Coroner & Legal
A Forestry roadmap. More on the Black Flag rally, tomorrow
Let’s start to lay out a possible roadmap. These are some of the things I would like to see in developing a new Tasmanian Forests Strategy:
The Integrity Commissioner is directed by the Premier to hold an open enquiry into events surrounding the passing of legislation to reduce the size of parliament, the fast tracking of the PMAA and the allocation of rights over native forests. Should evidence of misleading conduct by public officials in relation to any of these events emerge, the Commissioner may recommend the restoration of the Parliament, the forfeit of rights and the repeal of the PMAA. I do not expect criminal charges to be laid as a result of the enquiry, but there must be a reconciliation of the different versions of these events to provide the foundation for a new forests framework in which the public has confidence.
Parliament imposes a moratorium on further bail outs for the forestry industry and further harvesting in contested forestry coupes until the new Forestry Strategy is implemented.
Legislation to repeal the Forestry Act 1920 (requiring FT to supply 300,000 cubic metres of saw logs per annum to industry) is prepared. No fixed volume is legislated. Companion legislation is prepared to guarantee minimum rotation periods in public working native forests. The rotation periods will vary for different forest types and will be based on expert advice as to the time taken for any type of forest to reach maturity. The objectives of these two steps are to ensure that harvesting pressure on all Tasmanian forests is significantly diminished and a new mosaic of working, high conservation value, old-growth forests gradually spreads across Tasmania.
A new act governing the operation of Forestry Tasmania is prepared. FT ceases to be a GBE and is re-organised. Its commercial role in selling timber is taken away. It becomes the forests environmental manager and forests regeneration agency. One of its roles is to plan and advertise the coupes that will become available for harvesting on (say) a 20 year projection and to survey the approved access tracks.
An agency in Treasury is establish to call and manage tenders for the rights to harvest the coupes identified in FT’s projections. To participate in the tenders a company must pass a capability test. There is one tender for one harvest rotation in one coupe. Reserve prices are imposed. All funds raised in the tenders are held in an special purpose account for FT to execute its duties in the new Act. If the market cannot meet the reserve, then leave the coupe standing under FT environmental management.
It is the obligation of the company winning the tender to prepare the coupe management and harvesting plans and build approved access tracks to the legislated standards. FT is the supervising authority. Penalties apply for breach of tender conditions.
The Tasmanian Government negotiates with the Federal Government for the introduction of a managed investment scheme for Tasmanian native forests. The intention of the Native MIS is to allow for progressive commercial management and value adding of the coupe up to and during the time of harvest, including such activities as carbon conservation, pruning, thinning, fire risk abatement, weed control and innovation in harvesting and processing. A company that has won a tender to harvest a coupe may go to the market to raise funds under this MIS to support its management plan. It provides the opportunity for public investment in working biodiversity.
As stated earlier, FT has the responsibility for regeneration of harvested sites.
With these steps in place, a final map of perpetual reserves and working forests is approved by the Tasmanian Parliament. For the intention of this strategy to be achieved, significantly less area should be allocated to perpetual reserves than is currently under discussion.
With the working forests identified, seed funding may be provided to existing forestry contractors to leverage them into the new industry environment. The scope for development of a native forest residues pulp mill of appropriate scale remains.
This comment was first made as Comment 16 on this article, HERE
• RALLY AT PARLIAMENT – Support the “Pulp Mill Repeal Bill 2011”
DATE: Wednesday May the 25th
LOCATION: Parliament House, Hobart, Tasmania
TIME: 3:30pm
Rally at Parliament to support the Tasmanian Greens in repealing the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill’s Government approval. This rally will coincide with the introduction of the Greens “Pulp Mill Repeal Bill 2011” inside parliament.
This rally is being organised by a united front of key anti Pulp Mill groups.
There will be speakers on the Parliament Lawns, still to be confirmed, also large screens with a live feed of the debate inside parliament.
• The Tasmanian Greens will present the “Pulp Mill Repeal Bill 2011” for debate to provide all Members of the house of Assembly with the opportunity to vote to revoke the controversial Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 (the Act) which was rammed through the State Parliament by ex-Premier Paul Lennon.
The passing of the Act by the Labor and Liberal Parties in Tasmania was an aberration of our democracy as it gave a rubber stamp approval to the Gunns Ltd to build the pulp mill in the Tamar Valley. This rubber stamp came after it had been deemed ‘critically non-compliant’ by Tasmania’s independent and expert planning authority, the Resources Planning and Development Commission.
• For those who wish to enter the viewing gallery inside parliament, note that Parliament House requires visitors to listen to proceedings in silence, and have mobiles switched off. Disruptions in the public gallery while parliamentary debate is under-way can result in the public gallery being cleared, which can unfortunately deprive members of the community from being able to witness a debate that matters to them.
• TAP INTO A BETTER TASMANIA
MEDIA RELEASE May 24th 2011
BLACK FLAGGING OF PARLIAMENT
To coincide with the Tasmanian Greens repeal of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 on Wednesday May 25th 2011, TAP Into A Better Tasmania will surround the parliament with black flags.
“Of the original 21 members of the House of Assembly who so corrupted the institution of parliamentary democracy by doing the bidding of Gunns and ‘fast tracking’ the assessment of the Tamar Valley pulp mill in March 2007, only 9 remain”, said TAP spokesperson, Bob McMahon.
“It is fully expected that the new members of the Labor and Liberal parties in the House of Assembly, the ‘fresh blood’, will continue the disgraceful behaviour of their predecessors and favour the interests of one company ahead of the best interests of all Tasmanians.
“Continual and increasing conflict will therefore be the outcome.
“There will not be peace in Tasmania until parliamentarians comprehend the enormous damage done to the institution of parliamentary democracy and to social cohesion by the passing of the PMAA in March 2007.
“The merging of business and government has caused a great disruption in Tasmania. For at least 7 years Tasmania has been held back by the manic obsession of both the Labor and Liberal parties with facilitating a world scale pulp industry for Tasmania on behalf of one favoured company.
“The vision of turning Tasmania into the Borneo of the Southern Ocean has failed,” continued McMahon.
“Tasmanians have in mind a much better future than Labor and Liberal have been hell bent on delivering.
“My appeal to the ‘new blood’ in parliament is to ignore the puppet masters in your own parties and bring about a separation of business and government without which there cannot be a functioning democracy, and without which Tasmania’s social, economic and environmental future is in jeopardy,” concluded Bob McMahon.
There will be a direct telecast of parliamentary proceedings on widescreens set up outside parliament by Pulp The Mill.
Lucy Landon-Lane from PTM and Bob McMahon from TAP will address the Peoples Parliament gathered outside on the lawns and steps prior to the beginning of the debate inside the house.
• Nick Clark, Mercury: Woodchip ship in doubt
EMBATTLED timber company Gunns Ltd is yet to decide the future of a $20 million woodchip vessel it owns despite the likely end of exports from three Tasmanian ports.
The Orana called quietly at Long Reach in the Tamar River to load on Wednesday.
The ship could be critical to Gunns’ desire to transport 1.5 million tonnes of woodchips a year from Portland, Victoria, to Long Reach for a pulp mill.
However, the Orana has been listed for sale on a Thai shipbroking website since April.