Ta Ann Tasmania rejects Bob Brown Foundation's claims over Takayna logging

TAT's General Manager Robert Yong said Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) said supply to its mill did not come from Wentworth Hills or any other area generally frequented by swift parrots.

"We do not export woodchips or logs, and we only accept logs from forests previously agreed by the conservation movement as long-term sustainable production forests," Mr Yong said.

The general manager said the BBF's claims that TAT is involved in putting a road into 'untouched Takayna rainforests and 6 km into the Wentworth Hills near Lake St Clair' is "simply wrong".

"The Bob Brown Foundation knows this but continues to distort the facts and misrepresent TA Ann's position deliberately," Mr Yong said.

Mr Yong said the logs Ta Ann used for peeling to manufacture plywood came from native and plantation forests.

"Importantly, our company continues to abide by the conditions set by the former 2012 Tasmanian Forest Agreement (TFA) as if it continued to operate," Mr Yong said.

He said that means TAT's peeler logs from native forests are supplied by Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) from forests agreed for production by environmental non-government organisations, including the Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Tasmania Inc.," Mr Yong said.

"Furthermore, this is a condition under Ta Ann's contracts with both STT and the Federal Government," Mr Yong said.

Mr Yong said in addition to these requirements, all of Ta Ann's products were third-party reviewed and certified under the Australian Forestry Standard and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC).

Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said the Borneo logging company Ta Ann does not receive support from her environment group for any of its operations.

"Whether it's their displacement of Indigenous people and logging of orangutan habitat in Sarawak or its taking of logs from controversial forests like Takayna / Tarkine in Tasmania, Ta Ann cannot greenwash the destruction and misery they cause," Ms Weber said.

The campaign manager said that in Takayna / Tarkine, Ta Ann has been a driving force behind the flattening of endangered species habitats. They recently sourced logs from the forests south of Smithton, where 100 people protested over six weeks and 29 people were arrested.

"This forest is home to a number of threatened and endangered species, including the endangered Tasmanian masked owl and wedge-tailed eagle. Ta Ann is directly involved with pushing the owl to extinction," Ms Weber said.

According to Ms Weber, "Ta Ann uses the now defunct Tasmanian Forest Agreement as some sort of endorsement".

"They have no social license, and our Foundation, which is one of Australia's leading forest organisations, is highlighting the conflict source timber Ta Ann receives," Ms Weber said.

Furthermore, the campaign manager claimed Ta Ann is misleading its customers and the public about the source of its logs.

"They come from a range of critical endangered species habitat in Tasmania, including ancient forests," Ms Weber said.

The Minister for Business, Industry and Resources, Eric Abetz, said, "It is no secret that radical environmentalists such as the BBF want to end Tasmania's sustainable native forestry sector."

"Not only would this put hundreds of Tasmanians out of work and gut regional communities, it would all but certainly lead to an increase in timber imports from countries with worse environmental protections than our own," Mr Abetz said.

The minister said, "The simple reality is that Australia does not produce enough timber to meet its own needs, and native forestry is a key part of our supply mix."

He said, whenever native forest is harvested, it is replanted, ensuring a resource for future generations.

Additionally, the minister said that forestry operations must comply with a range of specific measures to conserve the swift parrot at the coupe level.

"This includes protection of identified nesting habitat, including known nests with associated buffers, and retention of specific areas of breeding and foraging habitat," Mr Abetz said.

He said the government is allegedly funding a two-year Swift Parrot Forestry Management Project to examine ways to improve current management.