Forestry warns of old growth logging halt
An alliance of forestry companies in Tasmania has launched an advertising campaign warning of the risks to the economy if all old growth logging is stopped.
The Forest Industries Association has commissioned a report showing an end to logging old growth forests would cost more than 2,000 jobs.
Association chairman, Julian Amos, says the campaign is aimed at countering propaganda from green groups calling for the ban.
“This hasn’t been done with a view to the way in which a new government may be formulated,” he said.
“This had been done to ensure that when people vote, and with forestry in mind, that they recognise they are voting for people’s jobs.”
Dr Amos says the idea jobs can be sustained with the exclusion of old growth forests from logging is unrealistic.
“Less logs, more jobs – it’s quaint, it’s simplistic, it’s ridiculous,” he said.
“How can you have less product and more employment? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Reaction:
Wilderness Society
Environment Tasmania
Our Common Ground
ABC Online: Timber industry’s ‘false hope’ at woodchip sale, HERE
