Federal governments of all persuasions have historically protected and funded Australia’s forest destruction.

BROWN MOUNTAIN – a short history

Brown Mountain was assessed and listed as an old growth National Estate area by the Commonwealth Heritage Commission in the 1980s. That means it has the same values as a National Park. The management of these areas were handed to the state government which promptly set about clearfelling them in 1989. The protests on Brown …

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Garrett digs to greater depths

If anyone had a flicker of optimism left that Peter Garrett might start to show some tiny verdant streak – even under his armpit or hidden deep behind his kidneys – sometime soon – then anticipate no more. We’re all wasting our hopefulness. He’s approved the Gunns pulpmill and now the dredging of the beautiful …

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Will the ALP help save us?

Don’t pin all your hopes on having just ousted Howard. Rudd and his henchmen could prove to have the very same corporate mates. East Gippsland is losing its forests as fast as Tasmania, relative to its size. Tassie has had a huge public profile for years, but is still unable to get rid of the …

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Election musings

It’s not workers vs the elite anymore; it’s environment vs business greed. What with temperatures rising, taps running dry, food becoming a valuable commodity – all coupled with peak oil – the economy, the environment and the voters are about to cop a serious body blow. It could be too late for changing governments’ priorities …

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How The Greens fared in the Nov ’07 elections

Gippsland saw the Greens increase their vote by just over 1% to 6.06%. Though in the end, National Party senator, Peter McGauran (“Chops”) romped back in with hardly a chink in his support base (the Liberals never stand in Gippsland’s Federal elections). In Victoria the Greens should be close to or just above 10% in …

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Loggers lobby at Climate Change meeting!

The umbrella group that lobbies on behalf of all Australian (and overseas) logging interests were officially invited along by Kevin Rudd to be part of the Australian delegation to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December. We hear that the CFMEU was there as well. The National Association of Forest Industries’ …

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ALP – still the bulldozer brotherhood

On top of the $1 billion of subsidies the Tasmanian logging industry has already received over the past twenty years, Gunns was promised another $100 million by the ALP a week before the election. As Crikey reported, the industry could be running a T-Model Ford factory and still make a fortune from taxpayers money. Martin …

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Murray gums poor to dead

Premier John Brumby recently rejected draft recommendations by the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) to flood the Murray with billions of litres of water to save the majestic River Red Gums. According to a leaked copy of the most comprehensive analysis of Murray River Red Gums undertaken, 54% of the forest is in a “deteriorating …

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HowaRudd on forests

Kevin Rudd is parroting John Howard on every important issue, including forest destruction. Howard slams the unions whenever he can and Rudd kicks unionists out of the Labor party for swearing. And when it comes to the forestry arm of the CFMEU, these unionists are left alone by both sides of politics. The pro-mill, anti-forests …

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The Great Snowy Dehydration project

With the drought hitting irrigators on the Murray side of the range, and Snowy Hydro finding it doesn’t have enough water to generate the power it wants, Politicians are reneging on their legal promise to restore some water to the gasping Snowy River. We’ve always known politicians’ promises don’t count for much, but now they …

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