Tasmania's Greens, government accuse each other of ignoring spirit of forest peace pact; Greens told to stop supporting campaigns against Australian state's forest products
Audrey Dixon
LOS ANGELES
,
December 27, 2011
(Industry Intelligence)
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Tasmania's Premier Lara Giddings has condemned a U.K. company's boycott of Ta Ann Tasmania's forest products and called on the Green Party, which has members in her cabinet, to halt its campaigns against the Australian state's timber products, The Mercury reported Dec. 24.
British company International Plywood has told Ta Ann Tasmania Pty. Ltd. it will stop buying the company's products until Australia's intergovernmental forest peace agreement (IGA) is made final.
Regardless of Giddings' demands, the Greens will continue to approve of the lobbying of potential customers by environmental groups, said Tim Morris, acting party leader.
Giddings said Ta Ann's forest products were produced from sustainably harvested forests, and said the environmentalists should honor the spirit of the IGA, The Mercury reported.
Morris countered that, despite the IGA, which states that forests with high-conservation values will be protected, Malaysian-based Ta Ann was being supplied wood from native forests, adding that the premier should stick to the spirit of the IGA and achieve the promised conservation.
London-based International Plywood said it would boycott Tasmanian lumber products because of environmentalist lobbying and controversy around the logging. The company added that it would resume purchasing when the groups were satisfied, The Mercury reported.
Will Hodgman, leader of the Tasmanian Liberals, said the presence in government of Greens ministers who support “economic vandals” affects the confidence of business investors, and urged Giddings, a Labour Party premier, to kick the Greens MPs out of her Cabinet.
The primary source of this article is The Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, on Dec. 24, 2011.
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