By Callum Ludwig
A petition formed to present to the Victorian Parliament is calling for the immediate end to all logging of native and public forests.
The petitioners have requested that the Legislative Council call on the Government to immediately close VicForests, stop all logging and bring forward, for immediate effect, the schemes to assist and retrain all employees affected by the closure.
Anthony Long organised the petition and said he had been getting a little frustrated with the lack of action on protecting our native species.
“As someone who actually goes out and does bushwalking, you know, you get a bit frustrated when you see these, these animals, such as possums, gliders and birds, not being protected,” he said.
“When you’re wandering around looking at trees, in a nice place to be, and noticing that logging areas are becoming more and more frequent you get quite angry.”
The petition has been sponsored by Dr Samantha Ratnam, leader of the Victorian Greens.
Mr Long believes the regrowth is nothing like what is being claimed.
“Those regrowth areas are not native forest anymore, it’s not what you took away. I’ve seen some of the regrowth areas after 30 years, and they are not the same as what was there before,” he said.
“The Victorian government actually have a plan to end native logging, it’s just they want to do it in 2030 and by then there may not be much left, so I want them to bring it forward and make it immediate. There’s already a plan in place for those people who are employed in that industry to get out, get alternative training and get compensated.”
At the time of writing on Friday 19 August, there were 899 signatures on the petition.
A Victorian Government spokesperson said the Victorian Forestry Plan has always been about transitioning the native forest industry to a range of new opportunities by 2030, and setting up a strong plantation-based sector for decades to come.
“As the industry changes, we are investing more than $200 million for affected businesses, workers and their local communities to transition away from native timber harvesting while providing an additional $110 million for new plantations that will support a sustainable future for our timber industry,” they said.
“Victoria is already home to Australia’s largest timber plantation estate, with five out of six trees coming from plantations.”
