Tasmanian logging - a law unto itself

Other global loggers too, such as Weyerhaeuser, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL) and Rimbunan Hijau, have been targeted for some years via buyer campaigns and have suffered varying degrees of fall-out.

While the risk was surely obvious, so too was a solution. In 2004, Green groups such as the Wilderness Society and the Australian Conservation Foundation had put forward a program - albeit a very basic one - to ensure workers and contractors would not suffer by a cessation of old growth logging in Tasmanian.

Tasmania’s logging industry has been a law unto itself for too long. For years, its members have argued that government should keep out of the way and that free enterprise is hindered by government intervention. Their support of the Coalition’s election promises were based on a kind of superficial belief in the market and its correctness in all circumstances.

Now they are crying foul, and even worse, some have their hands out, asking for reparations. No one likes to be told, “We told you so”. But, what else can you say?