As the Tasmanian Forests Agreement starts its passage through the Tasmanian parliament it continues to stir extraordinary disputes. Timber Communities Australia (TCA) is at loggerheads with its own members after choosing to sign the agreement. Sources: The Examiner, The Mercury, The Australian, ABC Rural
The board of TCA announced it would sign the Tasmanian Forests Agreement, despite a majority of Tasmanian members voting against.
TCA chairman Trevor Richardson said the decision came in the wake of two community forums in Hobart and Launceston at the weekend. Ten other industry and environmental signatories to the agreement signed last month.
“The TCA board is of the view that if TCA is to maintain a creditable voice at the table through the passage of the Bill and the implementation of the legislation, it must maintain its standing as a signatory to the agreement,” Richardson said.
But Huon member Kelly Wilton slammed the decision, saying a lot of people had not been notified of the forums.
“I’m absolutely disgusted at what the TCA has done and is not representing its members,” she said. “There is a fair case to say that the numbers have been stacked in the way the board wanted.”
Richardson said the decision had been a majority decision of the TCA board. He said the board had fears that the agreement would not end protests in the forests.
“We believed that we needed to be a signatory so that we could be part of the special council which will assess and act on any breaches of durability,” he said.
Liberal forestry spokesman Peter Gutwein said the TCA decision was an absolute disgrace.
“Tasmanian members have been ridden over roughshod by the national organisation,” he said. “The views of Tasmanians impacted on by this legislation have not been listened to.”
The Legislative Council is expected to vote on the Tasmanian Forests Agreement Bill 2012 on December 11.
Timber Communities Australia has indicated it will lobby Tasmanian MLCs to amend the forest peace deal legislation, now that it has become a signatory.
The group’s chief executive Jim Adams said that by becoming a signatory it means the TCA can now lobby MLCs to amend the peace deal legislation.
Adams says the bill does not fully reflect the agreement and there is no guarantee of extra funding.
“We want to see those things included,” he said.
The Deputy Premier Bryan Green says the Government is willing to consider sensible amendments.
Ta Ann said it would quit Tasmania, closing two mills employing more than 100 workers, if the historic forest peace deal is voted down by the state’s upper house.
The Malaysian-owned company told The Australian that without the peace deal’s promise of top-flight environmental certification for its products, it would lose its markets.
The warning dramatically increases pressure on the state’s independent-dominated upper house to pass legislation to enact the peace deal.
Rolley told The Australian the firm had had assurances from the state and federal governments it would be compensated for loss of 105,000 cubic metres of veneer logs flowing from the peace deal.
It had accepted these assurances and planned to use any taxpayer buyout funds to diversify its supply to include plantations and privately grown wood, and to develop new engineered wood products.
Of the 15 legislative councillors, 13 are independents, many have flagged hostility to the peace deal but the threat of losing jobs from Ta Ann’s mills in the Huon Valley in the south, and Smithton in the northwest may sway some wavering MLCs.
Rolley said while the deal would mean Ta Ann’s supply of veneer logs would shrink supplies from private tree growers, including many of the state’s farmers, could fill this gap.
