While the people of New Orleans were still being rescued ten days after cyclone Katrina, and thousands of bodies still remained to be identified, our own Mr Bracks made a very considered, significant and irresponsible decision. After a two year process negotiating with the private owners of Hazelwood, he has allowed the developed world’s dirtiest …
The largest paper mill in Australia is based in Gippsland and is planning to expand – with the government’s full blessing and financial assistance. It will need an additional 200,000 m3 of eucalypt pulpwood. But where will it come from? PaperlinX, maker of Reflex copy paper, was formally known as APM, Amcor and is now …
If a private land owner was to destroy native vegetation without a permit, they would be fined and forced to rehabilitate up to 15 times the same area that was destroyed. This is now part of the Native Vegetation Management Framework drawn up by The Department of Sustainability and Environment. But the department which is …
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE – what a misnomer!) approved the logging of a mapped and protected Superb Parrot Special Protection Zone. The 30 hectares logged at Grinters Ridge in the Barmah Forests was about 60% of the SPZ and about 15% of the total habitat that the bird has left. This parrot …
The newest kid on the parliamentary-hopefuls-block is a band of chest beating, ultra-rural, greenie-bashing blokes – shooters, loggers, 4WDers, and associated ilk (and their women supporters). Also colloquially known a rednecks. Their stated purpose is to do in the Greens. They are trying to strike fear into regional voters that the Greens holding the balance …
To help with expansion plans of the Paperlinx (Australian Paper) mill in the Latrobe Valley, the Bracks government has committed $50 million towards a $150 million water recycling plant. The Morwell plant will recycle domestic and industrial water using basic treatment to take the smell out of the water before it is released. The stink …
What we see going on with Tasmanian woodchips could well set the scene for the rest of us battling to save our forests. When a 10% drop in orders for Tasmanian woodchips was announced, green groups were blamed. The reduction and subsequent job losses are squarely the result of green groups telling lies to overseas …
In March 2005, I traveled down to Melbourne to meet with John Thwaites advisor on forests. He seemed impressed by the economic arguments I presented but when it came to ecological issues – he wasn’t so interested. The very distinct impression given was that there’s only one species they worry about, and that’s the marginal …
Less than one week after the government says it can’t and won’t prosecute anyone over the Yalmy looting, a DSE media release came out saying they will get tough with firewood getters who don’t pay their $7 permit (royalty per tonne). The maximum penalty is one year in jail or $5,000 fine with equipment seized …
It’s the kind of destruction we’re used to hearing about in the rainforests of South-east Asia, not in our own backyard. The Auditor General’s investigation into the Yalmy Road illegal logging during the 2003 fires, was released in early May 2004. It criticised the Bracks government for allowing three laws and 17 prescriptions and guidelines …
