(Australia) Forests turned to woodchips for Japan

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Brown disputes forestry claims

The Sunday Tasmanian

By BRETT STUBBS

10jun01

 

TASMANIAN Greens senator Bob Brown has slammed comments made by Forestry

Tasmania managing director Evan Rolley as misleading.

 

In The Sunday Tasmanian last week Mr Rolley said woodchips were not the

priority when logging the state's native forests.

 

" Forestry Tasmania does not harvest old growth for woodchips – that is a

slick one-liner that our critics always bring out, " Mr Rolley said.

 

" The only reason Forestry Tasmania harvest in old forests is to supply high

quality veneer and saw logs to sawmills. "

 

Senator Brown said Mr Rolley must be losing touch with reality by saying

native forests were not being used for wood chips.

 

" About 90 per cent of all native forest logging ends up as wood chips and is

exported to Japan, " Senator Brown said.

 

" Mr Rolley is a highly paid public servant and he is saying the Australian

Bureau of Statistics is wrong and making false statements. He must think it

is a figment of the public's imagination.

 

" This is a real sign of desperation but it is to be expected from the chief

sponsor of the wood chip industry. "

 

He agreed with the Marsden report saying the forestry industry was costing

Tasmania jobs rather than saving them.

 

" If forestry brings in $1.2 million then why are we seeing millions of

dollars of tax payers money propping up the industry? " he said.

 

" If it creates all these thousands of jobs why do we have such low income

and high unemployment in Tasmania? "

 

Mr Rolley said Forestry Tasmania directly employed 950 employees and

contractors.

 

Senator Brown said the forestry industry directly employed about 5400 people

but not all were in native forest harvesting.

 

" Native forest logging employs just over 2000 people while between 18,000

and 20,000 are employed in tourism. " Senator Brown said.

 

" That is a significant number of people dependent on Tasmania's naturalness

and wild forests.

 

" The number of Tasmanian jobs grow as the amount of forestry falls. "

 

He said Gunns' handling of forestry illustrated his point.

 

" Gunns are now the biggest wood chipper in the southern hemisphere, " he

said.

 

" But the majority of their shareholders are interstate so all the money is

going straight out of Tasmania into mainland pockets.

 

" Their take over of Boral and North Forest Products has seen more jobs lost,

not job creation.

 

" I fear their unrivalled monopoly will result in less say by politicians as

they accept the price from Japan and we just do as we are told. "

 

Senator Brown said this is more than just an argument between

conservationists and forestry.

 

" It effects everybody as the money that goes in to propping up forestry

could be used for more police officers, hospital beds or on education, " he

said.

 

He said the logging in the Styx Valley was a prime example of the whole

argument.

 

" They are proceeding with logging at this major coup just near where we

gained all that publicity for the Christmas Tree, " Senator Brown said.

 

" This is happening when our wood needs can be met by plantations and our

native forests don't need to be sold for a pittance. It is very

frustrating. "