The Wire

Activist groups are calling on the Rudd government to cut down illegally logged timber imports, saying Australia is supporting and benefitting from this corruption. In Australia, illegal timber makes up almost 9% of all imported timber and is worth about $400 Million. Illegal logging mainly occurs in Pacific island and South-East Asian nations. In 2007, the Labor Party promised to develop strong measures that would identify illegally-logged timber and restrict its import into Australia but, so far, this hasn’t happened.