State News - November 2006
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21/11/06 Victorian election: Environment groups release policy score card; Media Release ACF < TWS< FOE< EV< VNPA< GREENPEACE
20/11/06 Liberals pledge on native timber Philip Hopkins, The Age, Business
18/11/06 Labor pledges new national parks in Vic AAP
18/11/06 Pledge to protect forests; Peter Ker and Liz Minchin, The Age
17/11/06 Green groups welcome forestry announcement but more should have been done Victorian Forest Alliance
Date: 21-Nov-2006
Leading environment groups today released their assessment of the main political parties’ policy commitments on the environment in the lead up to the November 25 poll.
The score card measures the parties on three key tests – Tackle Climate Change , Protect Forests and Biodiversity and Secure Water and Healthy Rivers.
"The score card shows the major parties are well behind the Greens and People Power on environment policy. Overall, the Greens had the best suite of environmental commitments, followed by People Power, then the ALP, then the Liberals," said Cam Walker, Campaign Director, Friends of the Earth.
"The ALP is ahead of the Liberals on climate policy but Labor’s failure to develop mid term 2020 targets for greenhouse pollution reductions means it did not receive full marks. Clearly both major parties are struggling to develop a policy response to adequately address the climate change challenge," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Mark Wakeham.
"On old growth forests, the Liberals and the ALP have made similar modest commitments to protect old growth forests and completely ignored the problems caused by logging in water catchments," said Gavin McFadzean, Campaign Manager of The Wilderness Society.
"The ALP scores well for its commitments to protect the Cobboboonee and Redgum forests," said Charlie Sherwin Director of the Victorian National Parks Association.
"The ALP gets full points for its water saving targets, while the Liberals scored poorly with no targets to reduce water use and for placing most of its policy emphasis on environmentally destructive dams and desalination," said Marcus Godinho, Executive Director from Environment Victoria.
"For parties keen to show they are serious about securing water supplies both Labor and Liberal parties have failed to address the issue of logging in water catchments, which can reduce water yield by up to 20,000 million litres per year," Matt Ruchel said.
The National Party and Family First scored poorly across all categories. A detailed assessment can be viewed here.
Philip Hopkins, The Age, Business
November 20, 2006
THE Liberal Party has guaranteed to provide Victoria's timber industry its full official native forest allocation and will push for access to native timber on private land.
The party has also pledged to protect more old growth forest in East Gippsland, and encourage the planting of high-quality sawlogs and firewood plantations on private land.
The Shadow Minister for Forestry, David Koch, releasing the party's policy, said the Bracks Government was not providing the industry with the 576,000 cubic metres of native timber promised under its Our Forest Our Future policy.
"The industry needs access to at least 540,000 cubic metres a year to remain viable, yet this year only 450,000 cubic metres will be made available," he said.
The Liberals would guarantee the 576,000 cubic metres under a 30-year sustainable industry strategy, including long-term contracts for timber allocation, he said.
Mr Koch said Labor had no plan to use the 350,000 hectares of native forest on private land in eastern Victoria. Up to half of this could be made available as a sustainable resource for hardwood sawlog production, he said.
Other specifics of the Liberal policy are to:
■Protect a further 10,000 cubic metres of timber, including Goolengook and state forests in East Gippsland, and link the Errinundra, Snowy and Alpine national parks.
■Encourage the procurement of Victorian timbers for use where possible on state projects.
■Protect forest workers against unlawful activities in forests by enforcing the law.
■Review VicForests' policy that created windfall returns from the first auctions.
The chief executive of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries, Trish Caswell, said the Liberals' commitment to timber supply would provide the security industry needed to plan and invest. She said it was crucial the Labor and Liberal parties adhered to their commitments of "no net loss" of resource.
The Labor Government has pledged to protect more old-growth forest in East Gippsland and expand national parks in the area, but has promised no net loss of resource and no job losses. AAP
November 17, 2006 - 1:49PM AAP
Victorian Labor would create new national parks and move to end logging in old growth forests in the state's east if re-elected in the November 25 poll.
Premier Steve Bracks released Labor's timber policy on Friday with a pledge to protect the last significant stands of old growth forest available for logging in East Gippsland.
The pledge includes the Goolengook Block, the site of much protest against logging in recent years, and will add more than 33,000 hectares to protected forest areas.
As well, Labor plans to create a Great Alpine National Park by adding 5,000 hectares of state forest, currently able to be logged, to existing national parks in the state's high country.
Two new national parks - Cobboboonee near Portland on the state's south-west coast and a Red Gum national park in the state's north - would be created under Friday's announcement.
But Mr Bracks said the initiatives would not threaten the timber industry, which would get access instead to forest that had regenerated after fire or previous logging.
"While protecting significant parcels of land, our policy will result in no job losses and will provide significant assistance in building the timber industry for the future," he said.
The package includes $25 million to hire more park rangers and more than $4 million in support measures for timber workers.
Peter Ker and Liz Minchin, The Age
November 18, 2006
LABOR would prematurely dismiss an investigation it launched and immediately protect a parcel of Victoria's old-growth forest if re-elected next week.
In a move labelled cowardly by timber industry supporters, Premier Steve Bracks travelled to the far west of Victoria yesterday to announce plans to protect more than 33,000 hectares of old-growth forest, mostly in Eastern Gippsland.
The protected area would include 5000 hectares of old-growth forest known as the Goolengook block, which has several endangered species.
The policy, which Mr Bracks said balanced environmental and logging needs, also included plans to create a national park near Portland, create a forest link between the Errinundra and Snowy River national parks, and deliver about $4.5 million in support to the timber industry.
With many experts tipping the strongest ever result for the Greens at next week's election, Mr Bracks was stressing Labor's environmental credentials. "If you want to vote for the environment, vote for Labor," he said.
Funding for the timber industry included $250,000 for the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. Mr Bracks rejected suggestions the money was an attempt to quell protests.
The CFMEU later released a statement praising the Government for not sacrificing any logging jobs in yesterday's policy.
The move to dismiss the report into Goolengook, which is being carried out by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, prompted an angry response from the National Party.
The council was last year asked to investigate the impact that extra forest protection would have on communities.
The report was due in mid-2007, but the Premier promised yesterday that Labor would "immediately wind up the investigation" if re-elected.
Members of the five-person board of the council — who met yesterday to discuss red gums in the Murray River regions — have been told not to comment.
But one member told The Age it was "business as usual" and the Goolengook investigation was still going ahead.
Yesterday's policy also promised to create a red gum national park, but only if recommended by the council.
National Party spokesman Peter Hall said Labor's promise would make a mockery of the Environmental Assessment Council, and said the Premier was a coward for not making the announcement in East Gippsland. "To make this announcement in Portland is one of the most cowardly decisions I have seen," he said.
The Wilderness Society said the policy was a good start, but would protect only a small portion of the estimated 400,000 hectares of old-growth forest in Victoria.
Greens forests spokesman and Western region candidate Marcus Ward said the policy was "underwhelming". "It's vintage Bracks: big headlines and terrible details," he said.
Predicting an electoral backlash over the policy, independent Gippsland East MP Craig Ingram argued the Government should not have extended the state's national parks because existing parkland was poorly managed due to inadequate funding.
http://theage.com.au/victoriavotes
Victorian Forest Alliance
(including The Wilderness Society Victoria Inc)
Media Release
17 November 2006
The Victorian Forest Alliance (Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, The Central Highlands Alliance, Environment East Gippsland, Yarra Ranges Environment Coalition, Upper Bunyip Action Group, and Lawyers for Forests), Environment Victoria and the Victorian National Parks Association said the creation of the Cobboboonee National Park (27,000 hectares) is welcome.
"The Labor forest announcement however shows no consideration for climate change or water in the forests of Eastern Victoria. The Labor parties proposal to protect 40,000 ha of iconic areas in East Gippsland is a good start but it is only a small part of the 970,000 ha environment groups and scientists believe should be protected in Eastern Victoria," said The Wilderness Society Victorian Campaign Manager Gavan McFadzean.
"The overall package however is disappointing when you look at logging continuing in our water catchments as it is only about 10 per cent of Victoria’s old growth estate forests and does not deliver any protection for the forests in Central Highlands and Central Gippsland."
Friends of the Earth Melbourne Campaigner Coordinator Cam Walker said: "Protection of Goolengook Block and 5000 hectares of additions to the Great Alpine National Park are very welcome but there are still thousands of hectares which should be immediately included in the national park and reserve system."
"The areas proposed for protection consist of iconic areas of old-growth forests and rainforest in East Gippsland with nothing in Central Gippsland or the Central Highlands. This leaves the door open for the Liberal part to step in and show leadership," said Australian Conservation Foundation Land and Water Manager Matt Ruchel.
"There was a real opportunity for the Bracks Government to step up to the crease and deliver a transition package for the timber industry," Mr Ruchel said.
Victorian National Parks Association spokesperson Philip Ingamells said: "The proposed creation of a new Red Gum National following the Victorian Environment Assessment Council decision soon is also welcome."
For more information, please contact:
Gavan McFadzean
Victorian Campaign Coordinator
Email Gavan McFadzean
Mobile: 0414 754 023