|
13 March 2004 -
DUE TO FAMILY COMMITMENTS
NEWS UPDATES ARE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE (approx
35 days)
|
For
those that missed the Forests Rally + March in Hobart....
Simply Awesome!!! Wilderness Society says attendance in
excess of 10,000
Thousands in Tassie forest
rally
March 13, 2004
"OLD growth here to stay, woodchips go away"
was the chant that rang out in Hobart today as thousands
of people gathered to call for an end to clearfelling
in Tasmania's ancient forests...... "It's blown all
other rallies out of the water,".....
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
MORE
from LINDSAY TUFFIN at... TASMANIAN
TIMES
|
There goes the view
March 13, 2004
But it was the log trucks that stuck in their holiday memories.
...... "They have these big logs, and you just know
they are coming from old-growth forests," Herrick says."I
don't think I could take living there and seeing them every
day - knowing [the trees] are going mostly to woodchips."
....... "In Tasmania, you have your forests on wheels."
Tasmania sells itself as "The Natural State".
But the slogan hardly sits comfortably with the continuing
clearance of virgin forests and the poisoning of animals
that often accompanies it. ......... cronyism, corruption
and deception underlie the management of forests. ........In
2002 conservationists paid $20,000 for an advertisement
in the heart of Sydney's airport that depicted the Styx
Valley juxtaposed with a burnt, clearfelled forest. It said
"Discover Tasmania before 2003." It infuriated
the Tasmanian Government and tourism bodies, and Qantas
removed the billboard. ...... Only discovered in 2002, El
Grande was a eucalyptus regnans with a 19-metre circumference.
Last autumn it was killed when a regeneration burn went
wrong. ......... Celebrity Wendy Harmer was perplexed by
the log trucks when she took her children for a 10-day Tasmanian
tour. So she stopped and counted them travelling into Launceston.
There was one every four minutes. "And this is supposed
to be the Holiday Isle?" she asked in a letter to a
newspaper. "It was more like driving around a giant
industrial estate. It was enough to make you cry."
........ They also find it difficult to explain forest practices
to visitors: the logging trucks, the use of 1080 poison
(animals such as wallabies which eat growing plantations
are killed with laced carrots) and the "strange vistas
of single-species plantations", as the Tasmanian author
Richard Flanagan described them........
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD.....
Tasmania: seeing the wood but not the trees
Tasmania sells itself as "the natural state".
But there is a gap between rhetoric and reality as logging
of old-growth forests continues - to international dismay.
By Melissa Fyfe and Andrew Darby.
Much the same article as above, with
more pictures......
THE
MELBOURNE AGE... |
LAST STAND
March 10, 2004
The fate of Tasmania's old-growth forests loom as the slow-burn
issue for this year's federal election. In the 1983 poll,
Bob Hawke championed the saving of Tasmania's Franklin River.
Now Mark Latham may try for a repeat with the protection
of the Apple Island's forests. Bob Beale reports from the
depths of the Styx Valley. ..... The Bulletin approached
the general manager of Forestry Tasmania, Evan Rolley, three
times for interview, either in person or by telephone. He
was unable to find time for this.
LAST
STAND...
=========== AND
HOW GREEN IS THE LEADER
Bob Hawke set the precedent 20 years ago over the Franklin
dam. Now Mark Latham must choose between Tasmanian Labor
votes and Greens votes on the mainland, Paul Daley writes.......
HOW
GREEN IS THE LEADER... |
Latham set for his Styx fact-find tour
March 11, 2004
FEDERAL Opposition leader Mark Latham will set out on his
controversial tour of Tasmania's Styx Valley forest next
week. ..... The visit will be just days after a major forest
rally in Hobart. Thousands of conservationists are expected
to protest on Parliament House lawns on Saturday from 11.30am.
The rally will include a march through Hobart's streets,
and involve speakers such as ABC gardening identity Peter
Cundall, Labor MHR Duncan Kerr and Senator Brown. .....
"Now's the time for people concerned about our forests
to send Mr Latham a message he can't ignore by attending
Saturday's rally."
HOBART
MERCURY... | NEWS.COM.AU...
• MORE ON
THE RALLY... |
Woodchipping out of control
Kamala Emanuel & Alex Bainbridge
In 1995, massive opposition to export woodchipping poured
onto the streets of major cities in Australia. At the time,
at least 80% of Australians were opposed to woodchipping
in old-growth forests. Ten years later, despite campaign
successes in some areas, woodchipping continues to be rampant.
Tasmania has the dubious honour of being the woodchip capital
of Australia. More than five million tonnes of woodchips
are extracted from Tasmania every year more than the rest
of the country combined although the exact figures are kept
secret, ostensibly to protect the commercial interests of
woodchip giant Gunns Ltd......
GREEN
LEFT... |
Tasmania's Specialty Timber Industry -
A Blueprint for Future Sustainability
Neil Cremasco
The State is crying out for proper forest stewardship and
a constructive alternative to the nightmare that Forestry
Tasmania is forcing down our necks day by day. Timberworkers
for Forests and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust are presenting
a chance for us to look at some alternative forest management
to try and ensure long term ecological and social sustainability
of our forests. Graham Green from Timber Workers For Forests
will present the consultation draft 'Tasmania's Specialty
Timber Industry - A Blueprint for Future Sustainability'
Come along and be informed and have your say.
Huonville Town Hall, 40 Main Road, Huonville @ 7.00 - 9.00pm,
this Wednesday March 10th.
Have a look at the document on this website: http://www.twff.com.au/research.html
More info? Tas Conservation Trust 6234 3552 |
TASMANIA PLAYS
WITH
EARTH, FIRE, AIR & WATER
with GLOBAL WARMING CONSEQUENCES |
NEWS
FEATURE
|
|
Carbon Flux
- Rainforests under STRESS
because of declining rainfall, and producing carbon
dioxide instead of consuming it. Declining rainfall
is the result of Global Warming.
Thursday, 4 March 2004
Forests are often called ‘the lungs of the
world’ able to soak up carbon dioxide and produce
the oxygen we need to live. But now researchers
at the Australian Canopy Crane Research Facility
are finding worrying evidence that this forest has
begun to do the unthinkable. It’s started to
produce carbon dioxide. It’s a discovery that’s
unnerving biochemist Mike Liddell.
THE
FULL STORY & PICTURES...
|
|
|
Australian Green Party fast-climbing in
voter support
05 March 2004
CANBERRA: "It's the environment, stupid," says
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, as he explains why the
Greens have become Australia's fastest-growing political
party. ...... Brown, who became the first Green in an Australian
parliament when he was elected to Tasmania's state parliament
in 1983, said his party's growing popularity was due to
growing concerns about the environment and the need for
a party of conscience. "There is an enormous apprehension
about global warming, the bushfires in Canberra last year,
the recent drought and reports about coral bleaching on
the Great Barrier Reef," Brown said yesterday.
WORLD
NEWS... |
Kons mauled for jobless jibe
March 4, 2004
A MAN told by new Labor minister Steve Kons to "get
a job" said unemployed people had a right to feel snubbed.
Neil Cremasco already has a job, as a clinical nurse consultant.
He is also studying to be a doctor and is in his fourth
year of medicine at the University of Tasmania. Mr Kons,
the new Minister for Primary Industries and Water, copped
flak yesterday over an e-mail he sent Mr Cremasco. ......
"But unemployed people can be justifiably offended
because it can only be assumed that Mr Kons thinks unemployed
people should have no say in how their society runs. "No
matter what part of society people come from, they'll always
be heavily criticised if they dare to question Labor's third-world
forest policies."....
NEWS.COM.AU...
| HOBART
MERCURY...
'GET A JOB'
...."Do Mr Kons and Mr Lennon think that unemployed
people don't have the right to comment on society? "To
me this reflects very, very badly on Mr Kons' attitude to
people who question the Government and he completely devalues
unemployed people and their opinions." Later in the
day, Braddon Liberal MHA Brett
Whiteley suggested it was not the first time
Mr Kons had sent "ill-considered correspondence".
THE
ADVOCATE...
• NOTE on Liberal
MHA Brett Whiteley email to Gordon Craven
of Discover
Tasmania (6 November 2003);
Whiteley
(Shadow Minister for Police) said, in regards to an attempt
to gag and interfere with the freedom of speech and legal
rights of the publisher of the Discover
Tasmania websites; "I direct your attention
to section
70 of the Criminal Code which warns against hindering
a member of parliament from doing his / her job. I think
jail sentences apply."
====================
MORE ON THE KONS JOB BELOW...THE EMAILS... |
Forest industry in denial as opposition
grows
Alex Bainbridge, Hobart
Environmental activists are gearing up for a major forest
rally on March 13 as government and woodchip industry figures
clamour to respond to a growing credibility crisis. In particular,
industry representatives are denouncing as biased a critical
report on the ABC’s February 16 Four Corners program.
..... A national poll on January 28 revealed that 85% of
Australians favour an end to woodchipping in Tasmania’s
old-growth forests.....
GREEN
LEFT... |
Lobby groups get that eGiving feeling
- by Sue Cant
March 2, 2004
.......While e-commerce has proliferated in the business
world, the costs have been prohibitive for the not-for-profit
sector.,,,,, Friends of the Earth hopes to increase its
donations by between 10 and 20 per cent a month. It is one
of 14 not-for-profit groups, including Australians for Native
Title, to sign up with eGive. A not-for-profit service,
eGive is managed by the Earth Share Australia Foundation,
an ancillary fund for some of Australia's largest environmental
groups. It is an online contact management database and
has modules allowing any non-profit
organisation, no matter how small, to set up online with
e-commerce facilities, and online fund-raising and campaigns.
It is the brainchild of Earth Share Australia director Chris
Harris who wanted to address the lack of resources in the
environment movement. When a visitor to the Friends of the
Earth website logs on as a member they are clicking on a
link that automatically connects them to a database that
can be used for later campaigns.......
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
eGIVE
eGive is a non-profit service managed by the Earth Share
Australia Foundation. It provides a complete suite of at-cost
electronic services to non-profit organisations, allowing
the public to support those organisations simply and easily
over the internet by making donations, joining as members
or purchasing goods and services, as well as participating
in campaigns......
eGIVE...
Discover
Hosting via Tasmania
NON-PROFIT ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS - FREE / NO JUNK ADS
FULL CONTROL PANEL FACILITIES
FREE eCOMMERCE ALSO AVAILABLE
VIEW AT: HostingDemonstration.com |
DISCOVER TASMANIA IS HAVING ITS EMAILS
FORGED... AGAIN
THE EXAMPLE BELOW IS TO PAUL LENNON....
The original message was received at Tue, 2 Mar 2004 10:49:14
+1100 (EST)
from dsl-210-15-198-146.TAS.netspace.net.au [210.15.198.146]
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors
-----
<paul.lennon@parliament.tas.gov.au>
(reason: 550 Rejected by filter - an inappropriate word
was found in the message body)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
.. while talking to pz001.parliament.tas.gov.au.:
Rejected by filter - an inappropriate word was found in
the message body
From: sos@discover-tasmania.com
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 10:47:23 +1100
To: paul.lennon@parliament.tas.gov.au
Subject: denied!
classroom test of you?
-------------------------------------
Virus Warning Message (on the network)
Found virus WORM_NETSKY.C
in file details_ps.exe
The uncleanable file is deleted.
---------------------------------------------------------
Such emails cannot originate from Discover Tasmania as
we are not susceptible to such PC viruses and the email
address of Paul Lennon is not on our computers. |
DON'T FORGET THE MASSIVE
Tasmanian Forests Rally & March
• Protect our Ancient Forests
• End Export Woodchipping
• End 1080 Poisoning
Saturday 13 March 2004
11:30am Parliament House Lawns Hobart
Tasmania Australia
A National Issue
MORE
INFO HERE... |
Walk For Change 4 October 2003 |
|
Logging threatens new national parks listing
March 1, 2004
Forestry Tasmania has been accused of jeopardising the state's
eco-tourism industry by pursuing plans to clear-fell parts
of the Blue Tier forest, in the state's north-east. .....
ABC
ONLINE...
MORE ON BLUE TIER - Lennon Government
Moves To Pre-Emptive Strike On Blue Tier... |
The great Tassie land swap mystery
John Hayward - 01 March 2004
....This situation, complemented by another lavish
lurk, FT’s exemption from FOI legislation, could provide
FT with a hidden cash supply to disguise its ongoing debt
problems and chronically woeful economic performance. .....
The economic analyses of FT actuary Naomi Edwards and Graham
Green of Timberworkers for Forests, clearly reveal the government’s
intent to operate FT as a milch cow for the private sector
..... To summarise, FT has been given in freehold 97,108
ha of public land, mostly plantation, at an extremely low
valuation, vastly more freehold land than it possessed at
the time of the exchange. To date, the public still has
no evidence of anything being offered in compensation.
CRIKEY.COM.AU...
Forest land quiz (15 February 2004) SUNDAY
TASMANIAN... |
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... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
