Graham Wilkinson

Graham Wilkinson is the Chief Forest Practices Officer for the Tasmanian Government's Forest Practices Authority. Wilkinson has been in the position since March 1996.

Wilkinson & Bill Manning
In 2002, a Forest Practices enforcement officer, Bill Manning, initiated enforcement action where a contractor had bulldozed logging debris into a stream in breach of the logging code of practice. Manning has warned that "Failure to comply with this notice could result in a daily penalty."  Wilkinson subsequently directed Manning to back-off, writing that the breach notice was "a most heavy-handed and inappropriate way to deal with a perceived problem. I therefore instruct you very clearly that you will not issue Section 41 notices of complaint."

In a response Manning wrote to Wilkionson that unless there was enforcement action "You will oversee the complete breakdown of self-regulation unless you act quickly to turn things around." Subsequently Manning was stripped of his power to lay compalints over logging breaches in a letter from the then Chairman of the FPA, Ken Felton. The revocation of Manning's authority was on the basis of a recomendation of Wilkinson to the FPA's Board. 

Other SourceWatch Resources

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 * Tasmanian SLAPPs
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