BY KAMAL EMANUEL
LAUNCESTON — Woodchip exports from Tasmania have passed the five million tonne mark for the first time — a 13% increase on last year — according to annual port records obtained by the Hobart Mercury.
Report the finding on December 2, the paper noted that the "Australian Bureau of Statistics has kept the figures confidential since 2001. This followed an application from Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns Ltd after it became the monopoly exporter when it bought North Forest Products in 2001."
"These figures show that despite the best efforts to hide the figures from the public, woodchipping is the main focus of Tasmania's forestry industry", Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt told the Mercury.
The record rate of woodchip exports is also a record rate of destruction in Tasmania's forests, Greens senator Bob Brown said in a December 2 media release.
"It's mainly for Gunns. While they got $419 million from sales to Asia, Tasmanians got just $25 million or so for royalties", said Brown. "The Gunns' money pours out of Tasmania to the Sydney Stock Exchange. No wonder Tasmanians are Australia's poorest people.
"This an indictment of Premier [Jim] Bacon who puts his millionaire accomplices before Tasmania's battlers, its schools, hospitals and home-grown tourism industry."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, December 10, 2003.
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