| 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...
|
|
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... |
Bush's case against Greenpeace dismissed
The Bush administration's case against Greenpeace
has been thrown out of court after the US government provided
insufficient evidence to the court. The prosecution was
widely criticised as an attempt to silence Greenpeace. Former
US vice-president Al Gore called the case "highly disturbing"
and Senator Patrick Leahy warned that a successful prosecution
would "have a chilling effect on free speech and activism
of all kinds."..... The best they could come up with
was an obscure 1872 law against "sailor mongering".....
A
FREEDOM OF SPEECH VICTORY... |
| FOREST VANDAL
TO BECOME TOURISM OPERATOR...? |
Entally House 'payback' seen
26 May 2004
......The State Government will now seek an alternative
arrangement, with timber company Gunns
Ltd [Australia's Biggest Destroyer of Native Forests]
having already expressed an interest in using the
property for a wine centre........
HOBART
MERCURY...
......"I'm going to invite expressions of interest
and I would hope that Gunns
might put their hand up and any other person
that would (be interested would also apply)......
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER.... |
|
The Launceston Water Catchment Group -
Last Chance Tours
The Launceston Water Catchment Group, would like to extend
an invite to anyone interested in coming up and sharing
a special piece of Tassie's renowned Rainforest, or to those
who maybe interested in seeing where Launceston's water
supply originates.
Last Chance Tours present:
Launceston's Water Catchments and Rainforest Tour. See pure
Rainforest 40 mins from town. Wedgetail Eagle habitat, Moss
and Manferns, Myrtle and giant Gum trees (but you've got
to be quick) Tour Launceston's Upper catchments and
get ready for the surprise of your life! It has to be seen,
to be believed...
• When? Sunday May 30th, 10-45am.
• Departure at 11am sharp
• Where? Carpool outside E-Fresh café‚ 178 Charles
St
• What to bring? Proper Shoes, waterproof jacket, camera,
picnic lunch, thermos and friends!
• Everybody welcome.
For further info contact - 03 6390 6222 |
| WILDLIFE
CARE TASMANIA STYLE - MORE OF WHAT
THE TOURIST DOESN'T SEE |
Plea for wildlife care
Sunday 23 May 2004
THE thylacine was loved too late, says Tasmanian artist
Jane Burrell. It is time to care for the unique wildlife
that still roams the island. "Everybody loves
the tiger now, but it's too late," Mrs Burrell
said. "When the thylacine was alive it wasn't
a terribly popular animal in zoos, it didn't draw
the visitors. "The thylacine was a victim of
not being loved when it was alive." Mrs Burrell
was responding to a survey done for the Tasmanian
Conservation Trust which showed many Tasmanians do
not know the wildlife with which they share the island.
Only 3 per cent recognised the bettong and about one
in 10 knew a potoroo. The survey raised concerns that
while Tasmanians did not know their own animals they
could not properly care for them. ...... "Time
is running out, with so many of our native forests
and natural landscapes continually being changed and
fragmented."
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN... |
Endangered list time
for devils, says Brown
22 May 2004
THE Tasmanian devil should be listed as an endangered
species before it goes the way of the thylacine, Greens
leader Bob Brown said yesterday. As a cancerous disease
continued to decimate Tasmanian devil populations
around the state, Senator Brown called on both the
federal and state Environment Ministers to declare
how close they are to having the devil placed on the
Endangered Species list. "There are serious moves
within scientific circles to have devils listed as
endangered with extinction," Senator Brown said.
"The listing is there to help protect and prevent
extinction occurring, so early action is required.
"What worries me is, as with the (Tasmanian)
tiger, they may decide to list it after it's too late."
....... "We have lost the thylacine, it would
be an indictment on us all if we were to lose the
Tasmanian devil as well."
HOBART
MERCURY...
|
|
Brown pushes to list
devils as threatened
There is a renewed call for the Tasmanian devil to
be nominated as a threatened species. Research is
continuing to determine the cause of the cancer-like
disease that has wiped out
up to 85 per cent of devil populations in some areas.
ABC
ONLINE... |
• The
Tasmanian Devil Goes Through Hell
• PLANET
ARK: Extinction – the Lesson of the Tasmanian
Tiger & The Effects of 1080 Poison on Animals
|
"What happens
every year to a lot of Tasmanian Wildlife, outside
National Parks"
"In plantation regions, the Tasmanian forestry
planning system sets aside Wildlife Habitat Corridors,
these are some 80 to 100 metres wide stips in the
landscape still stocked as native forest. However,
with every rotation of clearfell, there comes also
death in various forms ... At this time of year, in
the planting season, plantation workers on 4 weel
motorbikes provide directly along the edge of the
clearfelled coupe, thus directly on the side of these
wildlife habitat strips spaced every 10 metres or
so, little mounts of fresh, dices and cinnamon dipped
carrots as free feeding. This is for the first 5 to
10 days or so, but then the blue carrots come as 1080
poison. Wallabies, Possums, Wombats and other vegetable
eaters get lured practically still sitting on the
edge of the habitat corridor. With the death come
canavourus meat eaters, feeding on the carcasses are
Crows and Ravens, Quolls and Devils, ... The use of
poison is not target specific, but very open to disaster.
Also who supervises the poisoned coupe after the workers
have left the site?
I fear, that it's only a matter of time until ...
!
A very, very blunt tool !
Time for real change."
Frank Strie - Forester, 15 May 2004 |
State `spends too little
to get funds'
Sunday 23 May 2004
TASMANIA is set to lose $18 million in environment
funding from the Federal Government after failing
to allocate enough matching funds in Thursday's State
Budget, Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said
yesterday.......
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER... |
|
Customer weaned off old-growth woodchips
By Amanda Hodge, Environment writer
May 19, 2004
TASMANIAN forest campaigners yesterday claimed a victory
in the battle to preserve the state's old-growth forests
after a Japanese woodchip buyer promised to switch to plantation
timber pulp in the future. Mitsubishi Corporation foreshadowed
the move in a letter to Greenpeace in which environmental
manager Minoru Akita said the company wanted it to be clearly
understood that "we do not condone unsustainable logging
from old-growth or high-conservation forests in Tasmania".
"Consistent with our existing contractual obligations,
Mitsubishi Corporation will make a transition to woodchips
sourced from plantations and second-growth forests as soon
as possible," Mr Akita said......
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
Japan's chip at Tassie logging
By HEATHER LOW CHOY
A JAPANESE company that imports 400,000 tonnes of Tasmanian
woodchips every year yesterday condemned old-growth logging
in Tasmania. Mitsubishi Corporation, which has traded with
Gunns Ltd for 30 years, pledged to "make a transition
to woodchips sourced from plantations and second-growth
forests as soon as possible". Responding to a letter
from Greenpeace Japan and The Wilderness Society, Mitsubishi
Corporation stated: "We want it to be clearly understood
that we do not condone unsustainable logging from old-growth
or high conservation value forests in Tasmania.".......
NEWS.COM.AU....
|
TASMANIA bid to root out forest 'vandals'
May 12, 2004 - CHRISTINA CRAN IN TASMANIA
TASMANIA prides itself on a clean, green image. More than
1.3 million visitors travel to Australia’s island state
each year to see its rugged landscape and indulge in its
famed outdoor pursuits. Yet the island’s idyllic, eco-friendly
image has been shattered in a bitter environmental controversy,
which has caused a major political row in Australia, and
even led to calls for UK tourists to boycott Tasmania. The
source of the dispute are some of the world’s largest
and oldest hardwood trees, Eucalyptus regnans, which grow
in the forests of the island. Many of them are more than
400 years old, yet huge areas of pristine, old-growth forests
are being cleared by forestry companies, primarily for export
as woodchip to Japan. There are also complaints about the
use of 1080 poison to cull native wildlife. ....... More
than 30,000 UK tourists visit this environment every year
- but they are being asked to re-consider in the light of
the felling policy. In a motion to the House of Commons,
the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, Norman
Baker, urged visitors to think again - until the state halts
clear felling and the use of 1080 poison. ....... Yet tourists
already touched by Tasmania’s beauty have been left
unsure whether to urge others to go or to stay away. Sam
Proctor, 29, from Helensburgh, Scotland, who travelled through
Tasmania recently, said he was torn over the calls for a
boycott. "It is a place of immense beauty, with its
stunning mountains, great walking and fabulous tall trees
- but it is heart-breaking to see them strapped to the back
of lorries as they whiz past you on the roads.
THE
SCOTSMAN - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
MORE VICTIMS OF
VANDALISM
Hi folks,
Last week we had 7 days and nights of incessant
smoke from forestry burnoffs to the West of our
valley. If a rainstorm had not prevailed on Saturday
the smoke would have continued to choke tens of
thousands of human inhabitants (not to mention the
many other land dwellers). But the rains heralded
enormous siltation problems in the Inglis River
(down in the valley about 700 metres from our dwelling
and a major water source for the North West of Tasmania).
We drove up through the devasted valleys to the
West to try and locate the source of the contamination
in the river. It wasn't long before we discovered
the recently clearfelled coupes of yet more virgin
rainforest.
Pictures are attached. The clearfelled rainforest
Myrtle, Sassafras, Blackwood and other species were
still smouldering from the recent burns. Such an
affront to be choking on the last remnant of the
primeval forest we have now lost forever.
Brenda J Rosser
Spokesperson - Waratah Wynyard Residents Against
Chemical Trespass
Member - Tas Clean Water Network
923 West Calder Road, WYNYARD TAS 7325 |
|
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|
Stand up for Tasmania's Forests on World
Environment Day 2004
The Wilderness Society is asking people around the country
to put the weekend of 5-6 June
aside to raise their voices for Tasmania’s ancient
forests. Major events will be held in capital cities across
Australia. Put the dates in your diary now and PLEASE make
it a priority. A big show of concern at this time is essential
for letting politicians know that the people of Australia
do not want to lose their ancient forests and native wildlife.
Please make your voice count.
MORE...
||||| DONATE... |
Out of mind and
out of existence - By SIMON BEVILACQUA
9 May 2004
MOST Tasmanians would not recognise a bettong if they fell
over one. And most find it hard to identify a bandicoot.
That is the disturbing finding of a survey which asked Tasmanians
to identify the animals with which we share the island.
Naturalists and experts fear the shock survey results do
not bode well for the survival of Tasmania's unique fauna.
Only 3 per cent of Tasmanians surveyed could identify a
bettong. Only 11 per cent could pick a bandicoot. And only
6 per cent knew what a potoroo was. ....... "The results
are horrendous," said Threatened Species Network manager
Peter McGlone. "It doesn't inspire confidence in our
ability to protect and care for these animals." Mr
McGlone said Tasmanians had a responsibility to the world
to ensure these animals survived. "Many people don't
seem to understand that the island is a vital refuge for
a number of species," he said. Mr McGlone said Tasmania
was refuge to many animals which were extinct or threatened
interstate. .......... "We have a responsibility to
look after these species for the world," Mr McGlone
said. ........ In the space of 18 months a devastating cancer
has thrown the continued existence of the devil into doubt
and made some experts re-assess their views. ..........
The devil cancer can grow from a small tumour to a horrendous
deformity in the space of six weeks and death in a matter
of months. ...... Acclaimed wildlife documentary filmmaker
David Parer says the fate of the devil is a lesson to be
learned. ....... "People recognise Tasmania is a unique
area in the world with some of the most early evolved habitat
systems," Mr Parer said. "It is a gem on the earth."
Mr Parer said habitat destruction was the most crucial element
in species decline. "The destruction
of Tasmanian forests for forestry is dreadful," Mr
Parer said. "It's been destroyed at an incredible rate,
it's just unbelievable given what we know about the impact
of the destruction of habitat. "Native forest is being
replaced with plantations, 1080 poison is used on the native
wildlife, herbicides are used, waterways are wrecked."
Mr Parer said many Tasmanians were too familiar with their
environment and did not realise how unique it was in a global
context. "People grow up with it and many haven't travelled
to see what the rest of the world looks like," Mr Parer
said. ........ Dr Jones said there was not enough education
about the island's wildlife. She said most Tasmanian children
were aware of European and American animals like foxes,
skunks, wolves and badgers but few knew their state's own
animals.........
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
Death of fairy penguins prompts call for
larger fines [than $100]
......Conservation Trust director Michael Lynch says the
fine is "stupid" and indicates
that Tasmanians do not care about the state's native fauna.
"I would have thought that, bearing in mind what it
means to have native wildlife that close to our city and
what it means for Tasmania's image and what it means for
our economy and our tourism and all of those sorts of things,
that fines of many, many thousands of dollars would need
to be put in place to make sure that people to get the message,"
he said. "That you don't just let your dogs run around
the countryside killing native animals."
ABC
NEWS ONLINE... |
| GUNNS
Ltd, THE FIRST FINALIST TO BE KICKED OUT OF AWARDS
IN 15 YEARS |
Logger chopped from awards
May 07, 2004
THE country's most prestigious environment awards
[Banksia
Environmental Foundation] have dumped controversial
Tasmanian logging company Gunns
from its list of finalists after an independent audit
panel vetoed its nomination just days before the winner
was to be decided. ...... The Australian understands
it relates partly to Gunns's practice of laying bait
on freshly cleared logging coupes to kill native animals
that may feed on plantation seedlings. Ms van Egmond
conceded the office had been swamped with complaints
over Gunns's shortlisting and information detailing
logging practices that many environmentalists regarded
as unsound. Among the information supplied was a transcript
of a televised interview with Gunns
chief executive John Gay who claimed it was an acceptable
practice to poison endangered native animals to prevent
them from eating new seedlings.
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
Enviro Award axe for Gunns: Forester
slams green lobbyists
Gunns
was the first finalist to
be kicked out in the awards' 15 years.....
Banksia
general manager Graz van Egmond said the foundation
had received a "mountain of material", some
from overseas. She said the information which led
to Gunns
being dumped was in the public domain. ....... "A
lot of interviews by John Gay, a lot of the statements
made by him were all assessed," she said. .......
Greens senator Bob Brown said: "It was John Gay's
own boast on Channel Nine that Gunns
poisons protected animals in Tasmanian forests which
revolted the award judges.".......
NEWS.COM.AU...
• HOBART
MERCURY...
Gunns angry over award expulsion
Tasmanian forest products company Gunns
Ltd is spitting chips after being dumped as a
finalist in the national Banksia
Environmental Foundation awards. Banksia originally
reported that Gunns
had been selected as a world leader in sustainable
forest management that was "environmentally sound,
economically viable and socially acceptable for all
communities". But Ms von Egmond said since the
publicity, they had been overwhelmed with submissions
against Gunns,
much supported by evidence. ..... However, Ms von
Egmond said that it was the first time a finalist
had been removed from the running...... Australian
Greens Senator Bob Brown said that the judges had
been revolted when Mr Gay told Channel 9's Sunday
programme that Gunns
poisoned native animals as part of its forestry practice......
THE
EXAMINER...
Green ire forces timber group out
of award
A backlash has forced a controversial Tasmanian timber
company out of the running for a national environment
award. The foundation said it had been swamped with
claims about Gunns
after the company was first named as a finalist. .......
"We thought that for the standing of the awards
we should put the information to an audit committee,"
said foundation general manager Graz van Egmond. She
said the responses had come not just from environment
groups. "We
had messages right across the board from all kinds
of people, and even internationally,"
she said.........
THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
• CHANNEL
NINE SUNDAY NATIONAL TELEVISION SHOW ON FORESTRY IN
TASMANIA...
• 9
PAGE CHANNEL NINE TRANSCRIPT OF FORESTRY TASMANIA
STYLE...
• FOUR
CORNERS - LORDS OF THE FORESTS - TRANSCRIPTS GALORE... |
|
A long way from Warooka
Tuesday, 4 May 2004
Greg Koennecke may be a 49 year-old mild-mannered engineer
but he has been moved to make a stand for old growth forests
in Tasmania. The former Warooka native, who learned to sail
at Port Vincent as a young man, on Sunday set off in his
7.4m (24 foot) craft, Anodyne, to single-handedly sail to
Hobart on a protest voyage against woodchipping old growth
forests. His trip will take him down the west coast of Tasmania
via the French Garden in Recherche
Bay, south of Hobart, which is under threat, along with
old growth forests in the Stix Valley and Tarkine wilderness.
"We should selectively log the best timber for high
value-added industries, such as furniture and boat building,
rather than clearfelling Tasmanian old growth forest for
low value woodchips", said Greg. "My wife (Wendy
Stothers) is active in the Greens but I have not been involved
in the past. I feel powerless and this is just a little
way of drawing attention to the issue. "This is arguably
a more serious threat to the environment than the Franklin
River dam, because it is so insidious. "People
on the mainland need to be made aware of what is at stake."
Greg says the Tasmanian Government gets only $10 per tonne
for woodchips while the value in his little yacht is around
$20,000 per tonne if you include not only the timber but
the work required, hence the protest sign "select
timber for boats, stop clearfelling for woodchips".......
YORK
PENINSULA COUNTRY TIMES with PICTURE... |
|
Blue Tier protesters expecting more to
be arrested
Tuesday, 4 May 2004
Anti-logging protesters in Tasmania's north-east say they
are expecting two more demonstrators who are blocking
logging trucks to be arrested today at the disputed Blue
Tier forest. A fortnight ago Forestry Tasmania declared
an exclusion zone over the area, forcing protesters who
had been camped in the forest to leave to allow logging
to start. Since then Leslie Nicklason from Friends of
the Blue Tier says nine people have been arrested, and
protesters have been staggering when they go into the
area to block the trucks. "A lot of people have offered
to come and get arrested but we're trying to make the
point that this is this community trying to hang onto
something that's very special to all of us," he said.
"We want to get the maximum benefit of having put
ourselves through the process of being arrested."
ABC
NORTHERN TASMANIA...
• SEE
WHAT'S HAPPENING AT WELD HILL in the BLUE TIER...
• BLUE
TIER - TREE FERNS WELD HILL - BIGGEST KNOWN TREE FERN
IN TASMANIA...
• BLUE
TIER - THE SIDELING MYRTLE FOREST DRIVE....GONE!! - from
TOURING TASMANIA...
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THEN
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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NOW
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Burn-off fire bombs fury
April 25, 2004
THE Wilderness Society says it has caught Forestry
Tasmania, on film for the first time, dropping napalm-type
incendiaries to burn off recently clearfelled trees
in the Styx Valley. Society spokesman Vica Bayley
said the dramatic film footage would show Australians
and the world a story that Forestry Tasmania has always
attempted to hide. ..... "The burn is in the
same forest that less than 12 months ago 5000 Tasmanians
marched to in an effort to save the Styx, " he
said. "Last year this was old-growth forest and
a rallying point for community concern. Today Forestry
Tasmania has turned it into a wasteland. The burn
was about 600m away from the world's
tallest Christmas tree and the World Heritage
Area."........
NEWS.COM.AU...
|
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A news gem from March 2004,
sent by Leon Russo to News Tasmania while the editor
was away.
|
|
"I DON'T
GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR OPINION", says
Dick Adams
Australian Labor Party MP, Federal House of Representatives
|
Dear Gordon,
Today [17 March 2004], I briefly spoke to Mr. Latham
(Federal Labor Leader Australia) at the Franklin Boatbuilding
school. I expressed the opinion to the Opposition
Leader that 'woodchipping is ruining our state's future
timber industry'. I handed the Leader a letter detailing
my concerns about this state's (I believe) dubious
record of forestry management. Immediately following
this cordial chat, Dick Adams chose to take issue
with this point of view and told me (in the company
of four print journos and a video camera operator)
'I don't give
a fuck about your opinion...'
|
|
Now, I have been wondering
for some time why Dick isn't, hasn't, and probably
won't be in the Shadow Ministry: (it appears) he doesn't
understand the basis of a democracy, i.e., one is
allowed to express a political opinion. Arguably,
even the village idiot would have some idea of this
constitutionally guaranteed privilege, but not, it
seems, an elected people's representative. Dick's
quasi-apoplectic spak attack left me wondering 'why
do these pro-woodchip heroes get so uptight when I
ask "why are our timber trees being woodchipped?"'
If this is not an issue, a normal human reaction would
be to laugh at the assertion. If it is an issue, why
the hell don't Tasmanian politicians remedy it rather
than going bananas at the merest squeak of dissent?
Don't want to upset the BIG company's profits do we?
Well, yes I do if it is going to cost future timber
jobs. And it is.
Leon Russo |
About Big Dick
.....Adams, known across his expansive, mostly rural
electorate as "Big Dick",
is a plain-speaking former meatworker and unionist
who won a seat in the Tasmanian parliament, became
a minister, lost his seat and became a milko. He stepped
up to federal parliament in 1993 by winning the seat
of Lyons. He nearly lost the seat in the federal Labor
wipe-out of 1996 but has clawed back the margin to
8.7%. Like his state Labor colleagues, Adams is pro-logging,
supports the export woodchip industry and hates the
Greens.....
THE
BULLETIN March 10, 2004
MORE...
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Google
On some committees the Mental Giant sits.
HERE...
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