Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Forests spokesperson
The Greens cautiously welcome the creation of a new forestry peak body to replace the regularly divisive and ideologically driven Forests Industry Association of Tasmania (FIAT).
We hope the announcement of the Tasmanian Forest Products Association is the fresh start the industry urgently needs to be truly sustainable and have a social license in a time of climate emergency and biodiversity decline.
The disbanding of FIAT gives the industry an opportunity to leave their mendicant, destructive past behind and set a new course for forestry in Tasmania, which is plantation based and FSC certified.
Tasmania’s forestry sector should be represented by those who understand the future lies in sustainable practices – properly managed plantations.
Other than less ethical markets in China, the global wood products market isn’t interested in timber from Tasmania’s carbon-rich, high conservation value contentious forests.
Let’s hope yesterday’s spurious tree spiking allegations are the last we see of the old style, mendicant industry.
In a time of climate and biodiversity crisis, forestry needs a new approach where protected and well managed forests are central to the solutions, Tasmania’s gift to the world.