Fed: "Uninformed greens" to blame for fires: forestry industry

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2009
Fed: "Uninformed greens" to blame for fires: forestry industry

The war of words over whether green policies are to blame for Victoria's bushfires has escalated.

The forestry industry says uninformed conservationists who insist on locking up forests
have been proven fatally wrong by the fires .. but the Greens have asked the industry
to keep the confrontation for another time.

There's been debate about whether the fires were exacerbated by a lack of pre-emptive
burn-offs around homes and in forest reserves.

National Association of Forest Industries chief executive ALLAN HANSARD says the current
process of locking forests up in conservation reserves and national parks with no ongoing
fire management regime has proven to be fatally wrong.

He says bushfire management policy must be based on the best scientific knowledge ..

not the whims of uninformed green ideologists.

Greens leader BOB BROWN says it's unacceptable to seek a political debate while the
fire tragedy's still unfolding.

AAP RTV ca/kms/af

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC FORESTS (CANBERRA)

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