SOE Minister Tony Ryall's announcement today that Timberlands beech logging scheme has got the go-ahead shows the government bending to the political campaign that has been waged by Timberlands and its PR companies over the last three years.

"What this says to the public is that the over a million dollars that Timberlands has spent over the past two years on public relations is the price it took for buying the support of Tony Ryall and Jenny Shipley for the beech logging scheme," said Native Forest Action spokesperson, Dean Baigent-Mercer.

"The government has today guaranteed that native forest logging is an election issue. It has ignored three years of campaigning, and 10,000 submissions against the beech scheme and it leaves the public no option but to decide the issue at the election," said Mr Baigent-Mercer.

"The public should watch with scepticism as the arguments Tony Ryall uses to justify the beech scheme mirror the PR lines that have now been exposed in the book, 'Secrets and Lies'."

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