Victorian State Election outcome
It looks like the Coalition is well and truly home and hosed, as they say. They’ll have a majority in both houses of parliament. Their forest policy includes commitments to ”review harvesting rotations for faster growing native species such as mountain ash” which can be read as converting native forests into even more intensively managed woodchip plantations, and guarantee long-term access to current supplies of native timber ” – which is pretty much business as usual. However, unless burning forests for power gets a leg in the door, the market for sawn hardwood is dwindling by the day.
The new Victorian State Minister for the Environment & Climate Change is Ryan Smith.
For more information on the Coalition’s environment promises, Environment Victoria has put together a handy summary of where the Coalition stands on the environment available here