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Mercury Talking Point: Forest plan won’t win markets
FOR Forestry Tasmania securing top-shelf, globally recognised Forest Stewardship Council certification is viewed by most stakeholders — regardless of where they sit on the conservation or political spectrum — as critical to a genuinely sustainable Tasmanian native forestry industry.
Even the Hodgman Government, a government that has made a dubious trademark out of chewing up and spitting out the idea of a consensus on forestry , has been forced to recognise reality.
Many Australian and overseas timber customers need FSC as part of their social licence and risk management requirements. Without FSC, they won’t buy wood.
Unfortunately, however, Premier Hodgman and his Forestry Minister Guy Barnett have decided to embark on a bewildering, high-risk adventure that poses serious problems for the achievement of FSC by Forestry Tasmania …
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Warrick Jordan, Mercury