Broken promises chip away at South East Forests - 18 September 2006

A new booklet will show how the destructive woodchipping industry benefits from taxpayer subsidies at the expense of the environment, said Greens MPs Ian Cohen and Kerry Nettle.

“The South East Forests of NSW are suffering at the hands of a subsidised export woodchipping industry,” Mr Cohen said.

“In a letter to me in 1995, the then opposition leader, Bob Carr, promised to end woodchipping in NSW. He wrote: “We will end export woodchipping by the Year 2000 or earlier if regional circumstances permit.”

“Eleven years on and we are still waiting for the Labor Government to honour that promise.

“The industrial logging of publicly owned native forests is causing serious damage to the forest ecology and the forest water regimes in South East NSW and East Gippsland,” he said.

“There is no need for this destruction to continue, as there is a ready supply of both soft and hard wood plantation timber in Australia to supply all of Australia's real needs, “ said Kerry Nettle, Greens Federal Senator.

“Government subsidies can be used to assist affected workers and their families, with retraining, and relocation if required,” she said.

Tonight Ian Cohen and Kerry Nettle will launch a new booklet,
“Saving SE NSW Forests”.
WHEN: 6:30 - 8:00pm, Monday 18 September
WHERE: Mori Gallery, 168 Day Street, Sydney

Further Information: Jon Edwards 0428 213 146 or Claire O’Rourke 0409 810 139