Stopping logging in Victoria’s central highlands would drive tens of millions of dollars into state coffers if the move was included under the Abbott government’s emissions reduction fund. Fairfax Media has seen a confidential brief prepared for the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, which found ending logging in the highland forests, north-east of Melbourne, would …
VICTORIA’S environment minister will visit the high country as cattlemen continue lobbying the government over alpine grazing. The State Government last month shelved a three-year trial which looked at the role of cattle grazing in preventing fire risk at the Alpine National Park. Environment Minister Lisa Neville at the time said “science is clear” that …
In 2013-14 MyEnvironment requested an IBAC review of Victorian Auditor General’s Office audit ‘Managing Victoria’s Native Forest Timber Resources’ on the following grounds: In 2013, the Victorian Auditor General’s Office made the following statement: “ VicForests does not receive any government subsidies ” yet this paper shows that VicForests receives annual subsidies of approximately …
The Victorian Government stands accused of all but guaranteeing the extinction of threatened Mallee birds as a consequence of its bushfire prevention policy. The Mallee emu-wren, in particular, is just one fire away from being wiped from the planet. The claim is made in a new report from Birdlife Australia, being tabled this weekend at …
State Labor has dumped a plan to create a new national park in the central highlands to protect the endangered Leadbeater’s possum following an intervention from the CFMEU. It is understood Labor remains riven by internal debate over whether to back a proposal to create a Great Forest national park stretching from Kinglake to Mt …
State’s leading environment groups are joining forces to fight what they call ‘wholesale attack on state’s environmental assets’ The Victorian Coalition government has the worst record on the environment since the 1960s, according to the state’s four leading environment groups, which will join forces in an unprecedented way to fight what they say is a …
A contentious plan to cut down river red gums in the Barmah National Park, on the border of Victoria and NSW, has been scrapped by the Victorian government. The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Parks Victoria and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage had planned to trial an “ecological thinning” of the forest, …
WHEN forestry workers lose their jobs it’s a crisis but when public servants lose theirs it’s an election promise. Richard Denniss asks why politicians are working harder to save some jobs than others. AS the world coal price continues to fall, politicians are asking themselves what the Australian economy will look like by the time …
Earlier this year the Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group (LPAG) delivered its reports to the state government. The group had been established by the government to make recommendations to support “the recovery of the Leadbeater’s Possum while maintaining a sustainable timber industry”. The group included no specialist expertise, being composed entirely of government employees and representatives …
EEG is suing the state government for a fourth time. Legal papers were filed and served on Monday 22nd Sept. Both VicForests and DEPI are being sued. Within the 170,000 hectares of forest that the Goongerah-Deddick summer fires burnt out, were 46 protected zones set aside for threatened owls. These areas would also have supported …
