New chipmill owner should end native forest logging

A long standing campaigner against the woodchipping industry, Ms Harriett Swift has warned the new owners of the Eden chipmill against adopting a “business as usual” approach.

Ms Swift, who is convener of the Chipstop Campaign said that the sale of the chipmill presented an ideal opportunity to cease native forest logging in the south east.

“The new owners have signalled that they intend to focus on plantation sourced wood and we welcome that,” Ms Swift said.

“However, continued industrial logging of native forests will mean ongoing controversy and conflict for the industry.”

“It will diminish the reputation of the new company and will not help it in the market place.”

“Business as usual means continued cruelty and death for forest dwelling wildlife, destruction of koala and quoll habitat; it means routinely burying wombats alive in logging operations, continued degradation of waterways and catastrophic release of carbon into the atmosphere,” she said.

“Having a new owner is a wonderful opportunity for a new start and it would be a terrible tragedy for the industry and the forests of the region if it were squandered,” Ms Swift said.

“In 2013 I won a 2 year legal battle with the Forestry Corporation to obtain a copy of the chipmill Wood Supply Agreement and I know there is no serious impediment in that to ending native forest logging,” Ms Swift said.

16 December 2016

Contact: Harriett Swift