Appearing before the House of Representatives Environment Committee inquiring into tax deductibility of environment groups, Markets For Change today took the opportunity to correct spurious claims made by others and to outline how their work contributes to better environmental outcomes on the ground.
“Our extensive research has provided the basis for information and education to retail companies about the environmental harms caused to forests and endangered species in the production of wood products they sell. When our advice about improved procurement policy has been followed it has secured changes that lead to better results on the ground for Australia’s forests,” Markets For Change CEO Ms Peg Putt told the committee.
Ms Putt dismissed spurious claims of forest industry players and some politicians against her organization.
“We pride ourselves on our accuracy and have not lied to overseas or domestic customers of wood products as our critics have claimed. Rather we have corrected erroneous sales material such as that claiming Ta Ann Tasmania’s product was sourced from plantations when it was actually from native forests, including those identified as high conservation value during negotiation of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.”
“Who else was going to act on the misleading information being used to sell the product as eco-friendly? The government didn’t, even though customer companies and consumers were being misled.”
Ms Putt pointed out that it was not radical to take action against involvement in unacceptable logging, such as when the Norwegian government’s sovereign wealth fund had divested from Ta Ann, the Malaysian parent company of Ta Ann Tasmania, after their ethics committee made an adverse report on the company.
“Protection of the environment from harm is a valid cause. The environment is dependent on non-government organisations to raise money to advocate for the public interest in maintaining environmental values against their degradation for the benefit of private corporate interests.”
“The Committee seemed to be seeking endorsement of a view that only remedial ‘on ground’ works should be eligible for tax deductions. Such an attitude ignores the important point that a stitch in time saves nine, meaning that advocacy to avoid the damage in the first place is efficient and effective for achieving protection and enhancement of the natural environment.”
“Making individual donations tax-deductible encourages giving and to remove this would likely affect adversely the size of donations to fund environmental campaigns. That looks like a political agenda to hamstring environmental advocacy.”
Markets For Change CEO Ms Peg Putt
