The public has every reason to be sceptical of the outcome of the investigation the Victorian Government has commissioned into the escaped departmental burn during the week of 6 October 2015. There is huge public outrage over the burn that turned into a wildfire and destroyed over 4,000 hectares, 4 homes, dozens of sheds, fences …
Yet again a DELWP burn turned into a catastrophic 3,000 ha bushfire in early October. It burnt most of the Cowbar Forests, much of its wildlife was burnt alive, four homes were lost, as well as sheds, fences and pasture. We are told by DELWP that it didn’t have the resources to ensure this planned …
Planned burns can be extremely dangerous and difficult to control. Despite trained personnel, investigations and recommendations for improved fire management over the years, fire, weather and poor judgment still causes major disasters. The IGEM report released in May acknowledged the ineffectiveness of large scale burns to protect communities. It recommended alternative risk reduction measures believed …
Wikileaks released the environment and investment chapters of the TPP earlier in 2014. Instead of a 21st Century standard of protection, the leaked text shows that the obligations are weak and compliance with them is unenforceable. These chapters do the bidding of multinationals. The investment chapter is written in their favour and the environmental clauses …
Ernest Gordon Mainka 1954 – 2014. The nature conservation and photography communities were saddened to hear of the death of the photographer Ern Mainka. Ern learned his skill as a photographer whilst working for Telecom (before it became Telstra) and his overriding love of the natural world led to him taking a redundancy package in …
The controversial hectare based burn target of 5% of public land annually was reviewed earlier this year by the Inspector General of Emergency Management. The findings and recommendations were released in April this year and the government is still to announce if it will adopt the recommendations. The report looked into many aspects of the …
Minister Jaala Pulford is responsible for VicForests. She’s been caught with her pants on fire again trying to cover for it in reply to a question from Greens MP Sam Dunn in early September. She asked about VicForests’ self-allocation of an additional 316 new stands of forest in Victoria to be clearfelled. The Minister said …
UPDATE: 19th September 2015 Malcolm Turnbull has postponed the planned changes to the law that would exclude most enviro groups from challenging bad government development decisions. The Abbott Government’s attack on the environment knows no bounds and is reaching a peak that has even the most conservative minds staggering with disbelief! His coal-obsession has become …
While the nation argues over the treatment received by footballer Adam Goodes, the Abbott Government is overseas stitching up the secret TPP trade deal that no one wants but the major corporations. Put simply, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a deal which will agree to allow major corporations that produce chemicals, foods, medicines and …
Our intrepid East Gippy photographer Jude Deland, has won the Animal Behavior section of the 2015 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Competition – today! Congrats Jude! This was taken on the top of Mt Ellery earlier this year amongst the giant granite boulders, Alpine Ash and mist.
