2016-10-25
Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) — Last week VicForests released the annual update of its clear-felling schedule, which is given the doublespeak name that would make Orwell proud, the Timber Release Plan. It is not a plan; it is a scorched-earth policy. The Timber Release Plan targets every coupe of high-value conservation forest that remains in the Central Highlands of Victoria. No concessions have been made for biodiversity conservation — not one.
The Andrews government has been pussyfooting around the issue of native forest logging and the creation of the Great Forest National Park. First they abdicate responsibility to a forest industry task force process, then they have a non-response when the forest industry task force agrees that a business-as-usual approach to logging is unacceptable and short-term plantation supply must be sought and now they are silent when their own Timber Release Plan is completely incompatible with the forest industry task force's own determinations. This is not leadership; this is gutless, and the Victorian Greens are calling it out. We will keep campaigning for the end of native forest logging in this state; a transition plan for workers; further protection for the endangered species that live in the forests, including the Leadbeater's possum' and the establishment of the Great Forest National Park.