Garrett's strong stand on Tiwi logging

The Wilderness Society Inc
Media Release
16th October 2008

The Wilderness Society today welcomed the decision by Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, to impose tough new conditions on logging giant, Great Southern Plantations, for a range of serious breaches of environmental conditions related to its controversial clearing of 26 000 hectares of forests and woodlands on the Tiwi islands, north of Darwin.

The environment group has also sought a commitment from the company and the Australian and Northern Territory Government’s that further landclearing on the islands, including the proposed stage 2 of the project which would involve the further clearing of between 30 000 and 50 000 hectares of forests, would not proceed.

Lyndon Schneiders, Northern Australia Campaign Manager for The Wilderness Society said, “This is a strong statement by Minister Garrett that if companies break environmental laws, they will be punished. In total, the company will be required to pay hefty fines to undertake rehabilitation and to fund the employment of Indigenous Rangers.”

See Minister Garrett's media release: http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2008/pubs/mr20081016.pdf