Tuesday 3 March 2009

Some trees are more equal than others or Malcolm Turnbull exposed once more

Not for the first time the suspect nature of the Federal Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbulls' commitment to a sustainable environment comes to light.
First his revelation that planting trees across Australia will save all in the face of climate change and then the media rediscovery of the fact that Turnbull actively support forest logging in the Pacific:
JUST as Malcolm Turnbull tries to outsmart Labor on environmental issues, a file of documents has emerged linking the Leader of the Opposition to a mass logging operation in the Solomon Islands.
The tiny island of Vangunu is a speck on the world map; a dot in the Pacific and home to just over 2000 people. It forms part of the collection of thousands of land masses that make up the Solomon Islands.
Once covered in pristine rainforest, the island and the surrounding Marovo Lagoon were the subject of lobbying by the New Zealand government and environmentalists to have it World Heritage-listed in the late 1980s.
Almost two decades later, the island is again being talked about - only this time for different reasons.
The emergence of a carefully-documented file detailing mass logging operations and the ongoing impacts in the region has Vangunu back in the spotlight.
More specifically, the file - obtained by The Sunday Telegraph - records the involvement of Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull over that time.
Mr Turnbull was the chairman of a company called Axiom Holdings after he and fellow investors purchased a 16.21 per cent stake in the company in 1991.
The company was one of several companies with logging activities in the Solomons.
It was also one of the largest.


One wonders just how long the Coalition king makers are going to tolerate this man, whose diverse financial dealings make him vulnerable to criticism (and sometimes legal action) on so many fronts.

Photograph of Vangunu from Picassa Web Albums

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