SOE Minister Tony Ryall's announcement today that Timberlands beech logging scheme has got the go-ahead shows the
government bending to the political campaign that has been waged by Timberlands and its PR companies over the last three
years.
"What this says to the public is that the over a million dollars that Timberlands has spent over the past two years on
public relations is the price it took for buying the support of Tony Ryall and Jenny Shipley for the beech logging
scheme," said Native Forest Action spokesperson, Dean Baigent-Mercer.
"The government has today guaranteed that native forest logging is an election issue. It has ignored three years of
campaigning, and 10,000 submissions against the beech scheme and it leaves the public no option but to decide the issue
at the election," said Mr Baigent-Mercer.
"The public should watch with scepticism as the arguments Tony Ryall uses to justify the beech scheme mirror the PR
lines that have now been exposed in the book, 'Secrets and Lies'."