"It is an abuse of power," he said. "It stifles democratic debate ... I would think any court would find in favour of freedom of speech." But the federal Forestry and Conservation Minister, Mr Wilson Tuckey, dismissed the growing furore over the book, Forest-Friendly Building Timbers, as a storm in a teacup, even as its publisher made a formal complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about the forest association's tactics.
Mr Tuckey said he had read the book and found it "simply inaccurate". He said people had a right to threaten legal action if they believed their business would be damaged, but it was up to a court to decide whether they had a case, not the commission.
Conservationists and free-speech proponents have accused the forest association of improperly using the Trade Practices Act to suppress the book, which argues that Australia's construction needs can be met without taking timber from native forests. The book says logging in native forests contributed to mass species extinction.
BBC Hardware, which initially supported and promoted the book, last week withdrew copies from its stores under threat of legal action by the forests association, which claims the book contains misleading and deceptive information. Legal action is still pending against the publisher, Earth Garden Books, the Wilderness Society and two distribution companies.
The ACCC chairman, Professor Allan Fels, warned at the weekend that
the association itself might be in breach of the act by trying to suppress
the legitimate distribution and sale of information.