The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/index.html Wednesday, April 14, 1999 Book-ban loggers face a pulping By MURRAY HOGARTH, Environment Editor An attempt by the logging industry to ban a book promoting "forest-friendly" building timber blew up in its face yesterday when the nation's consumer rights watchdog began an unusual investigation. The National Association of Forest Industries threatened last week to use the Trade Practices Act against the book's publishers and sponsors, claiming the book was deceptive and misleading. But NAFI itself now faces an investigation under the same act to determine whether any "unlawful pressure" was applied to force the book's withdrawal from sale. This follows a series of meetings yesterday with the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Professor Alan Fels. Forest-Friendly Building Timbers, which tells readers that broad-scale native forest logging should be looked at "in the same light as whaling", was taken off sale by the major retail chain BBC Hardware following NAFI's legal threat. BBC Hardware is named on the book's cover as a sponsor, along with NAFI's arch-enemy, the Wilderness Society. The ACCC said it would formally ask BBC Hardware if it had been subjected to any "unlawful pressure" to remove the $9.95 green timber guide book from its shelves. NAFI's executive director, Dr Robert Bain, confirmed late yesterday that this meant his lobby group, representing the country's biggest timber companies, was under investigation. But Dr Bain said there had been no unlawful pressure on BBC Hardware and NAFI would co-operate fully with the ACCC. The Wilderness Society yesterday accused NAFI of behaving in an "ethically reckless" and "legally irresponsible" manner over the book. "This book will be a turning point in the battle to save Australia's native forests," Mr Alec Marr, the society's national campaign director, said yesterday. NAFI originally claimed that its case arose under provisions of the Trade Practices Act, which is administered by the ACCC. But at the weekend, Professor Fels warned that NAFI itself may be in breach. Yesterday, a formal complaint was made to the ACCC by the publishers of the book, Victorian-based Earth Garden Books, owned by Mr Alan Gray. The ACCC later announced its "threshold inquiry", which centres on the formal request to BBC Hardware for information. It said if that revealed any potential breach of the law, further action would be considered. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
