The Greens have forced the Resources Minister, Paul Harriss, to confirm that the decision on Forestry Tasmania’s application for Forest Stewardship certification (FSC) has been delayed.
“The decision on Forestry Tasmania’s application for FSC was expected to be known by February this year, but now we learn that the silence is due to that now being delayed until April,” Greens Leader and Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP said today.
“It is very telling that this update was not provided publicly by the Minister’s own volition, but instead had to be dragged from him during Parliamentary Question Time.”
“The auditor, SCS Global conducted Forestry Tasmania’s onsite inspection visits in December, and despite being asked to provide an update on those audit findings the Minister failed to do so. It is therefore a fair assumption that significant problems were identified during those site inspections, which have resulted in a two month delay in determining Forestry Tasmania’s application.”
“This is a serious indication of serious problems for Forestry in achieving genuine FSC accreditation,” Mr Booth said.