A new on-line petition calling on Papua New Guinea's Treasurer to launch an urgent investigation into the logging industry and its tax record has collected over 1000 signatures in just two weeks.
The petition was put up by the NGO, Act Now, after a recent report published by the Oakland Institute revealed massive tax evasion in the industry.
Despite the report showing most logging companies declaring losses year after year, logging operations have continued to expand and the country is now the world's largest exporter of tropical timber.
Campaign co-ordinator, Eddie Tanago, said the amount of lost revenue was huge.
"We are talking about in the last 10 to 20 years, so we are talking about millions and millions of dollars that have not been paid. And it's quite funny when these companies are not paying tax and they're saying that they are making loss. In fact, they're making money but they're saying they're making losses."
