Beekeeper’s concerns ignored

KIM BOOTH MP – Media Release

Forestry Tas Bullying Beekeepers Over Leatherwood

Media Release

BEEKEEPER’S CONCERNS IGNORED

The Tasmanian Greens today accused Forestry Tasmania of attempting to bully Tasmanian beekeepers into silence over the ongoing destruction of Tasmania’s unique Leatherwood resource, after the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association (TBA) revealed last week that it believes it has “wasted five years trying to negotiate with FT … to secure security for the remaining Leatherwood forests,” only to have Peter Volker of FT respond by saying that beekeepers were not unified in their desire to preserve Leatherwood in Tasmania. [1]

Greens Forests spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the beekeepers have been united for many years in their attempts to retain the best stands of Leatherwood for their honey bees, and the only thing that has kept them out of the public eye in recent years is FT’s requirement that the TBA “not air its disagreements in the media,” an instruction that beekeepers are now sick of obeying after spending five years watching the ongoing destruction of the Leatherwood stands. [ii]

Mr Booth also said that Tasmania’s Leatherwood trees, which must be 70 years or older before commercial harvest is possible, are being sacrificed on the altar of a woodchip-driven forest industry that cost Tasmanians more than $1 million per week last year, raising the obvious question as to why FT are threatening Tasmania’s unique Leatherwood honey industry in return for an industry that cost taxpayers $55 million last year.

“Tasmanian beekeepers have spent five frustrating years negotiating with FT while saying nothing about the ongoing destruction of the Leatherwood resource, but the moment they speak out FT staff immediately criticise and undermine them,” said Mr Booth.

“FT are acting against the interests of all Tasmanians by threatening this unique and iconic Tasmanian industry, simply because it stands in the way of their woodchip-driven agenda for Tasmania’s forests.”

“FT’s ‘management’ of our unique Leatherwood resource seems to revolve around silencing those who speak out about its destruction, then trying to undermine them when they refuse to remain silent anymore.”

“When was it decided that Tasmania’s Leatherwood resource would be sacrificed for a woodchip-driven industry? Who made that decision, and when did they convey this to the Tasmanian people? FT and the Bartlett Government have no social licence to destroy our cherished Leatherwood industry, which is a pivotal to the Tasmanian brand.”

“The Tasmanian Greens wholeheartedly support the right of beekeepers to access the Leatherwood stands that remain in our forests, and FT needs to take beekeeper’s concerns a lot more seriously in future, instead of silencing and then criticising them when they dare to speak,” said Mr Booth.

Julian Wolfhagen, President of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association.

www.tas.greens.org.au

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[1], [11]: “Beekeepers renew battle with forestry,” Rose Grant, ABC Country Hour (Tasmania), Wed 27 May 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/rural/tas/content/2009/05/s2582239.htm