Don’t these people have lives…or jobs?
A RISING tide of green militancy in the nation’s forests has alarmed industry, which is calling for police and government intervention to fight sabotage, safety breaches and production delays caused by reckless protesting.
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About 45 cases of allegedly illegal entry and obstruction have been noted in Victoria in the past year, with dozens of arrests.
The worst areas in recent months have been in and around Black Saturday country, the mountain ranges near Kinglake and the Yarra Valley, about 60km east of Melbourne.
Scores of protesters have attempted to disrupt work in recent weeks and months, prompting ugly scuffles, arrests and safety breaches.
[…]
Australian Furniture Association chief executive Rohan Wright said that the ongoing threat to the supply of native timber was endangering many thousands of jobs.
“Because there is no plantation timber of any consequence in Australia that can replace native species within 20 years, these fringe groups are effectively campaigning for Australians to buy more imported furniture from China, placing over tens of thousands of Australian furniture manufacturing jobs at risk,” he said.
And other places where environmental standards are less stringent.