Govt stuck in the mud over swamp kauri allegations
green-party
Fri Jun 19 2015 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Govt stuck in the mud over swamp kauri allegations
Friday, 19 June 2015, 10:52 am
Press Release: Green Party
19 June 2015
Govt stuck in the mud over swamp kauri allegations
The Government’s excuses for allowing the export of swamp kauri as finished products are being bogged down by mounting evidence that rough sawn slabs of kauri timber are being exported illegally, the Green Party said today.
“Evidence is mounting that the Government’s claims that exports are legal because they’re finished products are entirely inaccurate, with rough sawn slabs of kauri timber openly for sale on Chinese, American, and Polish websites,” Green Party conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage said.
“It’s increasingly clear that the Government is getting stuck in the mud over the allegedly illegal export of swamp kauri.
“Questions need to be asked about why the Government chose to look the other way and whether this has any connection to National MP Judith Collins, whose husband’s company, Oravida, is said to own a stockpile of swamp kauri potentially worth millions of dollars on the export market.
“It looks like the Ministry for Primary Industries may have been wilfully negligent by not upholding the law about swamp kauri exports.
“Is the swamp kauri issue more evidence of Judith Collins’ agitation within the Government and the National Party, playing ministers and MPs off against ministries and private companies?
“Evidence is also mounting of the irreversible damage swamp kauri extraction is doing to Northland’s unique ecosystems, with wetlands and rivers suffering and local communities voicing serious concern.
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“Some of this swamp kauri is up to fifty thousand years old and shouldn’t be flogged off overseas for a quick and dirty profit.
“An urgent enquiry is needed to ensure the Forests Act 1949 is being upheld by MPI,” Ms Sage said.
ends
Scoop Note 2/10/15
Eugenie Sage has apologised for soem implications of this release: "Specifically, I did not mean to suggest that David Wong-Tung and Oravida were involved in the illegal export of swamp kauri or that they influenced the government or any member of it to turn a blind eye to any such exports.” More>>
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