Premier: Wind up VicForests - Victorian National Parks AssociationVictorian National Parks Association

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Dear Premier Allan and Treasurer Pallas,

Re: It’s time to wind up VicForests.

I welcome the announcement that the declaration of VicForests as a state business corporation has been revoked.

With logging in state forests finally coming to an end this year, VicForests has outlived its purpose and needs to be abolished as a priority – in an orderly manner – conscious of VicForests’ ongoing and outstanding liabilities.

VicForests has systematically breached the public’s trust and abjectly failed Victorians on every measure - economically, socially and environmentally.
In one of the most scandalous examples of gross public mismanagement in this state’s history,

VicForests has:

• Haemorrhaged millions of dollars in public funds. (1)
• Broken the law repeatedly, without apology or show of remorse. (2)
• Decimated our iconic native forests which are on the verge of ecological collapse. (3)
• Destroyed the habitat of threatened and endangered wildlife and plants. (4)
• Logged in a way that studies have found increases bushfire risk and severity. (5)
• Put the quality and security of Melbourne’s water supply at risk. (6)
• Reduced the amount of carbon stored in forests and released millions of tonnes of emissions. (7)
• Failed to regenerate massive areas of the forest estate, leaving the state and Traditional Owners with an enormous on-going land management burden. (8)
• Spread disingenuous claims about the sustainability of its operations that have had significant impact on regional workers, families, businesses and the community.
• Extended its degradation of forests to some of Australia’s most fragmented landscapes in western Victoria.
• Conducted covert surveillance on a Victorian citizen who dared hold them to account. (9)

The reputational, ecological and socio-economic damage caused by VicForests has no place in our State. The commercially driven extraction of timber and logs from native forests and bushland areas has lost its social licence, including under the guise of public land management.

The restoration and conservation challenge ahead provides a huge opportunity to generate meaningful, on-going employment. Future land management regimes must be open, transparent and underpinned by robust science.

I back the below groups in their call for you to end this sorry saga, wind up VicForests, and partner with Traditional Owners, environmental and wildlife protection organisations, scientists and the broader community to secure enduring protections for all of Victoria’s globally significant native forests for the enjoyment of future generations.

If the government can rise to this occasion and finally act in the best interests of all Victorians – an historic, enduring and celebrated environmental legacy awaits.

– Animals Australia, Glenys Oogjes, CEO
– Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy, CEO
– Australian Plants Society, Victoria, Neil Marriott, Conservation Officer
– BEAM Mitchell Environment Group, Paul MacGregor, Treasurer
– Bendigo and District Environment Council, Wendy Radford, Secretary
– Bendigo Climate Alliance, Elsie L’Huillier, Convenor
– Concerned Waterways Alliance, Juliet Le Feuvre, Convenor
– Deep Creek Landcare Group, Ken Allender, Treasurer
– East Gippsland Climate Action, Rosemary Gooch, Co-founder
– Environment East Gippsland, Jill Redwood, Coordinator
– Environment Victoria, Jono La Nauze, CEO
– Environmental Justice Australia, Elizabeth McKinnon and Nicola Rivers, Co-CEOs
– Euroa Environment Group, Shirley Saywell, President
– The Council of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Inc.
– Friends of Alberton West Forest, Mel Darer
– Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland, Lisa Roberts, Coordinator
– Friends of Kooyoora, Michael Barkla, Convenor
– Friends of Latrobe Water, Tracey Anton, Secretary
– Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, Steve Meacher, President
– Friends of Noojee’s Trees, David Clarke
– Friends of Steele Creek, Peter Hoyne, President
– Friends of the Earth, Cam Walker, Campaigns Coordinator
– Friends of the Whipstick, Jill Williams, Convenor
– Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO), Tuffy Morwitzer, Campaigner
– Gippsland Environment Group, John Hermans, President
– Goulburn Valley Environment Group, Meg Pethybridge, President
– Grassy Plains Network, Adrian Marshall, Facilitator
– Greenhill to Blackhill Biolink, Louise Barton, Convenor
– Greening of Riddell, Lyn Hovey, Secretary
– Kinglake Friends of the Forests, Rosemary Storey,
– Knox Environment Society, Richard Faragher, President
– Koala Clancy Foundation, Janine Duffy, President
Kooyongkoot Alliance, Graham Ross, Convenor
– Lawyers for Forests, Daniel Cash, President
– Maribyrnong River and Waterways Association, Nicole Kowalczyk, Waterways Coordinator
– Moonee Valley Sustainability, Logan Shield, Co-convenor and Co-founder
– Mount Cole-Pyrenees Nature Group, Christine Baines, Convenor
– MyEnvironment, Lorraine Leach, Secretary
– National Parks Association of NSW, Grahame Douglas, President
– National Parks Australia Council, Bruce McGregor, President
– Newlands Friends of the Forest, Cath Rouse, Co-Founder
– Riddells Creek Landcare, Ross Colliver, President
– Rubicon Forest Protection Group, Bev Dick, President
– Save Our Strathbogie Forest, Bertram Lobert, President
– Save the Little Dargo River, Ray Anderson
– The Waterways Network, Andrew Kelly, Convenor
– The Wilderness Society, Matt Landolfo, Victorian Campaigns Manager
– Victorian Forest Alliance, Chris Schuringa, Campaign Coordinator
– Victorian Mountain Tramping Club, Colin Macdonald, President
– Victorian National Parks Association, Matt Ruchel, Executive Director
– Waratah Wildlife Shelter, Raewyn Jeganathan, Wildlife Rehabilitator
– Warburton Environment, Nic Fox, President
– Werribee River Association, John Forrester, Werribee Riverkeeper
– Western Highway Conservation Group, Helen Lewers
– Wildlife Carers for Habitat Protection Inc., Sue Bendel, Secretary
– Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH), Hayley Forster, President
– Wombat Action Group, Amy Calton, Campaigner
– Wombat Forestcare, Gayle Osborne, President
– Yarra Riverkeeper Association, Charlotte Sterrett, Yarra Riverkeeper

References:

1. $69 million in last 3 years alone (see VicForests, Annual Report 2021–22 (Report, 2 December 2022)  Annual Report 2020-21 (Report, 21 October 2021) Annual Report 2019-20 (Report, 12 October 2020)

2. Court cases where VicForests has failed to uphold the law date back to at least 2010 and as recently as 2023.

3.Emma Burns et al., ‘Ecosystem assessment of mountain ash forest in the Central Highlands of Victoria, south-eastern Australia’ (2014) Austral Ecology, 40(4).

4. Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc v VicForests (No 4) [2020] FCA 704 at [1188]-[1213] (Tree Geebungs); [1250]-[1262]; [1431]-[1432] (Leadbeater’s Possum); [1452]-[1454] (Greater Glider); Warburton Environment v VicForests (No 5) [2022] VSC 633 at [401-[403] (Tree Geebung); Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForests (No 4) [2022] VSC 668 at [228] (Greater Glider); [257] (Yellow-bellied Glider).
5. Chris Taylor, Michael McCarthy and David Lindenmayer, ‘Non-linear effects of stand age on fire severity’ (2014) Conservation Letters, 7, pp. 355-370.

6. Chris Taylor and David Lindenmayer, ‘Researchers allege native logging breaches that threaten the water we drink’, The Conversation (26 November 2019)

7. Jennifer Sanger, ‘Victoria’s Forest Carbon: From Emissions Disaster to Climate Solutions’, The Tree Projects (Report, 2022).

8. Margaret Blakers, ‘After the Logging: Failing to regrow Victoria’s native Forests’ (Report, November 2021).

9. Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, ‘Investigation into allegations of surveillance of members of the public by VicForests’ (Report, 9 August 2023).

Yours sincerely,

It’s time to honour Victoria’s natural web of life, not destroy it.

It’s time to partner with scientists, First Nations and community to look after our native forest and river habitats, for the enjoyment of future generations.

Over fifty nature and community groups are calling on our elected representatives to show leadership and close VicForests.

Add your name to the call to wind up VicForests.

These locations are part of the unceded traditional lands and waters of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples.

Tags: Logging, Nature Laws

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