The Wilderness Society today rejected Government’s renewed articulation of the case for logging inside the World Heritage Area saying there is no case for logging in any reserve, let alone one recognised as World Heritage.
In response to a Dorothy Dixer, Minister Harris today demonstrated his fundamental lack of understanding of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement (TFA) and continued to flout the July decision of UNESCO that called for logging to be prohibited in the World Heritage Area.
‘As Minister responsible for tearing up the TFA, Mr Harriss as a remarkable propensity for misinterpreting it and then pointing to his interpretation to establish some industry-focussed fact,’ said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society
‘The TFA did not set a level of supply of rainforest timbers, but established a collaborative, consensus-based process to assess likely demand, potential markets and finalise an agreed plan about how much timber could be supplied and from where it could be supplied.
‘As the specialty timber sector has traditionally been a by-product of clear-felling and woodchipping of vast areas of oldgrowth and rainforest, a model that glutted the market with heavily subsidised wood, there was never any expectation that historical levels of supply could, would or should continue.’
‘Specialty timber supply was subsidised by woodchipping and because the market was flooded with timber, tens of thousands of tonnes of usable celery top pine, myrtle and sassafras was burnt on the coupe floor, wasting decades of supply.’
‘Minister Harriss displays an inability to grasp the complexities of this issue. By drip feeding bits of information like an overview of potential supply, he’s telling his version of only a tiny bit of the story.
Meanwhile, Government should accept UNESCO’s July decision urging an explicit ban on logging in the World Heritage Area and immediately announce what steps it will take to implement this request and by when.
‘There is no place or case for logging inside the World Heritage area and UNESCO have made this clear in its last unanimous decision. Government must accept this, not re-run another embarrassing, failed argument.
‘The best way to meet UNESCO’s request is to upgrade reserve status of land inside the World Heritage Area to national park or equivalent.
Vica Bayley, The Wilderness Society
