GetUp! credibility threatened by anti-Australian made petition

Activist group GetUp! risks damaging its own credibility by siding with environmental group ‘Markets for Change’ and its campaign to destroy the Australian timber furniture industry, says the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA).

GetUp! has this week facilitated an online petition system which attacks retailer Harvey Norman for stocking Australian timber furniture grown and made from sustainably managed forests.

AFPA Chief Executive Officer, David Pollard, said GetUp! has displayed poor judgement in supporting Markets for Change (MfC), which is a non-transparent group that uses flawed arguments based on inaccurate facts.

“MfC wrongly puts Australia’s certified sustainable forest industry in the same boat as unsustainably managed forestry overseas. In reality, over 90 per cent of Australia’s commercial forest operations are independently certified to comply with the world’s best sustainable forest management practices through the PEFC or FSC schemes[i],” said Dr Pollard.

“Just 6 per cent of Australia’s native forest is zoned as available for timber production, with only 0.06 per cent of this forest being harvested annually. This is contrary to the 76 per cent as claimed by MfC. Following harvest this forest is then fully regenerated with the original species mix. Yet amazingly MfC claims these forests are being destroyed.

“MfC also claims that the furniture industry could move to plantation grown timber sources today when in reality this option is not feasible. [ii] In short, current plantations can provide neither the variety nor quality of timber required by the furniture industry.

“Most perplexingly, MfC’s efforts aim to shut down the Australian timber industry and destroy furniture manufacturing jobs in Australia. This will simply shift demand to imported furniture products, many of which are likely have poor environmental credentials.

“It is a mystery as to who funds the group and what their real motives are. Despite demanding transparency from industry, MfC are not an open or membership driven organisation.

“The forests and wood products industry urges GetUp! to wake-up and focus its efforts on genuine issues and on the accuracy of its claims.”

Web: www.ausfpa.com.au
[i]Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).