Extremists, dangerous, illegal

Dr Frank Nicklason
In the Mercury in recent days (14/1 and 11/1) there have been commentaries and reports regarding the Upper Florentine forest activists. The activists have been characterised as “extremists” and their actions as dangerous and illegal.

But what if there was a law that obliged those ultimately responsible for managing public assets, such as the state forests, to look after those resources in exactly the best interests of all Tasmanians at all times. This would necessarily involve carefully balancing of commercial, conservation and community values and issues by independent authorities, openly and fully accountably for all Tasmanians.
Dear Editor

In the Mercury in recent days (14/1 and 11/1) there have been commentaries and reports regarding the Upper Florentine forest activists. The activists have been characterised as “extremists” and their actions as dangerous and illegal.

But what if there was a law that obliged those ultimately responsible for managing public assets, such as the state forests, to look after those resources in exactly the best interests of all Tasmanians at all times. This would necessarily involve carefully balancing of commercial, conservation and community values and issues by independent authorities, openly and fully accountably for all Tasmanians.

If such a legal and regulation system operated then the situation in which we find ourselves today, with a timber industry driven by industrial scale woodchipping and conversion of biodiverse native forest to eucalypt regrowth and plantations, would be much less likely to occur. If it did occur we would regard the actions of those individuals prepared to stand up against it as heroic rather than problematic.

Frank Nicklason
West Hobart