Deaf ear to church attack on Forestry
By MARGARETTA POS - 30 June 2004
FORESTRY Tasmania yesterday ignored a Uniting Church report
critical of state forest practices, and its fears for their
impact on water quantity and quality. Forestry Tasmania
also ignored a call by a geohydrologist for a halt to the
spread of plantation farming until an independent audit
is done of water catchments and users. "We're
not going to comment," said Forestry public
affairs manager Cathy Limb. Independently of the report,
David Leaman, of Hobart-based Leaman Geophysics, said plantations
soaked up ground water storages, affecting river flow for
farmers and towns. "Water is already a big issue facing
the state. That's why there must be an audit before any
proposal for a pulp mill is considered," he said. "And
we must have an open system for declaring the amount of
water used, which includes the forest industry." The
Uniting Church report called for an independent and transparent
regulator of the industry and that it be open to freedom
of information laws.........
HOBART MERCURY... |
Church takes axe to forest industry
June 28, 2004
The Uniting Church has joined the chorus of criticism of
the Victorian and Tasmanian forestry industries. According
to a report commissioned by the Uniting Church Synod of
Victoria and Tasmania and released in Melbourne today, Tasmania
is suffering a serious crisis of confidence in its forest
industry. The report, "Forests and Forest Issues in
Victoria and Tasmania", was written by church members
David Blair (who has a forest science degree and whose work
experience includes researching wildlife in Australia and
overseas and forestry work for the Victorian government
in Gippsland) and Margy Dockray, who has co-authored several
community reports on forestry-related activities. The report
found the self-regulated industry in Tasmania was exempt
from local government planning schemes and freedom of information
laws, and urgently needed an independent and transparent
regulator......
MELBOURNE
AGE... |
| GREED &
STUPIDITY |
Nothing to show but a wasteland
By Paul Sheehan - June 28, 2004
Australia has the potential
to become one of the most stupid, short-sighted, short-lived
civilisations (for want of a better term) ever created.
The nation could last little more than three greedy,
mediocre centuries as an advanced economy, and two
of those centuries have already passed. Compared with
what's heading our way unless we mobilise as a nation,
such passing obsessions as the Iraq war and the latest
federal election are mere sideshows. ........ People
keep talking about the historic "drought"
afflicting the eastern states. It is not a drought.
It is far more serious than that. Even if good rains
come they are not going to change the fundamental
problem. The weather pattern has changed. Having mined
and altered and channelled and stripped the landscape
for the past 150 years in an impossible attempt to
re-create Europe, we can't even see the obvious -
that when you profoundly change the landscape, when
you destroy vast amounts of balancing energy in the
soil and vegetation, you change the weather. .........
Take his views on that most totemic green cause, the
clear-felling of old-growth forests in Tasmania, protected
under the bipartisan Regional Forests Agreement: "It's
a disgrace," [Senator]
Heffernan told me. "They
could end clear-felling of old-growth forests tomorrow.
And they should. They are over-committing Tasmania's
forest resources in a way they will regret in a hundred
years ... And in their haste to clear the timber they
waste and burn and haven't even done any work on the
impact on the water system. Places like Launceston
are having a dramatic change in the stream pattern.
It could be a long-term disaster."
........ "In Tasmania,
they burn everything that's there and 1080 [poison]
them, it's just a mournful operation and the process
of pushing down old-growth forests is a huge waste.
They recover only about 10 per cent of the old growth
as saw logs, the rest just goes to the chip mill."
He wants his Senate committee to consider a proposal
to protect a further 240,000 hectares of that state's
high-value old-growth forests, offset by what he calls
a "wall of wood" coming on stream from new
plantations in Tasmania and Western Australia........
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD...
• SOME
OF TASMANIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING...
AND IF ANYONE THOUGHT LATHAM WAS
THE ANSWER
Garrett out on a limb as
ALP backs logging vote
Glenn Milne - June 28, 2004
IN a move likely to antagonise the Green voters encouraged
by Peter Garrett's conversion to the Labor Party,
Mark Latham has held a private meeting with Tasmanian
loggers to reassure them Garrett's conversion will
not affect his stand on felling old growth forests.
Of course, these forests are one of the emotional
litmus tests of the environment debate. Which is why
on Wednesday, the week before last in Parliament House,
Latham quietly went around to the office of his Tasmanian
Labor colleague Dick Adams [Big
Dick of; "I Don't Give a Fuck About Your Opinion"
fame ]. Adams has always been vocal in the debate
over where exactly the balance should fall between
job losses for timber workers and the protection of
Tasmania's forests. And there's never been any doubt
about where he comes down: when it comes to the workers'
livelihood and families, trees come second. ........
The Parliament House meeting was about reassurance
and guarantees. Apart from Adams, waiting for Latham
were Terry Edwards from the Tasmanian branch of the
Forests Industries Association and the exquisitely
named Barry Chipman, representing an organisation
known as Tasmanian Timber Communities. ....... Any
hope among so-called soft Green voters that Latham's
courtship of Garrett and Garrett's subsequent acceptance
means a softening in Latham's stand on the environment
is clearly delusional........
THE
AUSTRALIAN... |
|
| HOW THE AUSTRALIAN
TAX OFFICE SUBSIDISES THE VANDALISM |
Sell a tree and, by gum, it's a
tax deduction
By Alan Kohler - June 26, 2004
The business of selling tax deductions is just finishing
off another very big June, writes Alan Kohler......
Tax Commissioner Michael Carmody is the Johnny Appleseed
of Australia, scattering seed thither and yon. Thanks
to the annual ritual of "product rulings",
under which scheme promoters gain the certainty of
tax-deductibility, Carmody is, undoubtedly, Australia's
greatest greenie - Canberra's answer to Bob Brown,
except he actually pays for trees rather than just
talking about them. Which
raises one question: how come we are still cutting
down old, natural forests? One answer to that, I understand,
is to make space for more plantations. Apparently
Gunns
in Tasmania is running out
of ground to plant tax-effective trees and is now
clearing old growth forests merely to make room.
Next question: are they good investments? Answer:
only because the tax deduction, and even then they're
ordinary. The big winners, of course, are the promoters.
....... Upfront commissions of between 5 and 15 per
cent - averaging 10 per cent - are paid to the happy
accountants and planners who act as distributors.
......... It's beautiful because the companies are
selling trees, but their customers are buying something
else - a tax deduction. This mismatch between the
sale and the purchase motivation means the price is
unrelated to the product. ....... Here's how the deal
roughly looks for the investor - and a warning: what
follows may disturb some readers........
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD... |
|
Tasmanian beekeepers
blame logging for decline in honey
Friday, 25 June 2004
The Tasmanian Beekeepers Association is claiming supplies
of the state's unique leatherwood honey are in terminal
decline. President Julian Woolfhagen is blaming continued
logging of mature mixed forests in Tasmania. Mr Woolfhagen
has told the Association's annual conference today that
beekeepers are going out of business because they're losing
access to such forests. "The term that we've often
heard out of Forestry Tasmania is 'multiple-use forests'.
"You know, these forests are no longer multiple-use,
they only really have one purpose, and that's pulpwood;
and well, with some hope, there'll be some sawable timber
- but no, this is the real future. "We're really looking
right over the edge."
ABC
RURAL NEWS...
Leatherwood honey industry 'under threat'
The leatherwood tree is only found in Tasmania. Its blossom
contains the nectar responsible for the "in your face",
aromatic honey, so sought after around the world. These
slow-maturing trees flower at between 10 and 20 years of
age, but don't produce commercial amounts until they're
in their 70s. Leatherwood's worth nearly twice as much as
other honeys, and, as it's three quarters of the state's
production, logging of the tree they're so dependant on
has left beekeepers fearful their industry is on the way
out. Simon Pigot, of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association,
said that as the resource has been clear felled and burned,
it has forced beekeepers out to the edges of the district
and essentially now they are forced to use leatherwood that
is much less reliable. "It is usually at a much higher
elevation, it’s affected by cold. The flowering is
not as reliable, so yes beekeepers have been forced out
to the edges of the districts and the effect on the resource
has been pretty dramatic," Dr Pigot said. Julian Wolfhagen,
of the Tasmanian Honey Company, said the really sad part
is that within the state forest there is only about 10 years
of commercial honey production left. Bill Oostig, of Daybreak
Apiaries, agreed. "It is so unique and it is something
that can go on for generation after generation and this
is the only place in the world where we can produce it,
so it is hard to understand," he said........
ABC
LANDLINE... (20 June 2004) |
e-card gallery of the Tarkine Rainforest
Tarkine Tasmania, Australia's Unprotected Wilderness. Please
send a personalised ecard to your friends and family to
help educate Australia and the World about the Tarkine Rainforest
and the woodchip industry's plans for its future.
TARKINE
TASMANIA E-CARDS... |
| FORESTRY TASMANIA
- Blowing Our Future |
silk purses into sows' ears?
......The story goes that Forestry
Tasmania obtained a $1.4M grant from the federal
government and added $0.6M of their own to put up
new premises worthy of their perceived importance
in Scottsdale. That adds up to a cool two million,
right? Construction took the usual couple of years
but before they moved in Forestry sold the building
to private enterprise for $0.75M, taking a $1.25M
loss. Then they turned around and leased the building
from the new owners.
If this is Forestry Tasmania's idea of 'Growing our
future', we can only pray that they cease the growing.
Like right now......
SAVE
THE BLUE TIER... (with picture, "eighth wonder
of the modern world" - built on sink hole) |
|
A Blind Eye - FOUR
CORNERS
Reporter Ticky Fullerton explores the uncomfortably close
relationships that the RSPCA is forging with key industry
groups – intensive poultry, pork and live exports –
and asks whether these bonds have tied it in a knot of conflict.
More » Errata: The
Lords of the Forests»
ABC
FOUR CORNERS...
=================
News Tasmania asked the following question
(four times) to the RSPCA at the Four Corners forum
immediately after the show:
"1080 Poison
Question to Dr. Hugh Wirth.
Does the RSPCA have an opinion on the Government sanctioned
use of 1080 poison to kill native wildlife in Tasmanian
forests? If so what is it?"
THE QUESTION WAS IGNORED |
THE ALTERNATIVE
TO 1080 POISON IN TASMANIA
HELPING MASSACRE TASMANIAN WILDLIFE, INVEST IN GUNNS
Ltd - GUNNS
SHARES |
Toll of wildlife
shot to protect forests revealed
21 June 2004
FORESTRY companies have shot nearly 50,000 wallabies
and possums to protect forests and plantations over
the past two years, Department of Primary Industries
documents show. Shooters employed by Gunns
Ltd and Forestry
Tasmania shot 15,225 brushtail possums and 30,226
Bennetts and red wallabies in the period between January
2002 and April 30 this year. The figures from the
Nature Conservation Branch were obtained by The Mercury
under the Freedom of Information Act. Sixteen fallow
deer were also shot during the same period. Eighty
per cent of the animals were shot on behalf of Gunns
Ltd on 250,000ha of forest and plantation across
the state. Most animals were killed with shotguns
and spotlight, with live trapping and shooting also
widespread. Wilderness Society campaign co-ordinator
Geoff Law said the figures demonstrated one of the
massive impacts of industrial forestry. "This
shows that a vast number of animals, which are otherwise
protected, are being killed," he said. Mr Law
said the figures were a "reality check"
and an indication that probably more than 500,000
animals were killed by 1080. Increased shooting has
resulted because the State Government wants 1080 usage
reduced.........
HOBART
MERCURY...
======================
JOHN GAY, MANAGING DIRETOR, GUNNS
LTD: Well, there's too many of them and we need
to keep them at a reasonable level.
GRAHAM DAVIS CHANNEL 9 SUNDAY: You're saying there's
too many wombats and ring-tailed possums?
JOHN GAY: Yes, most certainly.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Why are they protected then? Why are
they classed as endangered?
JOHN GAY: Well, because the numbers are getting too
great and the ring-tailed possum is a very small proportion
of this. It's usually the brush possums that are poisoned,
not ring-tails.
• There
are too many protected species - TRANSCRIPT |
|
|
La Tasmanie réduit en copeaux
ses eucalyptus géants
(Tasmania is reducing its giant eucalypts into woodchips)
......Tasmania is the only State where the destruction
of virgin forests has worsened with each year since the
beginning of colonisation. Indeed foresters are wanting
to cut down as many trees as possible before the announcement
of the next reform, expected in 2010. ....... The government,
based in Hobart, seems to be in the habit of selling to
loggers large numbers of forested zones almost all belonging
to the British Crown. The annual production of wood chips
destined for the paper manufacturing industry, which started
up in this island just thirty-two years ago, is likely
to exceed 5 million tonnes this year. These figures are
only estimations, for the ruling Labor Party have refused
to reveal the exact volume of trees felled since the year
2000. Moreover, the forestry industry is not subject to
the Australian laws on freedom of information (Freedom
of Information Act), making the work of researchers extremely
difficult. However, certain facts are universally acknowledged.
A LUNAR LANDSCAPE
Today, scarcely a quarter of the forested surfaces of
the region remain untouched. But nearly 90% of the giant
eucalypts, some more than four hundred years old, have
already been cut down. Out of the 130,000 hectares spared,
half are destined for the chain saws in the months to
come. The disappearance of this unique natural inheritance
is even more shocking in view of the methods used by the
foresters. After removing all of the trees from their
coupes, the companies drop napalm from helicopters to
burn the trunks left in the ground. The passage of the
flames plunges entire valleys into a dense brown smoke
during autumn. The hills, previously covered with a mantle
of greenery, offer a lunar landscape marked by deep gashes
left behind by the passage of bulldozers. When the soil
has cooled down again, the company employees spread the
terrain with carrots impregnated with 1080 poison in order
to destroy animals such as wallabies, possums and wombats,
which feed on the shoots of the young trees.......
LE
MONDE FRANCE... (28 May 2004)
• FULL
TRANSLATION AT TASMANIAN TIMES...
FRONT PAGE at TASMANIAN
TIMES...
|
Town has herbicide in water
18 June 2004
THE Health Department says Campbell Town's drinking water
is safe, despite the discovery of traces of a toxic herbicide.
Tests done by the plantation division of forestry company
Gunns
Ltd have shown a minute level of simazine
upstream from where the town draws its water.......
THE
HOBART MERCURY...
Health effects of Simazine from the US -
EPA
Long-term: Simazine has the potential
to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure
at levels above the MCL: tremors; damage to testes, kidneys,
liver and thyroid; gene mutations; cancer.
HERE...
|
|
Log truck crash shocker: Dangerous roll-over
tendencies exposed but ignored, says expert
June 17, 2004
LOG trucks are dangerously prone
to roll-over accidents but the risk to the motoring public
is being ignored, says a Tasmanian engineer.
Wolfgang Wissman, a senior consultant engineer who investigated
the issue, says the speed of the trucks must be limited
to 80km/h, or fewer logs carried, to address a fundamental
design fault. He studied the motion characteristics of
the five varieties of log truck used on Tasmanian roads
for a report commissioned in 2001 by North Forest Products.
Mr Wissman described the results as shocking and said
the company was set to implement his reforms in a bid
to curb its truck roll-over rate. He said the plan was
scotched when Gunns
Ltd bought North Forest Products later that year.
Mr Wissman said his study of single-trailer log trucks,
and those with double or triple-trailer configurations,
showed they were being loaded to a height that made them
unstable when driven in certain road conditions. "It
only takes dodgy suspension, a bad road camber, too sharp
a bend, or a jerky driver reaction -- there is no safety
margin at all," he said.........
NEWS.COM.AU...
Independent Engineer’s Assessment
Released
.....“Today in Parliament the Minister, Bryan Green,
refused to commit to any action, nor explain his ignorance
on the matter.”.....“The Minister already has
reports of school bus drivers
losing mirrors to sideswipe from trucks and being forced
off the road.”......
TASMANIAN
GREENS...
• MORE
LOG TRUCK ACCIDENT NEWS & STORIES AT FAIR-TRADING.com
|
|
|
Chemical probe urged
Friday, 11 June 2004
Concerns raised after oyster deaths on East Coast. Chemical
spraying of forests in the Georges Bay River
catchment was yesterday highlighted as a possible
cause of mass deaths of East Coast oysters in February.
..... The oyster industry of Georges Bay at St Helens was
almost wiped out earlier this year when almost
90 per cent of oysters in some Georges Bay farms died virtually
overnight. ..... But The Examiner was also able
to uncover that a chemical spill occurred near the river
when a helicopter, spraying private forests at Pyengana
in December, hit powerlines and crashed. The aircraft, flown
by Tasmanian Helicopters on contract from Austwide Forestry
Services, was carrying about 60
litres of a cypermethrin-based spray mix. About
20 litres of the chemical spilled on to the ground, not
far from the water. The Government's official
response was that the spill was of little environmental
consequence. But the crash raised the suspicions of local
oyster farmers, who have gone to great lengths themselves
to determine how much of the chemical is being used in the
area. A Dow Agrosciences chemical information list rates
cypermethrin as "highly toxic
to fish and aquatic arthropods", saying
that "care should be taken to avoid contamination of
the aquatic environment"......
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER... |
MEDIA RELEASE
- Big Tree Hunter slams Forestry Tasmania planning
June 10, 2004
International Big Tree Hunter, Ronnie Harrison, this week
slammed Forestry Tasmania's planning and recognition of
special values currently being trashed by roading and logging
at Weld Hill in the North East of Tasmania. Mr. Harrison,
who resides in Texas, says the Bass office of Forestry Tasmania
has ignored information he supplied in March of 2003 regarding
the state's tallest known Dicksonia antarctica tree fern
at 12m, and the largest known Myrtle at over 11m in girth.
He said instead of providing a forest reserve that would
have protected the integrity of these values they have allowed
roading and logging right in the heart of this area. Mr.
Harrison's interest in the big trees has brought him to
Tasmania eleven times in the past 10 years and he has helped
to locate some of the states largest trees, most were located
in areas threaten by logging. He says he cannot understand
how a state with such a rich and diverse forest resource,
including unrecorded big trees and tall tree ferns, is not
capitalizing more on these assets in light of the state's
recent tourism boom. "It’s hard to believe that
with the success of the Tahune Airwalk and the signing of
the Forestry/Tourism Protocol that non-recognition of such
significant natural resources is still happening today”.
All I'm asking for is that Weld Hill be given an independent
assessment of its tourism and conservation values outside
of wood production, before these giant forest relics are
lost to us forever.
Ronnie Harrison, Texas USA.
References:
Earthbeat
on ABC Radio National Saturday 14 February 2004
• TEXAN
TREE HUNTER - Where do you go if you live in Texas and
you want to find the most massive trees in the world? The
wood production forests of Tasmania!
• TOURISTS
OR WOODCHIPS ? - Earthbeat explores the development
of new eco-tourism ventures in Tasmanian regions slated
for logging.
AND MORE ON THE BIG TREE HUNTER...
• MORE
ON THE BIG TREE HUNTER WITH PICTURES at Discover Tasmania....
• THE
AUSTRALIAN.... (22 Jan 04)
• HOBART
MERCURY..... (22 Jan 04)
• ABC
ONLINE.... (21 Jan 04)
NEW WEBSITE - SAVE
THE BLUE TIER...
• WELD
HILL - TASMANIAN NORTH EAST ICON... |
When a picture packs punch
June 10, 2004
Nothing works better than a great photograph when it comes
to selling the green message to a wider public, argues Tim
Bonyhady. Few Australian photographers have been as influential
as the late Peter Dombrovskis. Over 20 years, he created
a new image of Tasmania. ....... Tasmania's old forests
have needed such photography over the past few years as
they have been woodchipped at an unprecedented rate. While
exact figures are not publicly available as part of the
secrecy that surrounds Tasmania's logging industry, about
90 per cent of the timber extracted from the island's forests
is woodchipped. Tasmania's old forests are the source of
more than 70 per cent of the Australian woodchips sent to
Japan. ....... The campaign to protect these forests has
many facets. It is about the last great unprotected stands
of eucalyptus regnans, the world's tallest hardwoods, in
the Styx Valley, just an hour and half from Hobart. It is
about Australia's largest temperate rainforest, the Tarkine,
on the north-west coast. It is about the laying of 1080
poison to stop wildlife browsing on new plantations, killing
vast numbers of wallabies and possums as well as non-target
species such as wombats and potaroos. ....... Instead they
have relied on their own, generally very ordinary photographs.
They have made no attempt to find a new Dombrovskis. Yet
the campaign to protect Tasmania's forests has still yielded
great photography. The occasion was in January. The location
was Sydney, rather than Tasmania. The event was the launch
of the Spirit of Tasmania III, the first passenger boat
between Sydney and Tasmania in 30 years, which the Tasmanian
Government had bought and refurbished at a cost of $$105
million. ....... This action depended on the media for its
success. There had to be cameras to record the event. They
were there, organised by the Wilderness Society. "Woodchipping
the Spirit of Tasmania" was on every television news
that night as well as in newspapers across the country the
following morning, transforming the launch from a promotion
of the Tasmanian Government to an occasion for extended
criticism of its destruction of the island's forests.
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD... |
Last Stand - Channel
Seven's Sunday Sunrise's John Collis hears both sides of
the debate
AND typical omissions of a logger and Forestry Tasmania*
Tue, Jun 8, 2004
.....Smoke billowing from the ridge above interrupts our
musings. Caught on video by a forest activist, a scene the
Tasmania Government would prefer we didn't see... Fire
from the sky in the self-proclaimed "natural state" ...
as a napalm-type incendiary is scattered through a
swathe of smashed forest. The holocaust will consume everything
not fit to mill or chip among the remains of giant old-growth
eucalypts tall enough to overshadow Sydney Harbour Bridge.
...... Add the baiting of native wildlife attracted by the
seedlings... it's a PR nightmare, the sort of "negative"
in the rising heat of controversy that gets under the collar
of Forestry chief, Evan Rolley......
Bob Brown: The World Heritage 800 metre line is a dollar
line ...
John Collis: A dollar line, above the line the timber is
no good?
Bob Brown: That's right.
John Collis: That's clever. .......
The objective ... to cash-in Tasmania's native forests before
giant rapid-growth plantations in South America impact on
the woodchip market......
THE
TRANSCRIPT...
==============
STYX PHOTOS 1... including, Fire-Bombing the Forest
Floor.
Once an area is cleared of all useful timber, it's burned
to aid regeneration. Here incendiaries are dropped from
a helicopter into the timber waste below. But fire doesn't
discriminate: "every fur, fin and feather" is
blackened.......
==============
STYX PHOTOS 2... including, Re-Grown Forests…
spot the difference.
Logger Rex Flakemore points out areas
of the Styx Valley that have regenerated after being logged
more than 60 years ago. Rex's father helped clear-fell
this part of the Valley in the
1940s. He says many visitors believe this area
has never been logged. Forestry
Tasmania says it's an example
of the 20,000 hectares of re-growth forest added every year
in the state.
NEWS
TASMANIA OPINION ON;
"spot the difference"
* Typical omitted facts, by a logger and Forestry
Tasmania: |
|
1.
|
in the 1940s,
although extremely destructive and nothing to be proud
of, there was no Mechanised Clearfelling on the massive
scale there is today. Seedtrees were left to regenerate,
thus allowing the "Rex Flakemore"
diverse regeneration that is currently being hailed;
(In 2003 Rex Flakemore worked for logging contractor
Les Walkden Enterprises and was supervising logging
of Forestry
Tasmania's old-growth forest coupe Styx 15.
- Hobart Mercury, 5th July 2003) |
|
2.
|
in the 1940s,
there was no massive Fire-Bombing of the Forest Floor
with resultant destructive heat intensity and air
pollution; |
|
3.
|
in the 1940s,
there was not the level of Forest Soil Loss as there
is now, by it washing into and silting streams &
rivers, see
here; |
|
4.
|
in the 1940s,
there were no Chemical Pollutants being used to the
degree they are currently used (simply because they
weren't invented); |
|
5.
|
in
the 1940s, there was no Industrial Poisoning
of Native Wildlife; |
|
6.
|
in the 1940s,
millions of tonnes of valuable timber such as Myrtle,
Sassafras, Blackwood & Celery Top Pine were not
burned as waste; |
|
7.
|
in the 1940s,
quick growing monoculture (single species) Tree Farms
were not regenerated to replace Native Forests; |
|
8.
|
in the 1940s,
regeneration was not for the purpose of Tree Farm
12 to 30 year, quick rotations; |
|
9.
|
in the 1940s,
regeneration did not produce thirsty Tree Farms to
impact on water availability and quality, reticulating
from the Forests; |
|
10.
|
in the 1940s,
the Forestry Practices did not impact on the Forest
Soil's ability to sustain such Practices, the "Rex
Flakemore" style regeneration gave the Forests
time to heal; |
|
11.
|
in the 1940s,
the Forestry Practices did not impact on Global
Warming to the degree that the current Practices
do; |
|
12.
|
in the 1940s,
the Forestry Practices left the Forests in a far more
"Natural State". |
|
The representation;
"it's an example of
the 20,000 hectares of re-growth forest added every
year in the state";
(reported to be made by Forestry
Tasmania),
seeks to represent that the 20,000 hectares is all
the same type of forest as;
"areas of the
Styx Valley that have regenerated after being logged
more than 60 years ago".
BY REASON OF SOME OR ALL OF THE FACTS SET OUT IN
THE OMISSIONS
NEWS TASMANIA SAYS THAT SUCH A REPRESENTATION
IS CLEARLY A MISREPRESENTATION AND A LIE.
|
|
Thousands of people
took to the streets in cities around Australia at
the weekend to protest at the logging of old-growth
forests in Tasmania in what organisers hailed as the
biggest environmental protest in a decade. In
Melbourne an estimated 15,000 people marched to Federation
Square as part of the co-ordinated nationwide
action marking World Environment Day...
• MELBOURNE
AGE... WITH PICTURE -
15,000 Melburnians march down Swanston Street |
Massive marches for Tassie's old-growth
7 June 2004
A CELEBRITY line-up helped attract more than 10,000
protesters to Melbourne's Federation Square yesterday
in support of an end to old-growth logging in Tasmania's
forests. ...... Celebrities included award-winning
writer Richard Flanagan, gardening guru Peter Cundall
and actors and entertainers including Paul Kelly and
Peter Phelps. Flanagan told the rally 1000-year-old
ecosystems were being destroyed. ..... Other celebrities
involved in the campaign include writer Bryce Courtenay,
singer Jimmy Barnes and actors Sam Neill, Toni Collette
and David Wenham.
HOBART
MERCURY...
• TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH BY RICHARD FLANAGAN
- HERE
AT TASMANIAN TIMES...
Melbourne protesters stage logging demonstration
More than a thousand people have gathered in Melbourne
to protest against the destruction of old-growth forests
in Tasmania. The lawns in front of Melbourne's State
Library were covered with people. The protesters say
the export woodchipping industry is destroying Tasmania's
old-growth forests. Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan
says 1,000-year-old ecosystems are being destroyed.
"And the only way that's going to change is if
Australians make this an issue of mounting national
urgency and force the politicians to recognise the
global shame of what's happening in Australia,"
he said. But the Construction Forestry Mining and
Energy Union says thousands of jobs will be lost if
woodchipping stops.
ABC
NEWS ONLINE...
Mainland protests oppose Tas woodchipping
Thousands of people from mainland states have turned
out to protest against the woodchipping of Tasmania's
old-growth forests. Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and
Perth held large gatherings yesterday as the Wilderness
Society used World Environment Day to raise the stakes
in the woodchipping debate. It is rallying support
for federal intervention to stop export woodchipping
of native forests and new national parks to be created
to protect areas like the Styx Valley. National forest
campaigner Virginia Young says growing numbers of
Australians are passionate about the issue. "We
will have quite a strong workforce coming out of these
events to further that [and] to keep the momentum
building," she said. "[It will] keep awareness
in the community building about how important these
forests are and how important it is to take a stand
now and to act, to help save Tasmania's forests in
the lead-up to the federal election." The society
wants the protection of Tasmania's old-growth forests
to become a key federal election issue. Ms Young says
the society is not out to embarrass the Tasmanian
Government but to initiate change. "Everything
that Tasmanians seem to do seems to have been ignored
by the State Government," she said. "It
really has reached the point now where we've got to
call for federal intervention."
ABC
NEWS ONLINE...
Celebrities take stand
A BEST-SELLING novelist and award-winning actors and
musicians have joined the call for an end to old-growth
logging in Tasmania. To coincide with World Environment
Day, the eight high-profile Australians have made
a national plea over clear-felling. In a letter to
the editor of The Weekend Australian yesterday, Bryce
Courtenay, Toni Collette, Sam Neill, David Wenham,
Sophie Lee, John Williamson, John Butler and Jimmy
Barnes slammed the forest practices of Tasmania.....,
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN....
Greens urge voters on Tas forests
AUSTRALIAN Greens Leader Bob Brown today urged voters
across the country to help make saving Tasmania's
forests and wildlife a major federal election issue.
Speaking on World Environment Day, Senator Brown said
the Federal Government should nominate the forests
for World Heritage status. "As of today, a vote
for either Labor or Liberal, either (Opposition Leader
Mark) Latham or (Prime Minister John) Howard, is a
vote for the chainsaws," Senator Brown said.
"This issue may be more potent in moving votes
than saving the Franklin River in 1983 or the Daintree
rainforests in 1987."
THE
AUSTRALIAN... |
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| TASMANIAN TOURISM
BOOM ONLY FOR THE BIG BOYS |
|
Rail man slams Government
June 7, 2004
IDA Bay Railway owner Peter Fell has lashed out
at a lack of State Government support for small
tourism operators as he prepares to sell his business.
Mr Fell said big business was dominating tourism
in Tasmania, which was impacting on smaller operators.
News of the sale of Ida Bay, believed to be Australia's
last original bush railway, comes as Port Arthur's
Bush Mill settlement and railway prepares for closure
after a buyer could not be found....... As with
the owners of the Bush Mill, Mr Fell is angry about
a lack of support for businesses such as his. ........
He said the Government
had helped the big players while taking smaller
attractions for granted. "We've had to compete
with the big operators and the Government giving
money to big operators, many falling flat on their
face," Mr Fell said. "But small established
operators get no help at all.........
NEWS.COM.AU...
For Bush Mill, it's end of the line - ABOUT
THE BUSH MILL...
3 June 2004
AFTER 25 years, Port Arthur's Bush Mill is closing
...... Mr Matheson said many operators of small
regional attractions were struggling. "We haven't
been forced to sell but we've had falling numbers
and small business can't
compete in the advertising stakes with government
and the big boys," he said.........
THE
HOBART MERCURY...
=====================
Tourism operators fear narrow marketing
focus
THE
HOBART MERCURY... (27 Jan 04)
=====================
Ken Bacon [ex Log Truck Driver
& new Minister
for Tourism], "If I look after TOURISM
the way I looked after LOG TRUCK DRIVERS then Tasmania
is going to be a long way ahead of the rest of the
states,"
THE
ADVOCATE... (23 March 04)
• SOME
LOG TRUCK STORIES...
=====================
• Some BIG BOY mates, at the Government's TCT
(Tourism Council of Tasmania)
*
THAT ARE ENDORSING TASMANIA'S FOREST
VANDALISM PRACTICES - FAIR-TRADING.com
* BIGGEST
BOY (Federal
Hotels & Resorts) GETS $3 BILLION
GOVERNMENT GAMBLING MONOPOLY - HOBART
MERCURY... (5 June 04)
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| POLLIE PAYOFF
ASSISTS DIRTY ASHTRAY AWARD |
Tassie gets 'Dirty Ashtray'
30 May 2004
......Dr Glasson said New South Wales and Victoria
both appeared to have lost the momentum in anti-tobacco
campaigns to tie for second last, with Tasmania rated
as the most disappointing performer despite strong
calls in the state for funding for Quit campaigns.
"Tasmania came very close to getting the 'Dirty
Ashtray Award' last year," Dr Glasson said. "It
appears there is poor planning in relation to tobacco
control in Tasmania, with still no finalisation of
a Tobacco Action Plan, even though work has been undertaken
on it over several years. "Quit campaigns have
not been adequately resourced and the Tasmanian Government
has failed to bite the bullet and ban smoking in the
hospitality sector.".......
THE
AUSTRALIAN • TELEGRAPH
• MELBOURNE
AGE • SUN
HERALD • COURIER
MAIL • NEWS.com.au
Pollie donations paying off in Tassie
The Australian Hotels Association [Tasmanian
Government Lackey on Forest Practices] gave
$13,500. They were beneficiaries
of the delay in implementing full smoking bans in
pubs, and the soft phase in which is predicated on
cigarette smoke being somehow expected to stop once
it gets within one metre of a bar, thus supposedly
protecting worker's lungs.
CRIKEY.com.au...
|
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Global Warming
29 May 2004
.....Not surprisingly, the prospect of extreme weather events
also has caught the real concern of health experts (not
just their imaginations), following on the heels of last
year's devastating heat wave, as
a result of which an estimated 15 000 people in France died
in a matter of a weeks. ..... River floods in
central Europe left over 200 000 people homeless; more than
100 people were killed, and due to climate change such floods
are projected to increase. Degradation of the local environment
can also contribute to vulnerability from flooding. For
example, Hurricane Mitch, the most deadly hurricane to strike
the western hemisphere in the past two centuries, caused
11 000 deaths and thousands of others were missing in Central
America. Many fatalities occurred as a result of mudslides
in deforested areas......
BRITISH
MEDICAL JOURNAL...
• TASMANIA'S
CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING... |
Japanese paper company refuses old-growth
woodchips
Friday 28 May 2004
Conservation groups are claiming another victory in their
fight against woodchipping Tasmania's old-growth forests.
Greenpeace and the Wilderness Society say they have been
notified by Japanese paper company Ricoh that it does not
want paper originating from old-growth woodchips. Wilderness
Society campaign director Geoff Law says Ricoh is the fourth
major Japanese company this year to indicate its reluctance
to use timber or products sourced from Tasmania's high conservation
value forests. "They've written back specifically to
say, when it comes to the Tasmanian situation, they do not
want paper made from old-growth woodchips sourced from Tasmania
now we regard that as a major breakthrough," he said.
"This is part of the whole Japanese consumer side of
the equation starting to fall apart."
ABC
NEWS ONLINE...
• Help preserve forests in Tasmania
HERE... |
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