Creating a 21st century Tasmania

The Tasmanian state election will be held on Saturday 20 March. The Wilderness Society is urging Tasmanians to think about the forests when casting their vote.

The island state’s native-forest logging industry is in crisis, as consumers globally are saying “no” to products resulting from the destruction of native forests. With woodchip sales drying up, Gunns Ltd, Australia’s largest export woodchipper, has seen its profits tumble and share price plummet. Logging and transport contractors are suffering. Tasmania’s political leaders should be taking this opportunity to pull the industry into the 21st century.

But instead, Labor and Liberal have released policies which simply promise more of the same. More taxpayer-funded handouts to the industry, more destruction of Tasmania’s special places, more job losses and more community division.

Tasmanians deserve better than this. Tasmania is world-renowned for its wilderness: it’s the birthplace of both the Wilderness Society and the environment movement in Australia.

Tasmania could also be world-renowned for visionary leaders who finally decided that this tiny beautiful island near the bottom of the world shouldn’t be a major producer of native-forest woodchips.

Over the course of the 2010 state election campaign, forests and environment issues have been prominent. The polls point to a community tired of Labor and Liberal support for a fast-tracked pulp mill, and politicians who put the interests of the logging industry ahead of the community.

Regardless of who is elected this Saturday, the next Tasmanian Government must embrace sustainable change and realise that we can’t have a healthy economy without a healthy environment. It is not a choice between protecting forests and protecting jobs. We can have both. 

Time to find our common ground
The Wilderness Society has joined other individuals, organisations and businesses from all walks of life and of all political persuasions to create a sustainable and prosperous Tasmania, under the banner of ‘Our Common Ground’. More

We assessed the policies of all three major parties against the forests and climate change policy asks of the Joint Tasmanian Environment Groups 2010 Policy Agenda.

* To learn more about the Joint Tasmanian Environment Groups 2010 Policy Agenda. Click here for  details >>