ANZ Lampton Quay was visited this morning by protesting rainforest trees, an orangutan, drummers and several loud chainsaw wielding loggers. The protest was criticising the bank’s role in funding a logging company involved in deforestation in Papua New Guinea.
ANZ worker and Finsec Deputy President, Kelvin Pycroft, responded to the protest by offering to facilitate a meeting between the bank and the protest groups to work towards ending the bank’s funding of environmentally destructive logging in Papua New Guinea.
“We understand that our employer, ANZ Bank, provides funding to Rimbunan Hijau, a huge logging company operating in Papua New Guinea who is accused of environmental and human rights abuses. We want to help our bank find a better way to do business and we’re willing to play a role in facilitating that.”
Rimbunan Hijau is accused by independent observers and agencies of illegally logging the largest intact rainforest in the Asia/Pacific region – an area big enough to cover New Zealand.
The forest is home to the majority of the 5 million people in Papua New Guinea. It contains over 15,000 plant species. The company is accused of using torture, assault and unlawful detention to drive people off the land it wants to log and subjecting its employees to abusive working conditions.
A Gossip reporter managed to record some of the protest; you can see photos here as well as listen to a short interview (19 seconds) and a longer interview (2:48) with Green Party Co-Leader, Russel Norman on ANZ, rainforests and climate change.
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