When the new VicForests office took over the native forest logging ‘shop’, they came in with a nice new broom. Mill owners will have to compete for logs by bidding for them when their license runs out over the next few years. Meanwhile their current license for logs has had a 17-25% price increase. This …
Environment East Gippsland will challenge the government in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over their refusal to release under FOI, names in the documents relating to the looting of the Snowy National Park during the fires of February 2003. Over the past two years we have: endured months of being mucked around by the …
The Tasmanian woodchipping company, Gunns, could be eyeing off Victoria’s forests. The controversial logging giant could be considering buying Victoria’s native forests as either a direct bidder or by buying from other bidders, under the Bracks Government’s new auction system. The Gunns logging empire has already spread to Western Australia. Planned pulpmill hungry for woodchipsIf …
It stands for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. A US invention, SLAPP suits intimidate people involved in protecting public assets. They do this by engaging them in expensive and time-consuming legal battles, therefore achieving their goal of weakening and disarming their critics even before a court determines an outcome. Notable Australian SLAPP suits, and threats …
Information from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) shows that approximately 600 bushfires occur within Victorian public land each year. There are 26% that are caused by lightning and the rest the result of human activities. Source – http://www.dse.vic.gov. au/dse/nrenfoe.nsf Fire Cause Average number of fires each year Percentage of total fires Lightning 149 …
The 2004 election donations are still unknown. Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said the public have to wait until 2006 before finding out where political parties got their funding to pay for their 2004 election campaigns. Senator Nettle said that large corporate donations clearly buy influence and to that extent they are a corruption of the …
There are 200 tonnes of tree remains and biomass burnt per hectare in a logged forest, that equals about 730 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases. The average car emits 6 tonnes a year. A peer reviewed scientific study shows that around 1000 tonnes of greenhouse gases are emitted for one hectare logged in rich …
The East Gippsland RFA had its eighth anniversary on the 3rd February. We were told all that time ago that it was to protect the forests, but conservation promises have never been honoured while woodchipping volumes have more than doubled. The five yearly review has not happened. It is now totally obsolete and should be …
After months of delays, the EPA has released its report on the Audit it carried out in the middle of 2004, of logging compliance to the Code of Forest Practice. Each year the EPA selects a sample of logging coupes across Victoria and assesses how the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and loggers have …
A Supreme Court judge has ruled that the Bracks government’s environmental code for logging native forests (Code of Forest Practices) is enforceable under law. Prior to this ruling, DSE argued that the only lawful requirements were that the coupe be in a logging zone and that the loggers have a licence to log. The ruling …
