There are those within government and the timber industry who are desperate to cling to the comfort of the outdated industrial vision. They refuse to see the value of nature and the wealth that can be created from protecting the environment. They want to continue logging practices where ancient trees are clearfelled then the forest is firebombed with napalm to burn all remaining wood and vegetation.

We can't let this continue. These forests are too precious and worth so much more standing as carbon stores, water catchments, wildlife refuges, and wild places for people to escape and reconnect with nature. Right now we are closer than ever to saving Tasmania's forests as an invaluable asset for future generations.

Really, it never has been easier. The logging industry and environment groups now agree that in order to reform the industry and end the long running conflict which has stifled the state, the forests must be put into immediate and permanent protection. But instead of grabbing this once in a lifetime opportunity with both hands, many politicians think it might be cheaper and easier to do nothing. And unless we keep the pressure on they might just get away with it.

Contact your MP now and let them know in your own words why protecting Tasmania's forests is essential for creating a 21st century economy.

It only takes 2 minutes and it could be the most effective thing you do all year for our native forests:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/save-our-forests/forestry-agreement/email-your-mp-or-senator

This opportunity is the fruit of decades of campaigning by our allies across the environment movement. And from funding ads to attending public meetings, creating huge petitions, and flooding Parliament House with thousands of calls, emails and faxes, GetUp members have done so much to stand up for forests. Now, with this once in a generation opportunity in front of us, let’s keep the pressure up!

Thanks,

GetUp team

PS - Check out this new video: a forest campaigner, tourism operator and plantation timber wholesaler have each said what it means to them for the government to deliver the historic forest agreement to save Tasmania's forests. Watch it here and share with friends:

https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/save-our-forests/common-ground/help-get-this-ad-on-air

Gus: please note that I am not a member of GetUp nor of any other organisations, either political or social. I just pay attention to nature and what we do to it... My neighbours are friends. I have also a great number of friends, from CEOs to welfare recipients. Nature is a great inspiration and I wish to help those who help protect nature...

“The forestry bill does not provide for native forest timber harvesting in any existing reserves. Under current legislation the management objectives for regional reserves and purposes of reservation for regional reserves already explicitly provide for special species timber harvesting.”

Last week he set up a new ministerial advisory council made up entirely of timber industry and agriculture representatives, with no one from an environmental group.

The state government is also introducing tough new anti-protest laws, aimed primarily at anti-logging activists, dismissing claims they impinge upon the freedom of speech.

Environmental groups, which have conducted an advertising blitz attacking the new forestry bill, claim the Liberal government has gone beyond its election pledge to rip up the peace deal.

Jenny Weber, campaign manager at Bob Brown Foundation, said: “This is undoing 30 years of protection in some places. It’s going further than they ever said they would.

“What we are seeing here is a vast area of Tasmania’s land opened up to logging. There is this myth that specialist timber is environmentally sensitive. We are very concerned about the forestry roads, the burning after logging and the method of logging. It’s very destructive.”

Weber said the areas opened up to logging will include large areas of the Tarkine wilderness in the north-west of the state, as well as Bruny Island in the south. She added that threatened species such as the swift parrot, spotted tailed quoll, wedge tailed eagle and Tasmanian devil would all suffer from an expansion in logging.

“We have a very conservative government here in Tasmania, as in Australia, that is intent on attacking the environment,” she said. “We need to acknowledge that these forests are a scarce, valuable resource.”

In June, the United Nations rejected a bid, supported by both the Australian and Tasmanian governments, to strip 74,000ha of forest from the state’s world heritage area. The justification for the move was described as “feeble” by a member of the UN’s world heritage committee.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/tasmania-prepares-to-tear-up-forestry-peace-deal

See also: 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/28124

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/28048

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/28410

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/876

Australian government approval for preliminary mine expansion works in Tasmania has been ruled invalid by the Federal Court because impacts on a rare owl weren’t properly considered.

Chinese-owned MMG wants to build a new tailings storage dam at Rosebery, something the company says is needed to ensure the mine can operate beyond 2024.

The Bob Brown Foundation brought legal action against the expansion in the takayna/Tarkine rainforest, arguing it would damage the habitat of the endangered Tasmanian masked owl.

Justice Mark Moshinsky on Monday ruled that approval from former Liberal environment minister Sussan Ley for geotechnical works at the site failed to properly consider threats posed to the owl.

“While the delegate … identified a number of threats to the Tasmanian masked owl … the delegate did not go on to discuss or make a finding as to whether those threats posed by the proposed action were serious or irreversible,” he said.

“In the absence of any discussion or finding about this matter I infer that the delegate failed to consider it.”

Justice Moshinsky said the minister did not consider the “precautionary principle” as required under the Environment Protection Act and did not bring “active intellectual process” to the decision.

The Bob Brown Foundation said the federal court’s decision was one of the most significant since the act’s inception in 1999.

Former Greens leader Bob Brown reiterated his calls for recently appointed Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to overturn approval for the project altogether.

“The nation’s environmentalists will be counting on her to apply the law and protect this ancient rainforest and all of its threatened wildlife, trees and ecological communities,” he said.

Justice Moshinsky is yet to make a substantive order but indicated he plans to set the minister’s approval for the geotechnical works aside.

He called on legal parties to make submissions with some urgency.

“Otherwise works, I think, can continue until the decision is set aside. It is unsatisfactory for that to go on for too long,” he said.

The Bob Brown Foundation says almost 100 people have been arrested during protests at the site of the proposed expansion.

-AAP

READ MORE:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/environment/2022/07/25/bob-brown-foundation-wins-tasmanian-mine-battle/?breaking_live_scroll=1

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SEE ALSO:

It may not be provable that the Morrison government was the worst in Australian history. But it may have been the most stupid. Its suppression of the fourth State of the Environment report demonstrates this.

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