The News Review:
- FRESTRY TASMANIA SPIN IN VERDRIVE
- Rare eagles diving toward extinction
- Pulp plan backed by forestry heavyweight
- Devil of a disease
- MRE GVERNMENT SPIN N PULPMILL
FRESTRY TASMANIA SPIN IN VERDRIVE
Tasmanian Greens – Jul 29, 2007
Greens Shadow Native Forest spokesperson Tim Morris MHA said that Forestry Tasmania has had to resort to employing industry people from North America in order to try to convince the community that it is serious about changing its destructive ways when in reality they are carrying on as always in our precious oldgrowth forests;pillaging an irreplaceable resource for the production of paper in Japan and are retrieving few sawlogs on the side. Mr Morris said “Forestry Tasmania has stated that Bill Beece is here to assist them in implementing the new ‘variable retention’ system into the tall oldgrowth forests;these are forests by and large should not be logged but protected because of their special natural values and as a massive carbon sink. ” “As was highlighted by the Greens earlier in the year where Forestry Tasmania had implemented this new system in the old growth forests of the Styx valley they had cooked the retained clumps of trees;demonstrating that this new system is actually worse than clearfelling because they have wasted the retained clumps that were supposed to protect the biodiversity.
Rare eagles diving toward extinction
Wildlife Extra – Jul 29, 2007
Craig Webb operator of the Raptor and Wildlife Refuge of Tasmania said the species was looking down the barrel at extinction. There are only about 100 breeding pairs of the Tasmanian sub-species which is the largest eagle in the nation left in the wild. ‘They’re in real trouble’ Mr Webb said. ‘They can’t sustain the current rate of mortality… Craig Webb operator of the Raptor and Wildlife Refuge of Tasmania said the species was looking down the barrel at extinction. There are only about 100 breeding pairs of the Tasmanian sub-species which is the largest eagle in the nation left in the wild. ‘They’re in real trouble’ Mr Webb said. ‘They can’t sustain the current rate of mortality. ‘ He said a wedge-tailed eagle had been hit by a car while feeding on roadkill at Nubeena last week.
Pulp plan backed by forestry heavyweight
NEWS.com.au – Jul 29, 2007
article-tools –> By Glenn Cordingley July 29 2007 11:05am A GRUP representing private forestry interests has backed the proposed $2 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania saying it will create jobs raise revenue and secure a new wood market. The board of Private Forests Tasmania (BPFT) today endorsed the controversial Gunns Ltd project for the Tamar Valley north of Launceston. State politicians will vote on the mill by the end of August. Premier Paul Lennon introduced a fast-track assessment process through parliament in March when Gunns withdrew the proposal from scrutiny of independent umpire the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC). Gunns Ltd cited no definitive answer on approval by the RPDC. The proposal also has two court challenges pending from the Wilderness Society and Investors for the Future of Tasmania which represents business owners… Both have made similar claims in the Federal Court of Hobart arguing the commonwealth’s environmental assessment is unfair biased flawed improper and tailored to suit the time-frame of Gunns Ltd. Two state government commissioned reports into the mill have recommended it proceed despite not meeting eight environmental guidelines which Mr Lennon says can be overcome by issuing special permits and licences. “We are confident that a majority of the Tasmanian parliament will be satisfied that the environmental outcomes sought and desired for the pulp mill can and will be achieved” BPFT chairman Ian Dickenson said. He said the proposed site was an industrialised part of the Tamar Valley where heavy industry had existed for years and questioned arguments that it would harm tourism in the region. “I would remind them (protesters) that this image has been created while a pulp mill continues to operate successfully at Boyer (in southern Tasmania) and other heavy manufacturing industries have operated quite successfully right around Tasmania. ”He said the pulp mill would increasingly rely on plantation growth timber for supply. Wilderness Society spokesman Vica Bailey said BPFT support was not surprising because it had a vested interest in the timber industry.
Devil of a disease
ScienceAlert – Jul 29, 2007
Its fearsome guttural growls and voracious scavenging led the earliest European settlers in Tasmania to brand it ‘the devil’. The name stuck and it came to serve the Tasmanian devil well by endearing curious tourists and even inspiring a cartoon character. Now an unsightly and deadly disease that’s infecting the devil population has taken on the qualities of a demon and it’s threatening to make the devil extinct. Since Devil Facial Tumour Disease was first recorded in 1996 and the speed of its transmission realised there has been a rush to learn more about the disease and ultimately to find a treatment or cure. ANU PhD student Hannah Bender is one scientist taking part in an Australian Research Council Linkage grant with the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) to test the theory that the disease is transmitted through devil-to-devil contact such as biting and not by a virus or bacteria as previously thought.
MRE GVERNMENT SPIN N PULPMILL
Tasmanian Greens – Jul 29, 2007
Greens Shadow Native Forests spokesperson Tim Morris MHA said that the press release put out today in the name of Mr Dickinson is directly from the propaganda arm of the Lennon government;the Media Unit and is part of the ongoing paid spin campaign being paid for by Tasmanian taxpayers. Mr Morris said “Private Forests Tasmania is just another Government statutory authority and any statements from it represent the Lennon Labor Government it is not an organisation that is owned by or funded by the private landowners of Tasmania who grow trees for commercial purposes. 786 million of public funding and now we see that some of these resources are being used to support the pulpmill media blitz by the Lennon Government” Mr Morris said”Mr Dickinson is running the same mistruths as is the Government when he claims that the proposed pulpmill will be “… Mr Morris said “Private Forests Tasmania is just another Government statutory authority and any statements from it represent the Lennon Labor Government it is not an organisation that is owned by or funded by the private landowners of Tasmania who grow trees for commercial purposes. 786 million of public funding and now we see that some of these resources are being used to support the pulpmill media blitz by the Lennon Government” Mr Morris said”Mr Dickinson is running the same mistruths as is the Government when he claims that the proposed pulpmill will be “. meeting the guidelines imposed by Government to protect environmental values. ” when the government commissioned and paid for Sweco Pic report is clear that some of the pulpmill guidelines will not and cannot be met” Mr Morris said.