A Greater Glider forest refuge was being clearfelled by VicForests through July and August in an extremely provocative act while taskforce members negotiated. This created extreme volatility between the government, its Forest Taskforce (set up to solve Vic’s long and bitter forest dispute), environment groups and VicForests. The logging coupes in our current legal case …
In line with the Taskforce Terms of Reference, those representing the industry, union and enviro groups have refined the agreed opportunities for industry and conservation changes. This includes the establishment of new parks and reserves, threatened species, wood supply security, industry investment, measuring and valuing forest carbon, jobs and regional employment, review and reform regulations …
In Victoria, a parliamentary enquiry has been set up to look at controlling invasive species on crown land. EEG is concerned there is too much focus on shooters and National Parks. Allowing shooting organisations to kill deer or foxes in the Alps or parks will hardly put a dint in their numbers (but will gain …
Last week the first clunky attempt to load woodchips – minus wharf and conveyor belt began. It was incredibly slow and took 8 chip trucks about 45 minutes each to load, drive around to the nearby navy wharf and unload to a makeshift conveyor belt. This constant convoy over 5 days isn’t the most cost …
Damning new data on logging has come out in a very thorough report by PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Employment in native forest logging represents 0.006% of the state’s workforce. Each full-time equivalent job in native forest logging costs a staggering $5,041,000 in infrastructure investment. That is 12 times the average for a job in Victoria and 10 times …
The Federal election saw both good and bad results. The Turnbull govt was returned with a much decreased margin of one but the Senate has a larger number of small parties and independents on the cross-bench, making it more difficult to get legislation passed. The Greens went from 10 down to 9 Senators (losing one …
A local film-maker is planning to make a series of short films that expose the destruction of Victoria’s forests by clearfell logging and the urgency for their protection. He hopes to get these short films across as many media outlets as possible. But he’s asking for donations via crowd funding to see it materialise. …
This Daniel Andrews-devised industry/enviro groups roundtable is progressing. The first agreed ‘Statement of Intent’ report was due to be presented to the government by the end of June but that’s now been pushed out by 2-3 weeks. These delays mean more trees fall meanwhile. It was set up as a compromise with the CFMEU …
For nearly 20 years, Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) have given the logging industry preferential access to around seven million hectares of publicly owned native forests in four states. Logging has been exempted from Federal environment laws for this time. AFCA together with over 30 environment groups say RFAs should be abolished and logging in native …
Mother Nature dealt a 17m ‘Monster wave’ to the Eden woodchip mill’s loading facilities and jetty on 5th June. The east coast low that delivered this hit could be defined as an ‘Act of God’ meaning there might be no insurance payout. Two massive chunks were taken out of the jetty, the pylons gone and …
