How did it come to this?
A letter dated 20 August – only 2 days after that mock Terry Edwards press conference in front of the Executive Building – is sent out by two of the three ENGO signatories.
On the 18 August Mr Edwards drowns out a despondent looking Dr Pullinger as the Signatories release the flimsy and rushed [i]Interim Agreement on Tasmanian Forest Wood Supply and Conservation[/i].
The controversial letters sent to Ta Ann Tasmania’s customers is signed by Lyndon Schneiders of TWS and Don Henry of ACF – both non-Tasmanians taking control of the ENGO play.
And what a shocker … It seems there are mainland bush rats in the ranks – again – who know best.
And who has to come out to defend this secretive duplicity but the local TWS boss, Vica Bayley.
So what was the strategy behind this ENGO brainwave?
According to Mr Bayley: [i]“We have called on those customers not to do anything that would adversely affect processes here in Tasmania. … These letters – I guess – demonstrate a commitment to negotiations; it demonstrates our bona fides in the context of those negotiations…”[/i]
The letter urges customers of Ta Ann not to “make any decisions that could adversely affect Tasmanian suppliers”.
Senior and well-respected Tasmanian conservationist Peg Putt had to come out and decry this action.
[i]“I’m frankly appalled, and so are conservationists around the country, to discover that the ACF and TWS have secretly been sending letters – there have been two letters – to Japanese customers of Ta Ann Tasmania urging them to continue to buy TA Ann products which we know originates from Tasmanian native forests and indeed High Conservation Value (HCV) forests. Because the official documents on the scheduling of forestry operations themselves reveal that Ta Ann’s wood supply agreements are identified as the driver for logging the HCV forests that were meant to have a Moratorium put on them.
“So these letters are heavy on espousing the desire that the supplier – Ta Ann Tasmania – not be adversely affected by any change in their contract … but express no concern whatsoever for the ongoing logging of those forests used to create those products.
“Of course this undermines the chances of actually achieving forests protection in Tasmania as well as the campaign we have been running out of Tasmania and the campaigns of Japanese and Australian groups. But the really important thing here is that this appeases the forest industry but dramatically reduces the chances of actually getting forest protection in Tasmania.
“The Australian Conservation Foundation and The Wilderness Society are definitely causing a split here and I don’t believe that their members and supporters would condone the action that they’ve taken, and I’m pretty sure that they haven’t told them!”[/i]
Reference: ABC radio [i]Mornings[/i] – 25 September 2012
Download ACF, TWS letter:
ACF-TWS_Letter_to_Ta-Ann_customers_20_August_2012.pdf
• Yesterday on Tasmanian Times: Green split over timber company support. Treachery, say Putt, Webber. SWST vows to fight on
