Letter to the editor
Who pays for the forest ferals to sit up tripods?
Andrew Constance MP (Narooma News Weekly,  15 Feb 2012) in response to official figures showing that he was the biggest single beneficiary of logging industry donations of any NSW candidate or MP in 2010-2011 has challenged me to “start providing some answers” about “who pays for the forest ferals to sit up tripods and chain themselves to logging equipment, sometimes for weeks on end?”
The answer, Mr Constance is: nobody. Many people make big sacrifices in their lives to work altruistically for the protection of the forests and their wildlife.
Sometimes this involves direct action in the forest. Sometimes it involves research into things like political donations. He clearly objects to both.
Mr Constance may find this hard to understand. He has obviously got accustomed to a life in which everything, from the smallest to the biggest expenses -  phone calls, transport; every paper clip and printer cartridge, even some lunches are paid for by someone else, usually the taxpayer.
I am not aware of one person is NSW who is paid to campaign for the forests of NSW. Not one, Mr Constance.
Yours sincerely

Harriett Swift
17 February 2012