Forestry’s FSC Application Decision Delayed

The Greens have forced the Resources minister, Paul Harriss, to confirm that the decision on Forestry Tasmania’s application for Forest Stewardship certification (FSC) has been delayed.

“The decision on Forestry Tasmania’s application for FSC was expected to be known by February this year, but now we learn that the silence is due to that now being delayed until April,” Greens Leader and Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP said today.

“It is very telling that this update was not provided publicly by the Minister’s own volition, but instead had to be dragged from him during Parliamentary Question Time.

“The auditor, SCS Global conducted Forestry Tasmania’s onsite inspection visits in December, and despite being asked to provide an update on those audit findings the Minister failed to do so.

“It is therefore a fair assumption that significant problems were identified during those site inspections, which have resulted in a two month delay in determining Forestry Tasmania’s application.

“This is a serious indication of serious problems for Forestry in achieving genuine FSC accreditation,” Mr Booth said.

• John Powell has written extensively on why FT would fail FSC, here

• Bryan Green: Liberals refuse to guarantee Forestry Tasmania’s future A dark cloud hangs over Forestry Tasmania’s future after senior Liberal Ministers today refused to rule out shutting it down. “Both the Treasurer and the Resources Minister today dodged questions over whether Forestry Tasmania will continue as a stand-alone Government business,” Labor Leader Bryan Green said today. “Peter Gutwein and Paul Harriss have added to uncertainty over Forestry Tasmania by refusing to speculate on its future while reviewing the operation of the business. “This is a massive shift from the Liberals pre-election promise to allow Forestry Tasmania to trade its way out of financial trouble. “Are the Liberals planning to wind up Forestry Tasmania or transfer the business into a government department? “The Liberals have done nothing to turn around the decline in the forest industry despite their promises, so how do they expect Forestry Tasmania to survive without a subsidy?

• Robin Charles Halton, in Comments: FT’s main problem is the premature destruction of high quality regrowth forests for peelers by sacrificing the future of high quality sawlogs to produce prized Tasmanian Oak for premium furniture, feature flooring and panelling, sliced veneer and fit outs for homes, offices and architect designed buildings open to the benefit of showcasing our timber heritage. It’s not FSC that FT should be concerned about its the actual presence of Ta Ann till 2026/27 that is the concern. FSC is nothing more than a fools game for ticking boxes and creates a false sense of belief that sustainable forest management regimes are in place. It just creates a trail for an international bureaucracy for alternative forest rubber stamping to tell the public on a global basis their timber products are sustainable.

• Ted Mead, in Comments: #6 yes – Very true Robin – So tell me why all your other pro Forestry fanatical mates don’t see it like this. Cutting forests for the sake of cutting forests is never going to be the answer to the Industry’s woes. Sustainability of carefully managed forest is what we need – but nobody in the industry understands that or doesn’t want to think about it. We are still living in the decades of the past through unbridled pillage and plunder to the benefit of the very few, and the huge economic, environmental and social costs to the rest of us

• Bryan Green: Harriss adds fuel to Forestry fire This morning’s hysterical rant from Resources Minister Paul Harriss has only strengthened the argument that he plans to shut down Forestry Tasmania. Labor Leader Byran Green said Mr Harriss went nowhere near the question asked and he is fuelling growing uncertainty over FT by refusing to guarantee its future. “For the second day in a row, Paul Harriss refused to rule out shutting down Forestry Tasmania,” Mr Green said. “And Mr Harriss failed to explain how Forestry Tasmania will remain solvent in the coming years. “There is no money in the budget papers to keep Forestry Tasmania solvent.

• Kim Booth: Minister Must Intervene and Stop Lapoinya Logging Greens Leader and Forestry Kim Booth MP today tabled in the Parliament a formal call for Forestry Tasmania to abandon its plans to log contentious Coupe FD053 at Lapoinya in the state’s north-west. “There are serious and necessary studies which have not been conducted for this coupe, and without these then logging should not occur, it is as simple as that, ” Mr Booth said. “Lapoinya is recognised as home to the threatened Giant Freshwater Lobster, but no survey has been conducted to check whether this species is living within the planned logging area.” “Similarly despite the Tommingeer Nation going to the coupe and identifying artefact zones, Forestry Tasmania has not undertaken any Aboriginal Heritage study.” “This piece of land is not just beautiful, like all of Tasmanian’s wilderness, but importantly it is home to various vulnerable, threatened and endangered species.” “As usual, Forestry Tasmania have gone like a bull at a gate with the proposed logging of Lapoinya”

• FLOG, in Comments: Minister Harriss, Is it true that: “the plywood mill promised by Ta Ann after receiving yet more government funds has been built but the imported machinery has failed to meet Australian standards and is currently being modified. The main press is installed a few feet below factory floor level and keeps filling up with water apparently, which is not a complete surprise given the area was a swamp in a earlier life. Maybe the soil testing was outsourced to FT planners?” Does this failure of governance by Ta Ann now allow you to void the peeler contract? Does this make Ta Ann in default of contract terms? Are you actively seeking a refund of the subsidy provided to Ta Ann? Have you informed SCS Global of this default? Is Lapoinya still to be logged? Lots more questions but this will do for the moment Paul …

• Examiner: Forestry Tasmania fate in the balance FORESTRY Tasmania hangs in the balance, with its chairman telling staff the company’s immediate future is entirely in the government’s hand. In an email sent to Forestry Tasmania staff yesterday, chairman Bob Annells responded to mounting concerns that the cash-strapped company may be dissolved and folded into a government department.