PM Rudd’s announcement is counterproductive to diversifying Tasmania’s economy as it continues to award welfare handouts to the proven unsustainable Tasmanian logging industry. Today’s announcement of the funding from the Tasmanian Forest Agreement is another million dollar feather in Sarawak timber company Ta Ann’s cap on behalf of the Australian taxpayer.
“Tasmanian Forest Agreement funding announcements today include more welfare handouts to the proven environmentally and economically unsustainable logging industry, and is a unnaceptable misuse of public funds,” said Jenny Weber, spokesperson for Huon valley Environment Centre.
“With this $7.5 million of public funds today to build a plywood mill, Ta Ann has now received Australian taxpayers funds to the tune of $44.6 million since arrival. Hamed Sepawi, Executive Chairman and chief shareholder of Ta Ann, is one of Malaysia’s wealthiest men, and now Australian taxpayers continue to roll out millions of dollars to pay for his company to expand in Tasmania. Australians are questioning why our money and forests are being used to pay for the expansion of this Sarawak palm oil company with proven links to human rights violators,” said Ms. Weber.
“Without any indication of sourcing a supply from outside native forests, Tasmania’s largest timber companies, Ta Ann and Britton Bros. have been awarded millions of dollars for expansion by the Australian Government. This will spell further destruction of high conservation value forest in Tasmania, a modus operandi that foreign markets have shown is unacceptable,” said Ms. Weber.
“The fact that a quarter of today’s $100 million has gone to a dying forestry industry, locks Tasmania in to an economy where wasteful, loss-generating resource extraction is propped up falsely as a cornerstone of the economy. The forestry industry employs less than 2% of the workforce and has delivered a loss of tens of millions per annum to the state and is pitched to do so for the next four years,” said Miranda Gibson, spokesperson for Still Wild Still Threatened.
“The big players in the logging industry are not only being rewarded for consolidating their hold in Tasmania’s high conservation value native forests, they are being actively encouraged by PM Rudd to continue to drive clearfelling and burning of irreplaceable forest ecosystems. Further this funding to the native forestry industry is entrenching regional dependance on unsustainable resource extraction industries,” said Ms. Gibson.
“This was an opportunity for diversification of Tasmania’s economy. Instead it’s a repeat show of Australian taxpayers propping up a dying forestry industry that demonstrably fails the state. This decision fails to influence reform and restructure that needs to take place, both in private and public sectors of the logging industry and regional economies at large.” said Ms. Gibson.
• Nick McKim: Good and bad in economic diversification funding
