Lack of leadership breaks election promise to protect Victoria’s old-growth forests

The Wilderness Society expressed dismay at how the state government has not delivered on its 2006 state election promise to protect old-growth forests. After years of negotiation, the state government has capitulated to the logging industry over the interests of the public.

Old growth giants logged at Brown Mountain. Photo: Jill Redwood

The state government promised to protect the last stands of significant old-growth, yet hundreds of thousands of hectares of old-growth forest remains unprotected.
 
There are too many smoke and mirrors to the announcement. The state government promised to protect old-growth forests available to the logging industry, yet half of the forests in the announcement are already protected in informal reserves. They also removed crucial old-growth areas they originally promised to protect in the days before the 2006 state election.
 
While they should be congratulated for protecting some of Victoria’s most spectacular forest areas such as Goolengook and Yalmy, they have blown a golden opportunity to demonstrate decisive leadership by protecting the state’s remaining old-growth forests and create jobs by facilitating an orderly transition into Victoria’s huge plantation resource.
 
Just weeks after announcing the protection of red gum forests along the Murray, in the other end of the state government policy continues to send old-growth forests to the woodchipper, bound for Japanese paper markets.
 
Old-growth forests are the best for water production, have recently been discovered to be the biggest carbon stores on earth and provide the best habitat to forest dependent native wildlife. With less than 8% of our old growth forest left, this announcement leaves many old growth areas exposed to the logging industry.
 
Tell Victorian Premier John Brumby that it’s not good enough! Email him @:
John.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au

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