Once again, government pyromaniacs destroyed extremely valuable ecosystems and a wildlife corridor in the Kirth Kiln Regional Park near Hoddles Creek (March 2013). This was two days before a total fire ban when rainfall for the prior 6 months had been the lowest ever recorded. The fire managers called it an ‘ecological burn’, but had …
Another small community group, Healesville Environment Watch commissioned an economic assessment of VicForests economic performance, since its beginnings in 2004-5. VicForests has racked up a loss of $22 million since it was formed – that means it costs us $1.50 for every cubic metre of wood it has logged. VicForests self-righteously argues a net profit …
The bushfires of 2012-13 in Victoria covered around 130,000 ha. The government has just proudly announced they have now burnt 250,000 ha of forest this Autumn (May 2013)! As well they have pumped about 18.3 million tonnes of C02 into the atmosphere. So what does this mean?Besides this being one massive unscientific experiment based on …
How’s this little gem from the state budget – “The Government will provide $7 million over two years to remove trees destroyed by previous bushfires and help improve the safety for people who access public land. This program will focus on the Alpine and Mountain Ash forest areas in eastern Victoria.” This has never …
Another creatively written Annual Report for VicForests (2012-13) was presented to parliament in mid-October and it verges more towards fantasy than a serious commercial look at their performance. Steve Meacher from Healesville Environment Watch has done an analysis of the report and also compared it with their stated Corporate Plan in 2011, with the actual …
The same weeks as Kevin Rudd was returned as PM, Victoria’s Napthine government passed two anti-environment bills through parliament. The amendment to the logging Act (SFTA) gives a free-for-all to the logging mafia; everything it wants for as long as it wants with bugger-all scrutiny. All underwritten by us taxpayers for hundreds of millions if …
f passed the Bill will formalise a new ‘cut-out-and-get-out’ style of forest management in the short term as well as pay millions to the logging industry in the long term. The proposed Amendments to this law governing native forest logging will hand full powers to VicForests (the profit-driven semi government entity in charge of logging …
THERE are no plans to save most Victorian animals and plants that are at risk of becoming extinct. This is despite new data revealing more animals are becoming threatened. The latest list of threatened animals, released by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, found one animal had become extinct in the wild in the past …
The draft Action Statement (protection plan) for the Long-nosed Potoroo is now out for public comment. This was one of our 4 species used to legally challenge the government recently over its inaction on threatened species protection. The draft plan’s recommended actions are very thick with motherhood statements and very thin on detail, funding commitments …
The recently released report from the Auditor General on the State’s finances again raises questions about why VicForests was not required to pay a dividend again this year. The report shows how the State Government demanded most Government businesses like Melbourne Water and other water authorities were all squeezed for additional dividend payments to help …
