THE illegal logging of trees in an informal reserve in the Wielangta State Forest presents a unique challenge to Resource Minister Bryan Green on his upcoming trip to Japan.
Charged with convincing the Japanese all is well with logging in Tasmania, Mr Green must explain the ongoing failures of the most basic regulatory systems and lack of industry control that enables repeated assaults on protected areas to occur.
This latest failure comes after the well documented death of El Grande, Australia’s largest tree, at the hands of Forestry Tasmania. On top of this, damning evidence by ex-forest practices officer Bill Manning, repeated toxic scares in domestic waterways and numerous alleged breaches of the forest practices code have all but obliterated public confidence in industry process.
Despite being in the spotlight of the Federal Court, industry mismanagement and lack of control have seen this blunder occur. The significance of this forest as habitat for threatened species is currently before the courts. Even with this intense scrutiny, we still see Forestry Tasmania oversee a major bungle that highlights the serious need for industry restructure and overhaul.
Logging an area that is outside the approved plan and inside a protected area highlights the inability of the industry to abide by their own minimalist legal obligations, let alone their environmental obligations.
The predictable Government and industry mantra of our forests being the ‘best managed in the world’ and current logging practices as ‘sustainable’ is wearing thin on the Tasmanian Community and clearly not convincing the Japanese.
Mr Green would be better saving his breath, saving taxpayer money and concentrating his time on reshaping the timber industry into something that is both environmentally and socially acceptable.
Pledged on the signing of the Supplementary RFA, the Government and industry currently have $250 million to fast track an industry transition into using existing plantation and regrowth based resources. $90 million of this is from Mr Green’s own government.
This is more than enough to fund the change that is needed and protect the forests the community has identified. What we need is political and industry action — not more errors, excuses and ongoing denial.
Vica Bayley is The Wilderness Society Tasmanian Forest Campaigner
www.wilderness.org.au
