Tuckey Promises Return To Dark Ages Of Forestry For Hunter

The Federal Minister for Forestry, Wilson Tuckey, will today present residents of NSW's Hunter Region with his disastrous 'vision' of a return to the Dark Ages for the logging industry.

Mr Tuckey's support the Forest Product Association's wood-fired power plant proposal, which will consume some 280,000 tonnes of forest each year, demonstrates the Minister's ideological fanaticism for unbridled woodchipping of our remnant native forest estate. This power plant will directly target the native forests of the Hunter.

Today's forest blockade at Stroud Mountain highlights the logging of old growth forest by State Forests. Renee Chafe, Newcastle Campaigner for The Wilderness Society (TWS) said 'State Forests are directly targeting old growth forests, and have been given $18 million of taxpayers money to buy forests destined for the woodchipper.

'The people of the Hunter will not support the burning of native forests in power stations. Burning forests for power is the lowest possible value product option for forestry, and is a direct consequence of the appalling mismanagement of the public forest estate in NSW. This is a cynical attempt by the woodchippers to continue to clear the remaining old growth and high conservation value forests of the Hunter.,' stated Glen Klatovsky, TWS' NSW Campaign Manager.

'Mr Tuckey has not learnt from the election result in his own state of Western Australia, where the anti-old growth logging campaign has handed government to the Labour Party who have promised to end 99% of all old growth logging in the state. With the Greens holding the balance of power in WA, the break-away Liberals for Forests ousting a former WA Liberal Minister, and the his own party in disarray, Mr Tuckey has failed to listen to the concerns of the people about the future of Australia's native forests.'