Timber Communities Australia-
put your money where your mouth is.

"What came out of my trip to Tasmania was obviously being impressed by this incredible forest, and impressed by those who love it enough and see it for what it is to want to save it from imminent destruction. And we had a press conference down there and an hour after the press conference I was having lunch and I was presented with this media release. Timber Communities Australia invite Actor on tour it says.

The Tasmanian branches of Timber Communities Australia have invited actor Jack Thompson to come on a statewide forest tour so he can learn about forestry in Tasmania. Mr Thompson is held in high esteem by regional communities because of his many film roles playing Australian bush characters.

We are very disappointed about today's events because Mr Thompson is taking sides before getting both sides of the story. He's not giving timber workers and communities a fair go said Barry Chipman.

We want Jack Thompson to visit with the Tassie timber communities who are such a key part of the forest industries of our state. These are decent honest hardworking Australians who are proud of their jobs and role in this industry, Mr Chipman added.

If Jack Thompson's fair dinkum about forests he should get a balanced view rather than accept the extremist views of Dr Brown. If he chooses to adopt the green propaganda he joins a sad list of ill-informed celebrities who have allowed their status to be used and abused by green extremists. Please contact Barry Chipman.

So when I arrived at my next interview at ABC radio, they were armed with this but I wasn't, and I was delighted because I think that would be wonderful. I would be very happy to do that. He insisted when I spoke to him on the phone in believing that what had happened was that Bob Brown had thought 'Gee whizz, what celebrity can I get on the campaign trail to kick start my campaign?', and said 'Oh, I know. I'll call Jack!'... and it was not like that at all.

But the fact of the matter is that when I called Mr Chipman as I did, and I said to him I'd be very happy to accept your offer because I would like to see this thing presented on television I'd like to see that side of it, the communities, because as I was saying, we need people to understand that these communities are under threat as well, by this woodchip crisis with our forest so we need to have that said on television as well. He let me get a word in edgewise and then he let go with what he had obviously been prepared to say, and I said 'I understand son why you've got to tell me all this, because you're the state coordinator, you're paid to deliver this news, but believe me I've heard this all before. You wouldn't have sent the media release out if you didn't know that I'd heard this all before. You don't have to do it. I'm sitting in a car on a mobile... there's no audience here.'

But he kept on with this bit of a line, but the bottom line is I said 'I should do the visit before the election. I've got a number of things I'm doing in the next couple of weeks so if you could give me a day this week in the next 10 days and I can be down there, I¹ll do it.' And he said 'You know, if you'd called us first instead of Brown.' I said 'I didn't call him.' but the bottom line I guess is that he got sort of abusive on the phone. I said 'What are we arguing about? I'm prepared to be your adversary in an attitude towards an industry but I'm not going to turn it into an argument on a cell phone at 10.00am in the morning, but I accept your invitation' and I haven't heard a word since.

Bob Brown who has dealt with him before said that I wouldn't, but that's no great satisfaction. I mean put your money where your mouth is. I think it would be a very important to open the dialogue, but of course he¹s no fool. He doesn't want to open the dialogue , because he doesn't want it to be an election issue. They feel they've got a shoe-in. Liberals are giving their preferences to Labor over Bob Brown, so they figure they've got a shoe-in. "

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-Some images from the press conference-
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