Appeasement of Woodchippers in Australia
9/3/99
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Title: Lib-Lab appeasment of woodchippers in RFA PR Bill
Source: Friends of the Earth Sydney Press Release
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 3, 1999
Federal forests RFA Bill: ALP and Coalition sign their credibility
away. Activists sign up for 20 year pledge.
"What a shameful sellout of future generations" said Mr Tom cLoughlin
NSW Forest Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, Sydney on the
historic passing through the Senate late on Thursday (2/9/99) of the
misnamed Regional Forest Agreement Act 1999.
"The RFA Bill is the culmination of 10 years of Lib-Lab appeasement
of the multinational woodchipping corporations under the current
forest policy framework. This framework - the national forest policy
statement is nothing more than an eleborate PR strategy."
"Australians of good conscience including rank and file members of
the ALP and Coalition will now question the future role of their
parties to govern our environmental future. Increased numbers have
abandoned these parties already."
"The guaranteed clearfelling of large chunks of our forests - which
cover only 5% of the Australian land mass - will mean: - massive
biodiversity loss,
- severe damage to water catchments in the driest inhabited
continent on the Planet,
- lost jobs to capital intensive woodchipping, - increased
salinity already costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually."
"Many times the Senate debate exposed the hundreds of thousands of
dollars paid to the Coalition and ALP by the big woodchipping
companies in return for support for this unscientific legislation.
The Senate's ability to review new RFA's established after March 1999
is small comfort while the Lib-Labs have the numbers."
"In NSW the hypocritical Carr Government, elected on a forest
protection platform in 1995, has broken its promises. In WA the
"Liberals for Forests" group has polled 31% of the vote in opposition
to their Premier. National polls regularly report 80% against
woodchipping of native forests."
"Only the incompetence of the native forest sector - both business
and union bosses - has prevented a rapid transition into the million
hectares of existing timber plantations. In NSW this means 90% of
logs from the south east forests are woodchipped, and 800,000
hectares in the north east are targetted for the same"
"The environment's right to life will be defended. The Coalition and
ALP have signed their credibility away over this. A 20 year
recruitment drive starts now to discredit these immoral politicians"
concluded Mr McLoughlin
More: Tom McLoughlin 0410 558838 or 02-9130 8296h or 02 9517 3900w