Tasmania Media Releases

Timber industry using old-style tactics for old-style politicians - March 17, 2010

Today’s planned stunt by timber industry groups is simply a shallow re-run of a similar 2006 election stunt, according to the Wilderness Society. This stunt is just another example of logging companies dictating policy positions to politicians. Instead of showing vision and understanding the causes of the current crisis in the logging industry, these industry groups are trying to lock them into old-style policies the community doesn’t want and the industry doesn’t need

Who can you trust on forests this Saturday? - March 17, 2010

The Wilderness Society today released a report card assessing the three major parties' policies on forests. Based on our assessment, the Greens rated the highest, demonstrating strong environmental and logging industry reform policies. Labor and Liberal scored very poorly, reflecting their lack of vision in relation to our natural environment, particularly with regards to forests.

A change at the top of Gunns would produce win-win for Tasmania - March 16, 2010

Tasmania’s native forests would have a future and jobs at the company would be safer if there was a fundamental change at a Board level at Gunns Limited, The Wilderness Society’s executive director Alec Marr said today. Mr Marr said reports that shareholders are seeking to remove chairman John Gay presented a golden opportunity to shift Gunns onto a more sustainable footing.

Burnie forum to explore forest solution ideas - March 10, 2010

Our Common Ground will host a community forum in Burnie this Saturday to explore how Tasmania can resolve the long running conflict over forestry in Tasmania.The community meeting will be chaired by local MLC and President of the Legislative Council Sue Smith, and will feature experts on resource, environmental, industry and tourism issues. 12 noon Saturday 13 March, Burnie Civic Centre

Greens’ forest policy a welcome step towards a full forest solution - March 10, 2010

The Wilderness Society today welcomed the Tasmanian Greens Forest Transition strategy as a step in the right direction, offering high-conservation-value forest protection along with a plan for widespread reform to the forest industry. This policy is in stark contrast to the old-style logging policies of Liberal and Labor and offers real hope of resolving the conflict over forestry in Tasmania.

Liberals rule out ‘real change’ for the logging industry - March 01, 2010

The Wilderness Society today condemned the Tasmanian Liberals’ forestry policy, describing it as a carbon-copy of Labor’s logging plan and a continuation of the special treatment out-dated politicians have always given to the logging industry.

Bartlett forestry deal will reinforce current industry crisis - February 26, 2010

The Labor Party’s forest policy released by Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett today is another special deal for the logging industry. The policy does nothing to secure jobs in the forestry industry in the long-term, and keeps that industry locked out of twenty-first century market realities, according to the Wilderness Society.

Old-growth logging report and campaign will lock in community conflict, financial losses and environmental damage - February 25, 2010

An advertising campaign and report launched today by forest industry representative group FIAT shows that the Tasmanian logging industry is behind the times and out-of-touch with the realities of the marketplace, according to the Wilderness Society.

Joint Ministerial investigation needed into toxic tree plantations - February 24, 2010

The Wilderness Society today called on the Federal and State forest ministers to investigate this week’s revelations of water quality problems associated with Eucalyptus nitens plantations in Tasmania. Federal Minister Tony Burke and Tasmanian Minister David Llewellyn should commission a full and rigorous investigation into the safety of the E.nitens plantation estate in Tasmania.

Gunns' planned restructure vain attempt to avoid real reform - February 21, 2010

Gunns Ltd’s proposed restructure of its company in response to its abysmal financial performance is a vain attempt to hide its native forest logging operations from scrutiny by potential pulp-mill investors, according to the Wilderness Society. Gunns, which today announced a 98% drop in profits for the first half of the financial year, plans to isolate its native-forest logging operations from the pulp mill proposal, plantations and other more acceptable parts of its operations such as wine-making and retail outlets.