Tiwi Island logging operations doomed from the start

The Wilderness Society Inc
Media Release
14 September 2009

With speculation that major banks will withdraw support for the Tiwi Islands’ woodchip plantations on 30 September, the Wilderness Society calls for the closure of the controversial logging operation.

“The Tiwi Island forests have been described as the jewel in the crown of Northern Australia”, says Wilderness Society Tiwi spokeswoman Amelia Young. “The diverse savannahs and forests were cleared, burnt and logged without evaluation of true environmental, social and economic costs.”

When project proponent Great Southern collapsed in May, the Tiwi Land Council found itself without a viable Joint Venture Partner. Since then, the project has been financially supported by the big banks. Now the ill-fated MIS (managed investment scheme) plantation project lurches closer to the brink with no financial backing, a dismal environmental record and a miniscule jobs outlook.

“With a glut in the global woodchip market due to a flood of cheap native forest chips from the southern states and a continuing downward trend in demand form the big buyers of woodchip, wood-chipping was never going to be a viable future for the Tiwi people”, says Ms Young.

“On top of a poor market outlook, the professional opinion of expert foresters who have visited the plantations is that the plantation’s trees Acacia mangium are growing poorly, making a profitable harvest at any stage unlikely, even if there was a market for the woodchip.”

Despite claims of the logging and wood-chipping providing hundreds of jobs to Tiwi Islanders, employment rates remain very low, with reports putting numbers of Tiwi people employed at less than thirty.

In 2008, the Commonwealth found that Great Southern had breached some of the legally binding environmental conditions placed on the project. The company was ‘fined’ and some of these funds were to be directed towards Land and Sea Ranger projects and employment.

“If we are going to have major projects like this in Northern Australia, the social and economic benefits must be real and demonstrated. While environmental costs and financial risks remain so high, and rates of return to Traditional Owners so doubtful, it is clear alternative futures need to be rigorously considered – futures that deliver prosperity to communities and don’t plunder some of the most productive ecosystems in the north.”