Crime, fiction and political intrigue

Senator Brown's speech drew the attention of Queensland Senator and Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Ian Macdonald who responded with:

Timber Communities Australia is a magnificent grassroots organisation. It is a group of ordinary Australians - if you can call them that - working in the industry, working in country communities, who are eventually getting their message across about the hypocrisy of the Greens and their very left-wing agenda.

According to the Source Watch Organization, Timber Communities is closely linked to and partly funded by the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, which is in turn funded by timber industry corporate players, predominantly Gunns.

I am convinced that what we have here is a wonderful framework for a blockbuster television series on corporate wheeling and dealing over the spoils of our national heritage. As summer approaches the logging season begins again and the trucks will be rolling out through the small towns of the Central Highlands.

There is a new generation of activists who have taken up the fight against the devastation of the Victoria’s forests. How much they will achieve remains to be seen. In the meantime, there are a myriad of untold stories, some fantasy, some real; so why not roll out the script-writers and cameras and turn reality into entertainment. It seems to be the trend. Underbelly, eat your heart out! A new blockbuster waits in the wings.