Courtenay's forest ire
March 1, 2004
BEST-SELLING novelist Bryce Courtenay has become the latest
high-profile critic of Tasmania's forestry practices. In
a full-page article published in Sydney-based newspaper
The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Courtenay likened the impending
logging of the Styx Valley to "the rape of Tasmania".
The author of The Power of One
urged investors to boycott Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns
Ltd, and said readers of The Sunday Telegraph
should lobby Gunns' major corporate backers to do the same.
The newspaper, owned by News Limited which also publishes
The Mercury, claims to have a readership of 1.9 million.
Courtenay said projections of massive
job losses used to rule out an immediate end to clear-felling
in Tasmania's old-growth forests did not stack up. And he
said a State Government that could not find alternative
jobs for the hundreds of workers involved "must surely
be regarded as incompetent". ....... "[But]
I was struck by the large number of logging trucks. No road,
major highway or isolated back road was without trucks stacked
with freshly cut logs."
NEWS.COM.AU...
HOBART MERCURY... |
FROM A CONCERNED SHAREHOLDER - an example
of how to make a difference
29 February 2004
I have some share in Mirrabooka
and after watching Four
Corners last Monday I faxed the company and expressed
concern that it had a significant shareholding in such a
company. The letter I received in reply stated that Mirrabooka
certainly would not wish to invest in any company that operates
unethically or is involved in any sort of illegal activity.
The director who replied had not watched the program but
he did read the transcript and will raise my concerns at
the next meeting of the investment committee. I have sent
this email to Wilderness
Society, Friends
of the Earth (FOE), Greenpeace,
and Discover-Tasmania
with the thought that you could email your listings and
put pressure on the Mirrabooka
Board to dispose of the Gunn's
shareholding. There are probably other groups who should
receive this but I don't know how to contact them so if
you can do that for me it will be appreciated. If that is
OK by you here are the contact details: -
The Chairman,
Mirrabooka Investments Ltd,
Level 20, 101 Collins Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000.
Ph: 03 9650 9944
Fax: 03 9650 9100
Email: invest@mirra.com.au
There are some interlocking directorships with Djerriwah
Investments and Australian Foundation Investment Company.
The two latter companies do not have shares in Gunns
Ltd . A suggestion for shareholders is that, when they
communicate with Mirrabooka,
state that if the shares are not disposed of they will consider
selling their Mirrabooka
shares. That is what I did and that may prompt a decision
to sell the Gunns
Ltd shares.
With my regards,
Arnold Ward
THE
WILDERNESS SOCIETY ON GUNNS Ltd.... |
|
|
STEVEN KONS |
• THE EMAIL
TO KONS - Subject:
4 Corners this Monday
Parliamentarians,
The rampant clearfelling and woodchipping of our high
conservation value native forests in Tasmania is receiving
world wild attention and the issue is now at ignition
point! More examination of this issue will feature
in the long anticipated ABC 4 Corners story on Tasmanian
forestry which will go on air this Monday the 16th
of February at 8:30pm. The programme will then be
replayed on the ABC tv the next day at 1pm.
Neil Cremasco
• THE ANSWER FROM KONS
From: Steve Kons <mailto:Steve.Kons@dpac.tas.gov.au>
To: Neil Cremasco <mailto:---------@southcom.com.au>
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: 4
Corners this Monday
get a job
=========================
• NEIL CREMASCO HAS A JOB
Prior to becoming a trainee doctor at the University
of Tasmania, Neil Cremasco was a public health officer
working in infectious diseases surveillance. Neil
lives in the Huon Valley, South of Hobart. (courtesy
TASMANIAN
TIMES) |
MORE ON THE LABOR
LINE UP
February 29, 2004
TASMANIA'S forests could get a "double whammy"
if David Llewellyn became deputy to Paul Lennon when
he takes over as Premier, Greens Leader Peg Putt warned
yesterday. "David Llewellyn was the forests minister
during the Labor/Green accord days and he is the one
who unilaterally broke the Labor/Green accord to increase
woodchip exports out of Tasmania," Ms Putt said.
"So it's actually a double whammy, it's double
jeopardy for Tasmanian forests now because we're looking
at a Labor leadership team of Paul Lennon, who's been
so much the agent of the woodchippers, and David Llewellyn
who's past history was to actually cause Labor to
lose government in the process of facilitating the
woodchippers......
NEWS.COM.AU...
|
|
Freedom of Information Act overhaul proposed
- Opening up our forests
February 27, 2004
.....Forestry Tasmania's exemption under the FOI Act has
come under fire following recent media reports on the issue.
..... But University of Tasmania administrative law senior
lecturer Rick Snell said that the FOI Act also needed reform.
Under Section 32A of the FOI Act, Forestry Tasmania is exempt
from providing access to information "if it relates
to the performance and exercise of the functions and powers"
of the corporation. Mr Snell said although Forestry Tasmania
did give access to requests, they also had a "trump
card" to refuse.....
THE
EXAMINER...
RICK
SNELL WEBSITE - Lecturer in Law University of Tasmania...
s.
32A - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1991 (Tasmania)...
(Forestry
Tasmania is the Forestry corporation established under
s.
6 of the Forestry Act 1920) |
WHILE TASMANIANS GET RIPPED OFF BY
THE LENNON GOVERNMENT SPONSORED VANDALISM, GUNNS AND GREEDY
SHAREHOLDERS LAUGH ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK....
Gunns record jump in profits
February 27, 2004
AUSTRALIA'S largest woodchip company, Gunns, continues to
emerge unscathed from the controversy over the logging of
Tasmania's native forests, recording an 8.6 per cent rise
in half-year profit to $34.6 million. The Launceston-based
company announced yesterday that earnings per share rose
from 39.7c in the first half of 2003 to 41.5c for the six
months to December 31.....
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
THE
WILDERNESS SOCIETY ON GUNNS Ltd....
CRIKEY COMMENT - Gunns cranks up
the chainsaw massacre - CRIKEY.com.au
Ferocious Tasmanian tree-slaughterer Gunns posted a record
net profit of $36.4 million - up 8.6 per cent - for the
6 months to December 31, 2003 and the Tasmanian papers are
reporting the result very positively.
The Burnie Advocate - "Gunns posts record profit, outlook
positive"
http://ta.harrisgroup.com.au/news.cgi?type=1&id=102154
The Examiner - "Gunns sees positives in higher profits:
http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=219519
Whilst we all know the profits are tidy, what interests
Crikey more is the revenue and cash flow performance. Total
revenue increased by 3.5 per cent to $311.7 million for
the half which suggests that Gunns
is still cranking up its already world-beating record in
tree-slaughtering. Every
other Australian state has abandoned or is scaling back
old-growth logging but in Tasmania it continues to grow
and now comfortably generates more than $600 million a year.
And what a profitable exercise it is with free cash flow
surging to $56.7 million for the half. That's a very tidy
$311,000 in cash profit every day of the week. Gunns shares
rose 3c to $11.98 today as it remains on the cusp of that
glorious $1 billion market capitalisation figure. |
Lennon Government Moves To Pre-Emptive
Strike On Blue Tier
26 February 2004
Formal Council Request for Nature Recreation Reserve Inquiry
Ignored.
The Tasmanian Greens today highlighted that as Paul Lennon
moved into the role of Acting Premier plans have been stepped
up to clearfell the heart of the Blue Tier within weeks
in a deliberate targeting of this icon forest area which
ignores community calls for protection.....
TAS
GREENS...
BLUE
TIER - WELD HILL - TASMANIAN NORTH EAST ICON...
BLUE
TIER - TREE FERNS WELD HILL - BIGGEST KNOWN TREE FERN IN
TASMANIA...
BLUE
TIER - THE SIDELING MYRTLE FOREST DRIVE....GONE!! - from
TOURING TASMANIA...
Council disappointed at lack of response
to land proposal
February 27, 2004
A north-east Tasmanian council will again debate what action
it can take to force a halt to logging in the Blue Tier
area. ....."We were advised yesterday that the harvesting
would commence in two or three weeks time and, yes, we're
a little bit disappointed that's going to happen."
ABC
ONLINE...
4 Corners question to Lennon...
"I have spoken to two councillors on the Break O'Day
Council who claimed that you have
heavied the council and that if the council continued
to push for an inquiry into land use, that support for tourism
investment by the government would not happen. Is that true?"
FOUR
CORNERS INTERVIEW WITH PAUL LENNON... |
THE NEWS TASSIE STYLE....
Saving Bacon 'misjudged'
February 26, 2004
.....The mini furore comes as no surprise to long-time Tasmanian
resident and 60 Minutes journalist Charles Wooley, who believes
media outlets who break ranks are ostracised. "I know
what it's like to be cast into darkness in a small community,"
he says. "I was alarmed to hear the editors had got
together to discuss what can be reported to the community.
It's really sad the Premier has cancer, but he's a public
figure. There's a lot of things that happen here that could
only happen in Tasmania. "There isn't much questioning
of politicians and whenever mainland journos come down and
ask (acting premier) Paul Lennon a question he often storms
out of the interview."....
THE
AUSTRALIAN....
Lots more at Tasmanian Times
TASMANIAN
TIMES... |
VANDALISM OR BOGUS INSURANCE CLAIMS?
Greens deny vandalising Tasmanian logging equipment
February 26, 2004
Relations between Tasmania's forestry industry and environmental
groups continue to worsen after logging equipment was vandalised
in the central highlands. Police are still investigating
but the forest industry has labelled green activists the
culprits. ..... The claims have outraged Tasmanian Greens
leader Peg Putt, who is seeking legal advice on what she
says is a smear campaign by a panicked industry.....
ABC
ONLINE...
Greens cry foul on vandalism tactics
...."Past occurrences of damage to logging equipment
in Tasmania have seen the police rule out conservationist
involvement, although initially the woodchippers had a field
day making wild and baseless accusations. ..... In 2002,
then Deputy Premier Paul Lennon accused a group of militant
conservationists of being prime suspects in the $3 million
sabotage of Tasmanian logging coupes. But there was no police
evidence to support the allegation......
HOBART
MERCURY...
Smear tactics from Gunns
The Tasmanian Greens today condemned the use of smear tactics
by Gunns Ltd to try and implicate the Greens and conservation
groups in criminal damage by showing more interest in exploiting
for political advantage a reprehensible act by unknown persons
of unknown affiliation than in affording police the best
opportunity to catch the perpetrators....
TAS
GREENS... |
WHILE TASMANIANS GET FED THE GOVERNMENT
"BOOM" PROPAGANDA...
Gloom amid the boom
February 26, 2004
...."We were horrified to find out how many people
were going without meals, had no phones, couldn't afford
medical bills and weren't getting the assistance with their
power bills that they are entitled to.".....
HOBART
MERCURY...
1000s of Tasmanians Not 'Sharing In The
Rewards'
TAS
GREENS... |
Pressure for federal MP to replace Bacon
By Carol Altman and Samantha Maiden
February 25, 2004
FEDERAL Labor MP Duncan Kerr
is being urged to quit national politics and position himself
to become premier of Tasmania after the sudden departure
of Jim Bacon. Supporters of Mr Kerr, a former Keating government
minister, this week reactivated a campaign for him to transfer
to state politics after Mr Bacon stepped aside on Monday
to receive treatment for lung cancer. ..... It is understood
Mr Bacon was "incensed" by Mr Kerr's comments
in The Australian that Mr Lennon was the enforcer of an
inflexible position on forestry policy......
NEWS.COM.AU...
“Duncan is the only member
of the Tasmanian Parliamentary Labor Party to have publicly
supported an end to oldgrowth logging,”
HERE... |
MASSIVE Tasmanian Forests Rally &
March
Protect our Ancient Forests • End Export Woodchipping
• End 1080 Poisoning
Saturday March 13 – 11:30am Parliament House Lawns
Hobart
MORE
INFO HERE...
The tidal wave for overdue change in the Woodchip State
is now upon us. There's to be a HUGE forest rally in Hobart
on Saturday March 13th, hosted by the Wilderness Society.
This has to be the BIG one, and our target is the federal
election!
The message of the rally is crystal clear:
1) protect our ancient forests
2) end woodchip driven destruction
3) end 1080 poisoning
It's at 11.30am Saturday March 13th at parliament house
lawns, Hobart. There'll be a march and then the rally.
This is about ALL of Tassie's forests. We want to publicise
this rally State-wide and we're aiming to see heaps of people
from all over the State make it along to stand tall. Spread
the word, and phone those who aren't on the web. Change
is at hand, so let's do it!!!
More info: phone the Wilderness Society: 6224 1550
Neil Cremasco MORE
INFO HERE... |
Licence deal cuts logging in Otways
24 February 2004
......The [Victorian] Government believes the increased
tourism created by protection of the forests and better
walking tracks will provide a greater long-term economic
lift to the Otways than logging ever could.......
MELBOURNE
AGE... |
Federal effect of change in Tasmanian
leadership
Monday, 23 February 2004
This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is
broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: The Labor leadership changes at the State
level will also affect the result at the Federal poll this
year.
As we've been hearing, Paul Lennon is an outspoken advocate
of the forestry industry, which will clearly be a hot issue
at the Federal election, resonating both inside and outside
the State. Labor hopes to hold all five Federal seats in
the Lower House, but in the Senate the Greens expect to
win another place with wood-chipping a major factor.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Tasmania's forests are set to be a bubbling
side-issue in the forthcoming Federal election, it could
be more heated outside the island State than within it......
ABC
THE WORLD TODAY... |
Reproduced from Mercury Newspaper
- LINK
21 February 2004 - LETTER TO THE EDITOR.
"The appropriately named Mr. Chipman's accusations
of bias against Four Corners and 60 Minutes
(The Mercury Feb 17) should be viewed sceptically.
Mr. Chipman is the state mouthpiece for Timber Communities
Australia [TCA], a powerful forestry lobby group
which in Tasmania is heftily funded by Gunns Ltd,
Australia's biggest woodchip exporter.
A long time ago a wise old editor told me, "The
first question you ask is, what's he got to say?
The next question is, who is paying him to say it?"
When it comes to woodchipping journalists suffer
freedom from, rather than of information
in this state, and so we can only speculate on how
much Mr. Chipman makes when he accuses us of prejudice.
I have worked on both programs and whatever their
sins, I am sure no one at Four Corners or
60 Minutes is paid to attack, nor for that
matter, to defend this problematic industry. Mr.
Chipman might have found that these hypocritical
attacks on journalists have been effective on this
small island. They won't wash elsewhere.
CHARLES WOOLEY - Reporter 60 Minutes, Willoughby
NSW. |
Barry Chipman - TCA |
60
MINUTES POLL Valley of the Giants: the battle begins
Nov 19, 2000 - Charles Wooley...
ABC
4 CORNERS - LORDS OF THE FORESTS...
s.
32A - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1991 (Tasmania)...
(Forestry
Tasmania is the Forestry corporation established
under s.
6 of the Forestry Act 1920) |
|
Bacon departure 'would leave hole'
Saturday February 21, 2004
THE departure of Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon would leave
an enormous hole in state politics, a federal Labor MP said
today. ..... The premier's political future is in doubt
as reports emerged today he was battling a serious illness,
believed to be a tumour on the lung.....
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
Tasmanian Premier may step down
Tasmania's Premier Jim Bacon is expected to make an announcement
about his political future on Monday, after being diagnosed
with a lung tumour......
ABC
ONLINE... |
Crikey Says.... 4 Corners v the tree slaughters
Stephen Mayne, Greg Barns and other forestry debaters -
20 February 2004
.....Gay and Lennon came across as thugs and it is well
worth reading the transcript of their interviews: .....
After watching 4 Corners, Crikey is more convinced than
ever that Gunns is rapaciously slaughtering Tasmania’s
forests at record levels with the quite outrageous green
light from the Bacon Labor Government, supported by the
Liberal opposition. They are out of step with the rest of
Australia. The rehabilitation of homophobic Liberal Senator
Bill Heffernan took a few steps forward last night on the
back of his logical and sensible position arguing that Gunns
should pay more for its water and should not be exempt from
FOI. The Tasmanian forestry industry is clearly conflicted,
out of control and benefiting massively from secret take-or-pay
contracts with Forestry Tasmania. We were surprised that
4 Corners did not point out that Gunns is generating more
than $600 million a year from its tree-lopping and that
Mark Latham is poised to visit the Styx with Bob Brown.
With Paul Lennon the public face of the Labor Party’s
approach to old growth Tasmanian forests, the Greens have
a big electoral asset. Afterall, how can you vote for Labor
given what they are allowing in Tasmania......
CRIKEY... |
Protesters go out on a limb - WITH
PICTURE
February 20, 2004
Green activists in Tasmania mounted a precarious blockade
yesterday in the latest of a series of protests against
old growth logging. ..... A spokeswoman, Louise Morris,
said the action symbolised the denial of access by the state
timber agency, Forestry Tasmania, to information about logging
in the area.......
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD... |
Forestry tells protesters to confront
Parliament
20 February 2004
A PROTESTER in the southern forests' Weld Valley was arrested
yesterday after Forestry Tasmania declared an exclusion
zone. .... One protester was in a tree 40 metres up and
tied to the gate and another was in a log tripod. They said
they would get down if given management plans for Weld Valley,
Wedge Hill and Picton Valley. ..... A logging truck was
stopped at the gate around midnight yesterday. ...... Protest
spokeswoman Louise Morris said the plans had global positioning
system figures. "The average man on the street is not
going to be able to read these," Ms Morris said. ......
"A coupe listed for next summer is being logged now
..... "It's unfortunate operations general manager
Kim Creak has failed to provide us with the scantest piece
of information.".........
HOBART
MERCURY... |
Anti-logging protesters blockade Weld
Valley
February 19, 2004
The organisers of another protest in Tasmania's southern
forests say they are in for the long haul. About 25 protesters
are taking part in the action in the Weld Valley to force
Forestry Tasmania to release information about future logging
in the area. They have blockaded a road leading to a logging
coupe. The action follows on from last week's protest in
the Denison Valley which held up a logging operation for
two days. Spokeswoman for the group, Louise Morris, says
Forestry Tasmania's Kim Creek failed to make available information
by a set timetable. "We're really going to have to
let this one run its course and see what happens,"
she said. "We're hoping Kim Creek will come out and
we can get the information he promised last week which he
failed to deliver. "He promised ... he would supply
us with information on logging procedures in the Weld Valley
... and failed to do so."
ABC
ONLINE... |
Scottish skiing meets global warming
February 19, 2004
....Experts say the Scottish ski industry is just one of
the many that could be crippled by rising temperatures worldwide.
On Friday, the country's biggest resort, Glenshee, and neighbouring
Glencoe were put up for sale. "Basically, we've lost
half a million pounds each of the last two seasons, and
it's down to lack of snow," said a Glenshee spokesman.
....... In Switzerland, for example, banks have stopped
lending to resorts below 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) worried
that they will never get their money back.....
PLANET
ARK...
HERE IS SOME OF TASMANIA'S CONTRIBUTION
TO GLOBAL WARMING
Every year 15 to 20 MILLION TONNES of vandalised forest
called LOGGING
WASTE is BURNT. |
The Tasmanian Times - TASMANIAN
TIMES
....."Judging by the Four Corners analysis - how sad,
and what an indictment of Tasmanian media (with a few honourable
exceptions, most notably The Sunday Tasmanian's Simon Bevilacqua)
that it takes national media to rev this up, whether Four
Corners or The Bulletin, or whoever - The State We're In
is the same as nearly two years ago ... or 10 years ago"......
Royal
Commission ... why not? Crikey goes beserk. The full Gay,
Lennon transcripts |
Anti-logging groups to take campaign interstate
19 February 2004
WORKERS opposed to logging practices in Tasmania have joined
forces to take their concerns interstate. The Forestry Reform
Alliance met yesterday to discuss the effects of logging
on Tasmania's "social, economic and environmental fabric".
The group represents timber workers, beekeepers, tourism
operators, investors and doctors. Alliance member Dr Frank
Nicklason said the discussion panel was a "dress rehearsal"
for the group's campaign on the mainland. ...... Dr Nicklason
said this week's Four Corners report about forestry practices
was only the "tip of the iceberg"......
HOBART
MERCURY... |
Water supplies at risk: expert
Logging in the North-East ... a water expert says Launceston's
water supply is under threat.
Wednesday, 18 February 2004
As part of The Examiner's continuing series on Tasmania's
forestry debate, CHRIS JOHNSON spoke to groundwater expert
David Leaman about the impact the industry has on the State's
water supplies. Geohydrologist David Leaman has been studying
some of Tasmania's water catchments for the past four decades
and he says the results of his research are disturbing.
Over the past few years his study intensified as he worked
to reach a conclusion about the changing supplies of the
State's groundwater. Forestry practices, according to his
research, have greatly impacted on Tasmania's water supplies
and quality. He believes Launceston
is destined for troubled times in terms of the availability
of fresh water. "Launceston is right in
the gun here.....
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER...
FOUR
CORNERS INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LEAMAN...
MORE
ON TASMANIA'S WATER AT FAIR-TRADING.com... |
ABC forestry report angers Government
18 February 2004
THE Tasmanian Government will seek an apology from the ABC
over what it says was a misleading and one-sided report
on the forestry industry in Monday night's Four Corners.
Forestry sources said yesterday the industry was livid over
the report and scutinising the program closely for "flaws
and errors and possible avenues
of litigation"....
HOBART
MERCURY...
SEE MORE ABOUT SUCH THREATS AT THIS SPEECH
Parliament of Australia - MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST Forestry:
Timber Communities Australia (TCA)
SENATOR
BOB BROWN - HANSARD 11 Feb 04... |
Brown's new call for legal inquiry
18 February 2004
GREENS leader Bob Brown yesterday renewed calls for a royal
commission into Tasmania's forestry practices. Senator Brown
said an independent judicial inquiry was needed to put an
end to the damage being done to Tasmania's national and
international image. He said ABC-TV's Four Corners program
on Monday night had "conveyed to the nation a picture
of malpractice and needless destruction of Tasmania's famed
beauty".......
HOBART
MERCURY... |
LORDS OF THE FORESTS from 4 Corners
February 16, 2004
THE TRANSCRIPTS
Tasmania's forests are a prized national asset. But over
80 per cent of the trees end up as woodchip for Japanese
pulp mills...
Program Transcript PLUS...
Interview with Evan Rolley • Interview with David Leaman
• Interview with Paul Lennon • Interview with
John Gay • Interview with Naomi Edwards
ABC
4 CORNERS - LORDS OF THE FORESTS... |
Steve Lewis: It's not easy being green
February 16, 2004
WHEN Bob Brown spoke at a fundraising dinner in Sydney's
north on Saturday, he was stunned at the turnout. About
300 people paid for their three-course meal and a chance
to hear the Greens' leader speak about the Tasmanian forests.
The dinner was held in the beachside precinct of Allambie
Heights, smack in the heart of the deeply conservative electorate
of Warringah - held by Tony Abbott since 1994. According
to Brown, it was yet further evidence of the growing support
on the mainland for an end to the logging of Tasmania's
majestic forests. Such as the Styx Valley......
THE
AUSTRALIAN... |
|
Greenpeace protest halts loading of woodchips
Monday 16 February 2004
Greenpeace protesters get their message across - WITH
PICTURE
Seven Greenpeace protesters have been arrested in eastern
Tasmania after scaling a 30-metre loading gantry to protest
against the woodchipping of old-growth forests....
THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
+
Gunns to pursue protest damages
16 February 2004
Gunns
will seek to recover losses from protesters who yesterday
stopped the loading of a Japanese woodchip ship at Triabunna,
its regional manager Bryan Hayes said yesterday. .........
"The ship has a bellyful of Australia's most magnificent
forests, including from the Styx River's Valley of the
Giants and the Blue Tier in North-East Tasmania,"
Senator Brown said. "Tasmania,
after growing the trees for centuries, gets $10 a tonne
royalty, Gunns' woodchip company gets about $100 and the
Japanese papermakers get $1200......
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER...
+
Chip ship protest
....."The ship has a bellyful of Australia's
most magnificent forests, including from the Styx River's
Valley of the Giants and the Blue Tier in North-East Tasmania,"
Senator Brown said. "Tasmania,
after growing trees for centuries, gets $10 per tonne
royalty, Gunns' woodchip company gets about $100 and the
Japanese paper makers get $1200 per tonne. "We get
less than 1p.c. of the end price but are losing the nation's
grandest forests to this scandalous industry."
THE
ADVOCATE...
+
The chips are down
16 February 2004
GUNNS Ltd will pursue protesters through the courts after
a spectacular pre-dawn raid by Greenpeace members yesterday
on the company's export woodchip operation at Triabunna.
The carefully planned protest held up loading of Japan-bound
woodchips for seven hours.....
HOBART
MERCURY...
+
Seven arrested in Tasmanian forestry protest
Sunday February 15, 2004
Seven environmental protesters have been arrested in eastern
Tasmania after scaling a 30-metre loading gantry to protest
against the woodchipping of old growth forests. At 5am
(AEDT) today, seven Greenpeace protesters scaled the gantry
at Triabunna Dock to prevent the loading of woodchips
from the Styx Valley onto a ship bound for Japan....
THE
AUSTRALIAN... | THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
+
A protest against the woodchipping of Tasmania's old forests
15 February 2004
Police have arrested Greenpeece protestors on Tasmania's
east coast who disrupted the loading of woodchips for
export from Australia to Japan......
RADIO
AUSTRALIA...
+
Call on PM to save forests
February 15, 2004
THE Federal Government should stop woodchipping in Tasmania
to protect the state's precious tourism industry, Greens
Leader Bob Brown said today. Senator Brown was supporting
a Greenpeace protest at Triabunna, near the Styx Valley
in central Tasmania, against the export of woodchips to
Japan....
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
+
Greenpeace activists arrested over woodchip
protest
15 February 2004
Police have arrested Greenpeece protesters at Triabunna
on Tasmania's east coast, after they climbed a 30-metre
loading facility at the Gunns
Limited Triabunna woodchip plant. A group of seven
protesters scaled the loading arm about 5:00am (AEDT).
They hung banners in English and Japanese calling for
the protection of Tasmania's ancient forests......
ABC
ONLINE...
+
Styx Valley protesters stop woodchip export
to Japan
Hobart Sunday, 15 February, 2004
Greenpeace today stopped the export of woodchips from
Tasmania’s ancient forests to Japanese companies
Oji Paper, Nippon Paper and Mitsubishi Paper Mills with
an action at Tasmania’s Triabunna port.....
GREENPEACE
MEDIA RELEASE...
|
Forest land quiz
15 February 2004
FORESTRY Tasmania has been given almost 100,000ha of Crown
land, says a Tasmanian who spent more than three years
investigating the matter. The land, once managed by the
Forestry Commission but owned by the Crown, was now owned
freehold by Forestry Tasmania. .... Documents gained by
Mr Hayward show $32 million of Crown land, valued by the
Valuer General, transferred to Forestry Tasmania. .....One
schedule of land parcels to go from the Crown to Forestry
Tasmania included more than 77,000ha -- 10 times the size
of the greater Hobart municipality. ..... Mr Hayward is
still waiting on a Freedom of Information request. Mr
Hayward said it remained a mystery what land Forestry
Tasmania surrendered.
"Why is it so simple to find out what the Crown gave
Forestry Tasmania but so complex and complicated to explain
what Forestry Tasmania gave the Crown?" Mr Hayward
said.....
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
|
Fighting to save rare cray
15 February 2004
DEEP in the bush on Tasmania's North-West Coast, Paul Clark
is waging a one-man war. Mr Clark is battling to stop Forestry
Tasmania clearfelling state forest around the headwaters
of the Duck River. "It should not happen, this is prime
habitat for threatened species. It's plain as the eye can
see," Mr Clark said.....
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
MORE
ON THE GIANT CRAY.... |
The Derwent: 200 years of destruction
15 February 2004
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN... |
"LORDS OF THE FORESTS" (4
Corners media release)
FOUR CORNERS on ABC TV - 8.30 pm MONDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2004
In the slashing blades of the woodchipper, it takes just
seconds to reduce a 500-year old forest giant into a small
hill of chips.
Up to 90 per cent of the hardwood trees taken from Tasmania's
forests - myrtle, blackwood, sassafras and huon pine, some
of them old even before white men first came - end up as
woodchips destined for Japanese pulp mills.
Only a minority of these sought after timbers are cut into
sawlogs and made into higher value furniture, flooring or
building materials.
Other, smaller trees that get in the way of clearfelling
operations are left on the forest floor to be burnt.
Native animals tempted by newly planted seedlings are poisoned
with 1080-laced carrots. By this time the cycle is nearly
complete; the forest is replanted with native trees, or
it may be turned into a single species plantation with,
as one scientist put it, "all the biodiversity of a
car park".
If this seems a strange way to treat a national forest treasure,
consider this: your super contributions may be funding it.
At the heart of these practices is Gunns Limited, a billion
dollar company which now dominates Tasmania's forest industry
and cuts an imposing figure on the nation's stock market.
Gunns' share price - driven by soaring profits fuelled by
woodchips - has surged 900 per cent in just five years.
Underpinning Gunns' prosperity is a unique political alliance
which ensures that Tasmania remains the only state to clearfell
native forest. Gunns is the prize client and close partner
of the government's forestry arm, Forestry Tasmania.
Forestry Tasmania dismisses claims that it is selling public
assets - timber - on the cheap. But then there is not a
lot of criticism for Forestry Tasmania to deal with...
The main political parties are in lock-step on the aggressive
forestry policy. People who do question it are labelled
anti-jobs. Reliable information - how many trees are cut,
where, for how much - is shrouded by a lack of accountability
and a raft of secrecy provisions.
In this analysis of an extraordinary company and the culture
which nurtures it, reporter Ticky Fullerton puts the hard
questions to the small group of men who run Tasmania's forests
- such as Gunns' boss John Gay, Forestry Tasmania chief
Evan Rolley and Deputy Premier Paul Lennon...
"Lords of the Forests" - Four Corners, 8.30
pm Monday February 16, ABC TV (repeated 1 pm Tuesday).
FOUR
CORNERS - LORDS OF THE FORESTS
============
Join the live forum after the program airs, on Monday 16
February at 9.30pm AEST.
Reporter Ticky Fullerton and special guests will be online
to answer your questions and discuss the issues raised in
the program.
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END
OF FEBRUARY 2004 - PART 1
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TO
FEBRUARY 2004 - PART 2
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HERE
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