PAUL OOSTING, PHILL PULLINGER: Premier Bartlett urged to axe handouts in this year’s Budget

Logging subsidies cost Tasmania the equivalent of 856 nurses for 11 years or more than 40 per cent of a brand new Royal Hobart Hospital

Following the Wells Economic Analysis into subsidies received by the forestry industry over the past 11 years, environment groups today released an analysis of what that funding could have provided Tasmanians. (Download analysis above).

The study (Download analysis above), prepared by Associate Professor Dr Graeme Wells, examined support for the Tasmanian forest industry from 1997 to 2008 and found that the industry has been given more than $630 million in direct and indirect subsidies. The study also found that despite the huge taxpayer funded subsides, which were intended to create jobs, that there have been steady job losses over the same period. The groups are asking for wasteful taxpayer funding for logging industry political advertising, the Tarkine forestry road, and pulp mill handouts, to be axed in this years Tasmanian Government budget, to be released on Thursday.

Government subsidies to the logging industry have failed to stop jobs being lost in the industry, and have failed to protect the environment meaning that taxpayers have lost out. Premier Bartlett needs to demonstrate a different approach in this weeks budget, said Paul Oosting campaigner for The Wilderness Society.

The timber industry always has and always will be an important part of Tasmanias economy but it needs to stand on its own two feet, commented Phillip Pullinger Director of Environment Tasmania, Whilst other sectors such as manufacturing, small business, tourism and agriculture have largely had to face up to the hard realities of the free market woodchip companies have been getting a free ride at the taxpayers expense, he said,

We are asking for some commercial accountability to brought into the management of logging in Tasmania. The treasurer should insist on Forestry Tasmania delivering a commercial rate of return. There should also be an axing of grossly wasteful spending, such as the taxpayer funding for the highly political logging advertising campaigns that are currently being run, concluded Dr Pullinger

Tasmania can ill afford to continue to neglect our environment, health care system and tourism industries while the logging industry is propped up by the taxpayer, concluded Mr Oosting.