Victorian government’s timber mill bailout has bad whiff of pork

The Victorian government’s decision to appropriate a large undisclosed sum of taxpayers’ money to buy a struggling timber mill nobody else wanted to acquire appears more driven by dubious politics than by rigorous public policy. The government has not revealed how much it has agreed to pay Australian Sustainable Hardwood for the mill in Heyfield, …

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Heyfield mill: Victorian Government signs agreement to buy Gippsland sawmill

The Victorian Government has struck a deal to keep open Australia’s largest hardwood sawmill, at Heyfield in Victoria’s east, but workers are warning up to 20 contractors could be out of work in weeks. The mill’s operator, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH), had been locked in a dispute with the Government and state-owned logging company VicForests …

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Sorry state for threatened gliders in Victoria

Background Greater Glider populations are suffering across Australia. This is especially so in Victoria where populations in the Central Highlands and East Gippsland are in distress due to – among other reasons – fire and logging eating away at their habitat. The Greater Glider was listed as ‘vulnerable’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation …

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Minister urged to heed the science on Greater Glider

Victoria’s Environment Department urged the Environment Minister not to follow the advice of Government scientists to issue a conservation order to protect the Great Glider and instead recommended discussions with the state logging agency for ‘voluntary action’, documents reveal. The documents released under Freedom of Information show the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee wrote to Minister …

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VicForests fudges the numbers… again

VicForests has been caught out using very dodgy arithmetic to blame the small endangered Leadbeaters possum for its predicament. These were presented to the VEAC investigation and the Parliamentary enquiry as kosher – and too complicated for the average Joe to understand. But their bamboozling tactics didn’t fool Greens MP Samantha Dunn. VicForests is exposed …

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VicForests to face timber supply inquiry

A parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s forestry body won’t be a “witch hunt” because it is simply designed to get some answers for the state’s ailing timber mills, Victorian MP Jeff Bourman says. Mr Bourman, an MP for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, has established a parliamentary inquiry into VicForests, who manage the state’s timber …

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Legal and scientific basis for an Interim Conservation Order

Legal and scientific basis for an Interim Conservation Order under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 to protect Leadbeater’s Possum – Summary Acting on behalf of Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc., on 24th April Environmental Justice Australia submitted a letter and supporting documents to the Victorian Environment Minister, the Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio requesting an …

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