Wilderness Society Media Release

12 September 2019

Conscience-free double-dipping logging industry

obliges markets campaign
Loggers took $277 million from taxpayers to protect high conservation value forest
reserves that they now want to log!
The Wilderness Society has formally responded to the request by the logging industry to log
400,000 hectares of high conservation value (HCV) forest reserves by telling the industry: “no way”.

The logging industry’s position can be summed up as this: “Yes, we took $277m off the taxpayer,
agreed not to log 400,000ha of old-growth HCV forests but now we want to log these public forest
conservation reserves anyway”.

“The logging industry ​received millions​ from the taxpayer. In exchange, it agreed to protect - and
not log - thousands of hectares of pristine ancient forests. To take the money and now want to log
these forest conservation reserves anyway, in twin climate and extinction crises, is doubly
scandalous,” said Tom Allen for the Wilderness Society.

“The prospect of logging public high conservation forest reserves obliges the environment
movement to inform the markets - retailers, buyers and consumers - that any wood that comes
from these reserves will be unethical, unpopular and tainted with forest destruction.”

“Will Hodgman’s policy is to give these forest conservation reserves to a regressive rump of the
forestry industry despite the fact this wood will be commercially toxic.”

“It is hard to understand the request by the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) for
these reserves to be assessed. These are some of the most assessed reserves anywhere in
Australia. The ​Independent Verification Group​ (IVG) produced over 60 individual scientific reports
confirming the high conservation values of these reserves - reports that the logging industry even
signed off on! And these assessments verified the high conservation values of these reserves,
which is why they are now protected. So to now say these reserves need to be assessed again is
more like code for “give us access, we want to log them”.

“Let’s be clear: logging public old-growth high conservation value forest reserves is what they do in
tin-pot dictatorships yet here in Tasmania it’s the public policy of the Tasmanian Liberal Party.
Logging forest conservation reserves in twin climate and extinction crises is public policy gone
mad but it’s public policy madness supported by every single Liberal MP in Tasmania.”

“The community needs to understand that every Liberal MP supports the logging of forest
conservation reserves across the state, from the Tasman Peninsula, Bruny Island and Wielangta to
Douglas-Apsley, Break O’Day, Ben Lomond and the takayna/Tarkine.

“We all know how retailers, consumers and markets will react when they discover wood is coming
from ancient Gondwanan forest reserves being logged in twin climate and extinction crises: with
Wilderness Society Media Release

12 September 2019

entirely-justified horror,” said Mr Allen.

Reports about rorting of industry payouts

● Tasmanian Government referred to anti-corruption watchdog over sawmill payouts

● Tasmanian forestry contractors using loophole to continue work after being paid to leave
industry
● Tasmanian forestry contractors paid to exit industry permitted to continue logging

For further comment contact Tom Allen on 0434 614 323