have strong suspicions that Mr Wilkinson is also pushing a line of pro-industry spin. I would be particularly interested in what happens to those contractors who are found to have breached the code of practice.

Cameron Hindrum, concerned citizen.
No Pulp Mill.

Tasmania’s forestry code is policed
IT IS misleading for C. Hindrum to allege Tasmania’s forest practices code is “repeatedly ignored by contractors” (Letters, 1/8).

The Forest Practices Authority conducts independent audits and investigates all alleged breaches of the code. Major breaches are found in less than 1 per cent of forestry operations; most are not deliberate but are caused by deficiencies in knowledge or process.

Serious disregard of the code occurs in less than 0.15 per cent of forestry operations. The standards of compliance within Tasmania are, by international standards, extremely high.

Graham Wilkinson, director, Forest Practices Authority, Hobart