An audit will be conducted on timber being used on a high-profile Sydney CBD development following a protest by environmentalists.
Seven Greenpeace activists climbed a 50-metre crane at the Central Park development site on Broadway, Chippendale, at 7am today and unfurled a large banner reading “Stop Illegal Timber”.
They were protesting against the use of plywood allegedly made from trees illegally cut down in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo and calling on the federal government to ban illegal timber products.
But the developer behind the Central Park project, Frasers Property Australia, says the company has “set a high standard for environmental sustainability”.
“However, if it is confirmed that timber used on site does not meet the requirement by the [Green Building Council of Australia] for Forest [Stewardship Council] certification, Frasers will act immediately to ensure that only FSC certified timber is used on site,” a spokeswoman said in a statement today.
She said Frasers takes the issue “extremely seriously” and has directed its builder, Watpac Construction, to undertake a thorough audit of all timber used on site.
Greenpeace says it has undertaken investigations with a partner organisation on the ground in Borneo to track illegally logged timber from Borneo to the Sydney construction site.
“The Labor government has finally drafted laws aimed at stopping this trade but in their current form they won’t do the job,” Greenpeace spokesman Reece Turner said today.
“Unless the laws are tightened, the illegal timber we see being used here today could continue to be bought and sold in Australia.”
The seven activists involved in the protest were arrested at the scene.
