Leaving only the ASH

The Andrews Government is torn between helping a group of workers in a small country town fighting for their jobs and caving in to a group of Melbourne investors happy for taxpayers to relieve them of their responsibilities, writes Michael Spencer. The problem for the Andrews Government is that if it caves in to pressure …

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Heyfield timber mill: Victorian Government completes purchase

UPDATE: THE Victorian Government will not say how much it has spent to buy the Heyfield timber mill. A spokesman for the Government said the figure was confidential, but The Weekly Times understands the business was independently valued at close to $40 million. Employment Minister Wade Noonan will be responsible for the timber mill, which …

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Endangered animals threatened by logging, environment groups allege

Victoria’s state-owned logging company breached rules protecting native animals and rainforests almost 30 times over three years, environment groups allege in a new report. The report comes after a dead koala was found in a logged section of forest in the Acheron Valley near Marysville that was home to the endangered Greater Glider. As revealed …

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Greater gliders: fears of ‘catastrophic’ consequences from logging in Victoria

Gliders are listed as threatened by both state and federal governments, but they are not protected by legislation. Logging has begun of trees inhabited by the threatened greater gliders in a forest also inhabited by Victoria’s faunal emblem, the threatened Leadbeater’s possum. Protections for the remaining Leadbeater’s possum population – believed to be fewer than …

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Regional Forest Agreements fail to meet their aims

Species declines and unsustainable forestry evident under RFAs Pr. David Lindenmayer, ANU; Ann Jelinek, Nature Focus Victoria; Oisin Sweeney, National Parks Association of NSW   The 20-year Regional Forest Agreements between State and Commonwealth governments are due for renewal. They aim to allow native forest harvesting while providing for conservation and future industry. RFA legislative …

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Malcolm Turnbull caves in to Tasmanian loggers

Last weekend, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flew to Launceston for the Tasmanian Liberals’ yearly conference. Accompanied by Premier Will Hodgman, Turnbull’s first stop was the timber yard of logging company Neville-Smith Forest Products, once a part of the now-fallen Gunns logging empire. Twenty years after John Howard signed the first Regional Forest Agreement with Tasmania, …

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Wildlife killed by department burn in fauna reserve

THE state environment department has defended its fire management practice which led to the incineration of a colony of rare New Holland mice. In early May, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and Forest Five Management Victoria carried out a burn in the Providence Ponds Flora and Fauna Reserve near Stratford. The reserve is …

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