Comments
Thank you John for your succinct scrutiny.
If only there was a decent 4th estate doing its job here in Tasmania.
Posted by Luke Vanzino on 26/06/09 at 10:57 PMBeing well connected to the world up North, there is only one option for these Pretender businesses to stay in longer and longer, get more funding, new international sponsors for more of the same.
It is somewhat sad actually, considering the price and suffering going on due to the pretenders and the spin and gloss.
Responsible Forest and Catchment management needs a social license, be environmentally sensible and economically / technically good practice. The fact that broad acre monoculture tree cropping is even technically unsustainable, it is fundamentally wrong too convert mixed ecosystems like forests to over simplistic business models.
The outlook: stuffed!
The chance: very very very late to change direction for FEA, they are n deep, they got away for a while with snatching the pine logs from Scottsdale to Bell Bay, but at what price and for what quality of logs?
The user / consumer pays - that is the bottom line, in the outlook for FEA no http://www.fsc.org certification means a lower market access.
Like it or not, we all can find out how good - or otherwise the ISO 14001 and AFS-PEFC is being demonstrated by the industry, the proof may not be in the pudding but can be seen via Google Earth by putting in Mathinna Tasmania in the search bar and zoom in on the brown looking spots that is the water catchment for the Sout Esk region and parts of Launceston City…
Just like that. One can chose to just look away but that will not fix a fundamental, essential, vital problem.
The time will catch up with us all.
The proof / test result of our doing comes in over time, be at as parents, partners in marriage or professional actors. MIS and monocultures and nasty Private Timber Reserve systems Tassie style are fundamentally unsustainable as they depend on constant high energy / $ input, be this in form of fertilizer, chemical spray, outside subsidy of the Pyramid scheme or propaganda advertising in the local, national and international market place.
Working with nature and with community support is a lot easier than spending heaps of dollars in glossy propaganda on Radio, TV or print media.
Denial may give a limited relaxed feeling for the responsible people in the very short term, however the time is a good judge of sustainability.
Andrew White is like a captain on the famous ship, steaming ahead with a big white thing coming up close… You may get what I mean, John Gay is not far from this point either… get the boats ready, the water will be fairly cold, the fog thick and the whistles can only do so much.
That reminds me of the safety instruction and demonstrations whenever I fly from Launceston to other destinations, that little whistle attached to the lifejacket, that little whistle on the string to get the attention just in case the flight is coming to end in the sea…that will do for now.
Interesting times before us all, interesting for everyone, whoever you may be and where ever you are, GIA has us all for good.Posted by Factfinder on 27/06/09 at 02:03 AMAndrew, Share holders, trusting Investors, you may like to going and mailorder a LIFE JACKET WHISTLE
S.O.L.A.S. approved. Tough plastic, orange colour, for use with life jackets, life rings and survival suits.Reference 55-031N
Code no. 70305164
http://www.entship.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=655
Be quick, they may take a few days to be delivered to your office.Posted by Factfinder on 27/06/09 at 02:23 AMOh Andrew, just in case the other link does not work, here a second option, as I said, just incase:
LIFE JACKET WHISTLE with clip, 1 per Card,
Manufacturer: SEA DOG CORPORATIONPart #: SDG5712601
Our Price: $ 2.14
Shipping Weight: 0.05lbs
Enter your zip code for a quick estimate of Shipping: http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/SDG/SDG5712601.html
————————
Or just in case you strike the winter fog this time of year, you could use this link:
http://rainboat.com/pdfs/Horns.pdf
You can get a “afi mini compact single horn”
Totally sealed sound unit. Type 304 stainless steel cover, diaphragm and mounting bracket.
3” L X 3-1/4” W X 1-3/4” H. Original AFI design, and the most popular compact marine horn
worldwide. Inexpensive and will mount almost anywhere.
or how about this one:
“falcon push button jr signal horn”
100% safe for the ozone and non-flammable. Compact, easy to store, versatile, compatible
with all Falcon Push-Button signal horn refills. Hand tested, blue, and high impact plastic.
Guaranteed unbreakable. Up to one mile range.I can still remember the chat we had in your office Andrew, I realise this is now years ago, about the famous ship and the iceberg and the people in the technical know how getting ignored in time ...
I remember suggesting that there was a real need to alter the direction “the ship” was going, by a great deal in fact… You know what I mean, don’t you.Posted by Factfinder on 27/06/09 at 02:43 AMI posted the following on another thread but as this one is now current, here it is again.
During this week the next phase of Timbercorp’s liquidation started to materialize. Align Funds Management proposed a $50m plan to save Timbercorp’s 2001-05 almond projects. It is watching the insolvency procedures in the Victorian Supreme Court with an unusually great deal of interest. Funny name that – Align.
A bit of history to Align Funds Management. Ownership resides with the Smorgon and Baillieu families in Victoria. Timbercorp directors were , of course, closely linked to the Victorian Racing Club. Ted Baillieu was a hardly done by ex-Victorian Liberal Party leader but enough of the personalities. Align occupied the same office building in Melbourne as Timbercorp. Until the deckchairs were recently shuffled, there were also aligned directorships.
Most people realise Timbercorp investors own the trees but not the land. Further, Mark Korda the insolvency trustee describes the structure as nearly impossible to unwind and hopelessly insolvent. So why is Align interested in the almonds? Align owns about 30% of the land on which the almonds grow and the water rights. If the investors out there are wondering where their capital has been invested into assets, I would suggest the Timbercorp balance sheet is the wrong place to look.
Align certainly has the investors’ nuts.
Posted by Mark on 27/06/09 at 08:22 AMThe major problem with water safety in Tasmania is the lack of protection of drinking water catchments. The other problem is the loss of potentially food producing land to forestry.
The acreage of forestry plantations has increased significantly in Break O’Day (and many other) catchments in the last 10 years. Forestry companies such as Gunns and FEA do not and are not required to inform water bodies or other water users, which pesticides they are using on any specific plantation site. They say that they use only a small number of pesticides which can be found in publically available documentation such as the APVMA website.
These databases are not complete and research permits given by the APVMA allow the use of some pesticides which cannot be identified other than after an accidental spill because research permits are ‘commercial-in-confidence’. These companies comply with the Forest Practices Code (FPC). The Good Neighbour Charter does not extend to information regarding the use of specific pesticides being shared with water users.
The plantation establishment at Seaview caused a public outcry in 1994 because of water contamination from simazine. The BODC and the public subsequently asked at that time for aerial spraying of pesticides to cease.
Gunns will soon harvest by clearfell and re-establish the Seaview plantation (George River catchment). They have stated that they will use pesticides but will not produce a spray plan stating that this is an in-house document and does not come under the Forest Practice Plan already detailed for Seaview. They have also declined to name any pesticides that may be used, except to their immediate neighbours at the time immediately prior to aerial application as per the Forest Practice Code.
Gunns has now informed BODCRG ( 25-2-09 meeting with Jim Wilson, NE Plantations) that there is no actual site – plantation - monitoring by Gunns after pesticide use and that Gunns relies on DPIW monitoring to undertake their compliance monitoring.
In the UK, a High Court ruling issued on 14 Nov 2008 from Mr. Justice Collins, stated that the UK Government has been acting unlawfully in its policy and approach in relation to the use of pesticides in crop spraying and that the risk to the general public, drinking water and the environment from pesticide spray events was unacceptable.
The conditions here regarding pesticide use are worse than they are in the UK.The Department of Public Health is ultimately responsible for drinking water safety. As they rely on DPIW pesticide monitoring, are they really comfortable with this level of risk for their consumers? Are we as consumers comfortable and accepting of this approach?
Unless action is taken at all levels of Government to modify the actions ‘removing all impediments to forestry’ then these types of practice continue. Agriculture may not be regulated more health consciously as the contrast with forestry would be even more apparent. Who takes on the potential risk for large health costs to the people and the environment of Tasmania?
Water safety and security, food quality and cost and the need to decrease ourselves from unwanted pesticide exposures are only part of the problem, but they affect us all. MIS schemes simply exacerbate these problems; who has the reins?
Dr Alison Bleaney
Posted by Alison Bleaney on 27/06/09 at 02:43 PMI know this thread is about FEA but could there possibly be any more wriggle room for Gunns could they delay announcing a JVP any further past next Tuesday 30/6?
Posted by David Mohr on 27/06/09 at 05:37 PM
