Showing posts with label Forests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forests. Show all posts

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Students of Sustainabilty Conference 2007 - Murdoch Uni - Get some!


Students of Sustainabilty Conference 2007 - Respect Nyoongar Country

SoS_07 - July 9-15, 2007 - Students of Sustainability (SoS) is the largest student-run environment based conference in Australia. The next SoS convergence will happen July 2007 in Perth, Western Australia at Murdoch University...
Check out the website:
http://studentsofsustainability.org

So, what is SoS? Each year SoS offers an amazing opportunity for students, activists, academics, environment and Indigenous groups, and members of the wider community from around Australia to come together to share and gain knowledge, skills and information on environmental and social justice issues.

Please feel free to get involved with the organisation of SoS 2007.

We are all students of sustainability!

FIND OUT MORE:
http://studentsofsustainability.org

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Trouble at the Mill - Gunns and Government force the issue

March 23, 2007 - The controversial Tasmanian Pulp Mill Assessment Bill has passed the Lower House of Parliament. Gunns withdrew its massive pulp mill from the independent planning body last week - forcing the Government to introduce legislation for a "special" assessment process. The Greens tried to move a number of amendments to the legislation, including changing its name to the Pulp Mill Approval Bill, without success.

The bill to fast-track a proposed $2 billion pulp mill in Tasmania reeks of accusations Premier Paul Lennon interfered in assessing the project...
FRIDAY March 23, 2007 -

The Tasmanian Parliament have voted down a Greens motion to kill the Pulp Mill Assessment Bill, which the Government introduced to allow for a special assessment of a $1.4 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania.

Gunns withdrew the project from the independent assessment body claiming they were losing money on the proposal. Greens leader Peg Putt said. "I've been in the Parliament for quite a few years now and I've never seen anything as rank as this," she said. Tasmania's Labor Premier Paul Lennon accused the Greens of playing politics. The Opposition Liberals have flagged their support for the legislation, although they say it proves the State Government has mishandled the project.

Meanwhile, a document has been released that suggests Premier Paul Lennon misled the public about the pulp mill assessment. Retired Supreme Court judge Christopher Wright, the chair of the Resource Planning and Development Commission panel that had been assessing the pulp mill until proponents Gunns withdrew it last week, released a statutory declaration and draft resignation letter to support his version of events. In an unprecedented move, Mr Wright called a press conference and released a statutory declaration to counter "incorrect" statements made by Mr Lennon.

Mr Wright said: "That Mr Lennon had tried to "heavy" him at their February 27 meeting into agreeing to conduct a shorter and "severely curtailed" mill assessment; the "inappropriate" actions of Gunns boss John Gay and Mr Lennon had delayed the assessment of the mill; Mr Lennon's suggested July 31 timeline had been "ludicrous and impossible"..."

Tasmanian Greens deputy leader Nick McKim said the timeline proved Mr Wright's belief that Mr Lennon had given him an ultimatum. "He has clearly misled the House," he said.

Mr Wright said at that meeting that Mr Lennon made a "completely inappropriate" attempt to "pressure" him to fast-track assessment of Gunns Ltd's $2billion pulp mill project. The eminent jurist says Mr Lennon gave him an "ultimatum" to scrap public hearings and agree to a new timeline concluding the assessment by July 31 or face legislation and ministerial directions to that end.

Mr Wright says he discussed the Premier's ultimatum with his fellow panel members and they came to a unanimous decision that such a process would be unfair and "fundamentally flawed". Mr Wright wrote. "I am unable to participate in an assessment process which is severely curtailed both in content and duration in the way you have proposed. To do so would compromise the independence and effectiveness of the assessment process and would adversely affect the quality of the panel's report."

After Gunns withdrew its project from the Resource Planning and Development Commission panel, Premier Lennon recommended "fast-tracking" the project by legislation - to create an abridged version of the assessment.

Mr Wright was appointed last month after his predecessor, Julian Green, resigned alleging government undermining of the independence of the assessment process. The same charge was made by another panel member who also resigned.


Labor and the Liberals voted in support of the Tasmanian Pulp Mill Assessment legislation. The Bill will now be tabled in the Upper House.

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says logging company Gunns Ltd must react swiftly to requests for information on environmental aspects of its planned Tasmanian pulp mill or the project might face delays.

Mr Turnbull said that the process could start as soon as the Gunns referral was lodged. "At this stage it is very likely we will proceed ... with our own process and deal with our own issues so that we're not caught up in whatever the Tasmanian process is," he said. "As I said to Mr Gay, the pace of our consideration of these matters will be determined by his ability to respond to our requests."

The Tasmanian Greens and Liberal opposition have asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Tim Ellis to investigate whether Mr Lennon broke the law by attempting to influence Justice Wright. Mr Lennon brushed the controversy aside, saying he was not giving up on the pulp mill.

"The benefits for Tasmania of having this project assessed are enormous. We cannot give up on the potential for 2,000 long-term, permanent jobs and an extra $6.7 billion being added to the economy," he said. The State Government is preparing to hire a consultant who will determine whether the mill should go ahead but the project may not have to meet Tasmania's environmental requirements.

SOURCES:
Lennon faces new mill heat - Mercury
Greens' pulp mill motion voted down - ABC
Former judge says Lennon lied - The Australian
Pulp mill Bill passes Lower House - ABC
Answers needed from Gunns: Turnbull - SMH
Premier undeterred by pulp mill claims - The West
Fresh concerns about Tas pulp mill approval process - ABC

Monday, March 05, 2007

Great Southern Plantations destroying Tiwi forests

Click to see the destruction The destruction of thousands of hectares of pristine native forests on Melville Island must stop immediately! - From the newswire - March 5, 2007:

Great Southern Plantation (GSP) are clearing 26,000 hectares of native eucalypt forest on Melville Island, north of Darwin. Vast tracts of native Tiwi forest are being cleared-felled to establish introduced 'monocultural' plantations for woodchips. The project is supported by the Tiwi Land Council, but is opposed by hundreds of Melville locals. In 2006 GSP had approval to clear 10,000 hectares – making it northern Australia’s single largest native forest destruction project. [ Environment Centre NT ]

The forests being destroyed by GSP are rich in native wildlife and there is much concern that the destruction of the Tiwi forest places threatened species at increased risk of extinction. GSP have stated that they intend to expand the clearing of Tiwi native forests up to 100,000 hectares. This expansion would be environmentally devastating and economically and culturally disastrous for the Tiwi people. [ PERTH PROTEST ACTION: TWS - FEB 07 ]

The Tiwi forestry project is currently under investigation by the Commonwealth due to serious environmental breaches and despite Indigenous people being told that logs cleared and exported were "worth millions of dollars", they did not receive ANY INCOME from the sale of these logs. Around 500 Tiwi Islanders recently signed a petition calling for an inquiry into land use decisions on the Tiwi Islands. After 4 years only one local Indigenous person is currently employed full time on the forestry project - with another 2 part-time employees, out of a total workforce of around 60.

A better future for the Tiwi Islands: "Rather than continue with the greedy destruction of the beautiful, culturally valuable and wildlife-rich native forests of the Tiwi Islands, governments and business should work with the Island community to develop sustainable, high-value economic activities based on the conservation and appreciation of the unique cultural and ecological heritage of the Tiwi islands..."

READ MORE/Comment

PREVIOUS FEATURES:
Great Southern Plantations destroying Tiwi Islands |

Great Southern Plantations Ltd: ripping the heart out of Tiwi

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Protesters defy police, walk into Weld Valley


February 18, 2007: Weld Valley protesters ignore police caution - About 50 protesters have entered a Forestry Tasmania exclusion zone in the Weld Valley, south-west of Hobart. The protesters are trying to stop the logging of two coupes of temperate rainforest, next to a World Heritage Area. In the past week, behind locked gates, wilderness forests in The Lower Weld Valley have been attacked, and their world heritage qualities devalued at an alarming rate. This Sunday people are bearing witness to the beauty and the sad loss of these threatened ancient forests.

Huon Valley Environment Centre Spokesperson Jenny Weber says: "Forestry Tasmania’s unprecedented eleventh hour attempt to put an injunction on the Huon Valley Environment Centre is merely a distraction from their accelerated detruction of wilderness forest. Heavy machinery and chainsaws have been working on overdrive to rapidly devalue this precious landscape..."
Meanwhile Forestry Tasmania has failed in a court bid to stop the protest action. Today, police about inside the Weld "exclusion zone," formally cautioned the protesters, saying they would be charged with trespass if they continued walking into the forest. However, the caution was ignored by all but a couple of the protesters.

Jenny Weber says all that separates the Weld Valley logging coupes from neighbouring World Heritage forest is a line on a map. She says 95 per cent of the trees cut down by Forestry Tasmania will be woodchipped and the practice must stop.

Earlier, a conservationist who protested in the Weld Valley has escaped a conviction for locking himself in a forestry vehicle. Thirty-five-year-old Adam Burling of Lucaston was arrested in the Valley late last year. In the Hobart Magistrates Court, Burling pleaded guilty to trespassing while campaigning against logging in the Weld Valley.

The court heard he sat in the driver's seat of a forestry vehicle and refused to leave. When police used the electronic key to unlock the car, Burling continued to lock it again, but police eventually pulled him out of the car. Defence lawyer Cassandra Gregg said Burling was a former Huon Valley councillor, part-time employee of Greens Senator Bob Brown and a dedicated forest campaigner. The magistrate told Burling actions like his did not tend to further the cause. Burling was not convicted on condition of six months' good behaviour.

Previously, Forestry Tasmania failed dismally in an unprecendented 11th-hour legal attempt to stop a protest march going ahead in the Weld Valley. Three of the protest organisers were served with writs from Forestry Tasmania at their Huonville homes. Forestry Tasmania was seeking an injunction to stop the Huon Valley Environment Centre and six of its members from emailing, texting, handing out pamphlets or posting information on the internet about the "walk-in" rally into the out-of-bounds Weld Valley. It would also have prevented the centre from allowing protesters to sleep at its Huonville headquarters or at any of its named office-bearers' homes.

"It was a shock to get that delivered to your doorstep," said HVEC treasurer and spokeswoman Jenny Weber. "I felt scared and overwhelmed that Forestry Tasmania was prepared to go so far as to engage individuals trying to stop logging in the Weld in court proceedings."

In an embarrassing bungle, Forestry Tasmania was forced to withdraw its application for an immediate injunction. The backdown came after nearly two hours of legal debate, after Tasmania's Chief Justice Peter Underwood ruled the key evidence on which Forestry Tasmania was basing its injunction claim was inadmissible. Justice Underwood also ordered Forestry Tasmania to pay all legal costs of the Huon Valley Environment Centre and its co-defendants, estimated to be between $7000 and $10,000.

Weld Valley protester and president of the Huon Valley Environment Centre, Adam Burling, said he had no doubt the latest legal action was an attempt by Forestry Tasmania to demonstrate a new hardline approach toward protesters.

"We believe there are enough existing laws, such as the exclusion-zones powers at Forestry Tasmania's fingertips. Why do they need to crackdown even more?" Mr Burling asked. But Forestry Tasmania's Huon Valley district manager, Steve Davis, said trespassing protesters had become increasingly reckless in their attempts to impede logging, compromising safety at the site and risking injury to workers.

Forestry Tasmania was supported in its legal action by the Tasmanian Forest Contractors Association. Most of the evidence backing its case presented by Forestry Tasmania was obtained from websites associated with recent protest actions in the Weld Valley near Geeveston, which Justice Underwood ruled could not be accepted by the court as fact since the authorship of internet material was uncertain and unprovable.

Justice Underwood also ruled inadmissible parts of the sworn statement made by Mr Davis and presented to the court, stating that he expected protesters tomorrow to lock themselves to logging machinery, to conduct tree-sits and to "otherwise interfere with forest operations". The judge ruled these were Mr Davis' beliefs and not facts, and as such could not be accepted as evidence by the court.

A victorious Mr Burling, also one of the individuals named in the injunction, described the case's dismissal as a triumph for democracy and free speech. He said the attempted injunction was part of the new "heavy-handed" tactics being employed by Forestry Tasmania and the Lennon Government in the ongoing dispute about the logging of Tasmania's native forests. Forestry Tasmania withdrew not just its injunction application, but an associated longer-term writ based on a conspiracy charge against the named Weld Valley defendants.

"This is a desperate act from the State Labor Government to silence its critics of the unpopular forest industry and to do the biding of Gunns ltd," said Mr Burling. "Forestry Tasmania should be taking note of the Federal court's December decision in the Wielangta case and cease their illegal logging operations, not trying to start new legal case against community groups."

SEE ALSO:
Weld Valley Campaign's Online Home
http://www.huon.org/weldvalley/

Sources:
ABC NEWS
Mercury Conservationist avoids trespassing conviction
Weld Valley Campaign's Online Home
Forestry Tasmania launches legal attack against community walk