Before the election the Bracks government made a quiet little offering to get rid of the niggling pressure they were under regarding their long time promise to protect the Gippsland Strzelecki forests. Their offer was a compromise to protect the important central sites and its connecting links (called ‘cores and links’) but if you read …
The Howard Government has conceded logging in Tasmania may be illegal, but is refusing to act against it. The federal Forestry Minister, Eric Abetz, initially poo-pood the claim that there were national implications from the Tasmanian Wielangta court case. Now he’s bemoaning the fact that the judgment could affect all sorts of land uses (and …
The federal Forestry Minister, Eric Abetz, initially poo-poo-d the claim that there were national implications from the Tasmanian Wielangta court case. Now he’s bemoaning the fact that the judgment could affect all sorts of land uses (and abuses). So – he’ll work to change environmental laws to aid developers and exploiting industries. The decision found …
Two hundred years ago the Sooty owl was abundant and fed on about 18 species of ground prey in Gippsland. Today they have only two or three to chose from. Other species are under similar pressure. Many of our native animals have become sparser in numbers and their range has shrunk. Some, like the Southern …
The Exclusive Brethren’s manipulation of election campaigns has been a major influence in politics. Now it’s been revealed how companies infiltrate the political sphere to direct major decisions in their favour. Multinational packaging company Amcor who owned the PaperlinX woodchip and paper mill in the Latrobe Valley, were involved in corporate spying on green groups …
The Japanese export woodchip mill at Eden in NSW held a celebration for all past and present staff and families in early December to mark the first time in the mill’s 36-year history that it has produced one million tonnes of woodchips for export in one year. Most of this was thanks to three main …
A landmark Federal Court decision last December prevented logging in Tasmania’s Wielangta forests. Because the ruling questioned the ability of a Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) to protect threatened species, it also questions the legality of East Gippsland’s logging. Attempts by the Commonwealth to hand over responsibility for protecting three federally listed species to the State …
When Labor announced it would protect all ‘significant stands’ of old growth, they must have been using their special parliamentary dictionary. In Eastern Victoria, Mr Bracks protected only 5% of areas identified as critical to extinction-proof native species and protect domestic water catchments. The Forest Alliance had carefully mapped and scientifically validated these areas. Wins …
After Beazley bit the dust in 2006, the shiny new Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd travelled to Tasmania. He stated that Mark Latham’s rescue package for the forests back in 2004 was all wrong and Mark didn’t properly take on board the loggers wants. Rudd rewarded Peter Garrett for lying about Greens preferences by making …
Old growth forests store massive amounts of carbon but have been accused of just ‘stagnating’ and not actively absorbing any. Quite the opposite is true. Old-growth forests continue to remove far more carbon than previously thought, making their protection a high priority in tackling global warming. A new study found that a 400-year-old forest in …
