The Liberal Party’s Federal Council lurched further to the draconian right by unanimously endorsing a policy motion to apply secondary boycott laws upon environmental advocates.
Secondary boycott laws are in place to stop both unions and businesses from colluding for financial benefit, but environment and consumer groups are exempted under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The change to the laws is being championed by Liberals from Tasmania who claim they are supporting the logging Industry, yet implementing such a policy would lead to greater scrutiny of the logging industry and raise new questions in international and domestic markets.
“Attempts to stop environmental groups from campaigning against environmentally destructive products and companies is not only illiberal but, as history has demonstrated, is counterproductive,” said Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders.
“History shows that responding to legitimate community concerns through increasing punitive measures fails and ultimately costs the industry. The spectacular collapse of one-time logging giant Gunns Ltd is testament to that. The coal seam gas industry should also take notice here.
“Liberal Governments are re-creating problems by reversing forest protection, abandoning implementation of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement and taking the state back into conflict.”
The Tasmanian Parliament is currently considering legislation to remove the legal protection of more than 400,000 hectares of high conservation value forest to allow logging in such iconic places as the Blue Tier, Tarkine, Wielangta and Bruny Island. This week the Tasmanian Government also introduced draconian legislation to increase penalties for resulting forest protests.
“The secondary boycott’s motion and the anti-protest laws demonstrate the Liberal Party knows it will fail to create a stable future for the logging industry. Its best response is winding back the clock and cracking down on those who speak out,” said Wilderness Society Tasmanian Campaign Manager Vica Bayley.
“Increasing penalties and changing laws to combat the conflict its own policies will create will just put greater scrutiny on the logging industry, government forest policy and the places being logged. The Tasmanian Forest Agreement offered a genuine, collaborative way forward by protecting forests and offering a different future for the industry, so it’s a shame our new governments are turning their back on consensus and replacing it with desperate measures to combat the inevitable conflict.”
Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders, Tasmania Campaign Manager Vica Bayley
