Defer the Bill that would lock-in long-term native forest logging
This petition had 13,132 supporters
Despite disastrous logging practices in our public forests, the Victorian state government is proposing amendments to forest laws that if passed, would have devastating results for Victorian people, our forests and the wildlife that inhabit them.
The proposed Amendments to the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 would:
1. Provide unlimited logging contracts.
2. Effectively privatise the exploitation of the state’s most valuable public natural asset.
3. Promise to supply logs into the future that won’t exist due to decades of over-logging and the impacts of bushfires.
4. Dilute government oversight of logging agency VicForests.
5. Expose tax-payers and future governments to paying hundreds of millions in compensation when wood can’t be provided .
6. Drive endangered animals, like the Fairy (Leadbeater's) Possum even closer to extinction. [Pictured above. Photo by Emma Campbell]
State government logging agency VicForests is already a highly controversial body.
It has failed to regenerate our public forests, been taken to the Supreme Court for logging endangered species habitat, and has not made a return public purse for logging the public’s forests.
Little wonder that the Victorian Auditor General is currently conducting an inquiry into VicForests.
Because there’s an Inquiry under way, logging laws shouldn’t be amended until the Auditor General’s office has handed in their report. Even then, logging laws need to be strengthened, not weakened.
The native forest logging industry says it needs long-term contracts to attract long-term investment. But there is no long-term resource available in native forests anymore.
New laws aren’t a magic wand – they won’t change the fact that our forests have been overlogged and can’t be committed for greedy long-term contracts. The wood just isn’t there.
In 2011 alone, VicForests incurred debts of $7.3 million. The government says their assets are worth only $31million. And now the government wants to ask taxpayers to underwrite contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Amendments to the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 are not in the best interests of our forests, wildlife or Victorians.
Sign the petition to Premier Denis Napthine, Treasurer Michael O’Brien, Minister Peter Walsh, and Minister Peter Hall to defer the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Amendment Bill 2013 until the Auditor-General’s Office hands down its findings from its inquiry into VicForests.
Help encourage the Premier to protect Victoria’s forests, not lock them in for long-term logging – send Denis Napthine a tweet at @Vic_Premier
For tweets on logging in Victoria’s forests @wildernessVIC
Find out more visit www.wilderness.org.au
 The state will be obliged to pay hundreds of millions of dollars, as evidenced by but one contract, the current agreement with Australian Paper: the Wood Pulp Agreement guarantees Australian Paper 350,000 m3 of pulplogs per year. At a conservative $50 /m3, over a 20 year contract, the state could be liable for $350,000,000.
Today: The Wilderness Society is counting on you
The Wilderness Society needs your help with “Defer the Bill that would lock-in long-term native forest logging”. Join The Wilderness Society and 13,131 supporters today.