CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA -- Eric Abetz, federal forestry minister, said the Australian government will resist an attempt by the Forest Stewardship Council to strip Australian timber of its “A” rating among some European customers.

According to ABC Rural, Abetz said reclassifying would hurt exports. He suggested that he might call for an inquiry to investigate the disparity between classification systems used to grade old-growth logging in Indonesia, PNG and Australia.

ABC quoted Abetz as saying, “These groups are … bad mouthing Australia’s forest products in countries like the United Kingdom and Belgium.”