Timberlands Not For Sale
State Owned Enterprises"The Government has no plans to sell Timberlands West Coast. The company is neither for sale, nor is it being readied for sale," State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall said today in response to a statement released by Labour MP Jim Sutton.
"Mr Sutton's claim of privatisation is incorrect.
"Nevertheless I am pleased to see that Labour's forestry spokesman continues to defy his leader, Helen Clark, by supporting Timberlands West Coast's 'genuinely sustainable' logging practices.
"Just days before last year's Labour Party conference, Mr Sutton issued a statement saying that 'Labour is committed to the sustainable management of all indigenous forests'. (Jim Sutton press statement 20.11.98)
"But at the conference itself, Helen Clark contradicted her forestry spokesman when she torpedoed efforts made by West Coast MP Damien O'Connor to persuade party members to back sustainable logging. Under her orders, the conference passed a remit banning all indigenous logging on Crown land.
"Labour have had all summer to heal the wounds left from that conference. But it's clear that the gaping holes that emerged last year in the Labour Party on the issue of Timberland's sustainable beech plans will fester right up to the November 1999 general election.
"Good luck to both Mr Sutton and Mr O'Connor."