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Whole Lot of Nothing on Secretive Forestry EOI Process


Cassy O'Connor MP  -  Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Tags: Forests, Native Forest Logging, Environment

Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Forests spokesperson

Forestry Minister, Peter Gutwein, has again treated Parliament with contempt, spending more than five minutes giving no detail on the so-called Southern Residues Solution' EOI process.

This process began last June, yet today the Minister could only tell us that contractual negotiations with four proponents are underway.

What are the proposals put forward?  Doesn't Minister Gutwein believe Tasmanians have a right to know?

Will they require public subsidies as all industrial scale native forest logging in Tasmania historically has and still does to this day?

Is there a proposal to burn forests for power, further polluting the air Tasmanians breathe and increasing the State's currently soaring carbon emissions?

Is there any chance at all that even one of the proposals would be sustainable or meet the requirements of Forest Stewardship Certification?

Why is the Minister continuing to be so secretive?