He said WA's old-growth and pre1940 regrowth forests were supplying 84 per cent of the state's woodchip requirements and the party did not believe the mature forests could sustain that level of logging while also remaining a significant source of sawlogs.
Mr Kronborg's support was another blow to the timber industry's efforts to suppress the book. At the weekend a Tasmanian timber merchant said he would be selling the book through his sawmill and timber yards. The book was withdrawn from BBC Hardware stores after the National Association of Forest Industries threatened legal action.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether BBC Hardware was subjected to unlawful pressure. The association's executive director, Dr Robert Bain, said last night that the WA National Party's stand against logging in native forests was at odds with the party's policy at federal level.
* Dr Bain is leaving the forest industries association to become general
secretary of the Australian Medical Association on 18 May. Australian Greens
Senator Bob Brown said Dr Bain's role in the destruction of Australia's
forests would never be forgotten.