Tasmania

I'm developing an unreasonable sense of proprietorship over Australia's island state,Tasmania. One could call it a "Tasmania mania", I suppose. How did this seemingly irrational neurosis arise? Am I alone?

The right to demand protection for Australia's iconic, irreplaceable environment is a liberty that must be preserved at all costs. But if the Tasmanian government has its way, soon environmental protesters could be punished with a mandatory minimum of three months in prison.

It sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, but it's true: Tasmania's Lower House has passed a law that could see three-month minimum prison sentences imposed on environmental protesters. The new laws would also include fines for those who incite and encourage protests.

For over 200 years Tasmanian wildlife were spared the devastating presence of foxes. A few years ago foxes made it onto the island. Now the effort to stop the irreversible spread of foxes in Tasmania is at a critical stage with many native species at risk of extinction, according to research in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology.

Tasmania's Tarkine rainforests are important for their flora which has links to the ancient continent of Gondwana, and for their lichens and fossils which help tell the story of Australia's ancient flora and its evolution.
Mining companies like Venture Minerals are desperate to exploit the minerals beneath Tasmania's environmentally significant Tarkine area. Demand for metals being placed above the value of the environment.

Article by Jill Redwood, in response to the historic agreement which has reportedly been reached to save Tasmania's wild forests. The intention is to move loggers from the old forests into the plantation industry. The Age reported that "Parties to the talks, who all strenuously rejected the involvement of politicians in the negotiations, refused to comment before today's announcement." International markets for woodchips have been down for some time. Negotiations apparently began after the Labor-Green government was elected in Tasmania in April. Victorians might wonder, is the Tasmanian Green movement different from - and more really green - than the Victorian "Green Brand" party? Let's hope that this example from Tasmania will boot up the Greens performance in Victoria. The following article is sourced from Jill Redwood. This 'teaser' is from candobetter.org Gunns has seen the light and is moving into plantations only. Photos by Sheila Newman

Tasmanian wildlife are in a terrible situation and there is a great need for better laws to look after their welfare and habitat. Candobetter did articles on this problem Tasmania, West Australia, Victoria - our wildlife are ignored by government, and fortunately the recent Auditor General Special Report No. 78, Management of threatened species (Tasmania) will hopefully provide a good basis for your submissions. Please send your submissions to us and we will publish them.

‘In the year 2008-2009, RSPCA national statistics indicate that of 912 complaints in the ACT, there were just 6 prosecutions and just one conviction. According to those statistics, the ACT inspectorate carried out no ‘routine inspections’ of intensive farms or indeed anything else we would have expected’.

Just when you thought ACT had no competition for its wildlife extermination program, Tasmania decided to do another 'cull' of native macropods (Bennetts wallabies, Forrester Kangaroos and pademelons) on Maria Island. Just 2 years ago they virtually wiped out whatever was there and now they are back to kill another 600!!! The island is barred from visitation so who knows what happens to the bodies, how they are killed and how many?

Tasmania's chief corporate bully, Gunns Limited, has this week witnessed the departure of its chairman, John Gay, 27th May 2010 who long abandoned triple bottom line principles. Hopefully we can move forward from a culture of the ends justifying the means. John Gay's departure was of his own making.

Tasmania's forest industry has rejected a Greens plan to ban logging in high conservation value forests.  The Greens says 300 jobs would be lost but more than 700 created through the strategy.  Even job creation is not enough to move the die-hard destructive mentality.  Both Labor and Liberals support Gunns pulp mill and neither is proposing any new forest reserves.
Trees up to hundreds of years old cannot be replaced overnight, despite how "sustainable" the logging is supposed to be!

It's another one of these licensed to kill 'Regional Forest Agreements' (RFA's) by Forests NSW.

This time the bastard loggers are in the old growth and rainforest between Ulladulla and Batemans raping and pillaging South Brooman State Forest, a rare surviving home of Australia's endangered Spotted-Tailed Quolls and endangered Grey-Headed Flying Foxes.
And its all approved by Forests NSW under another slimy Regional Forest Agreement.

Last month, on 29th January 2010, Tasmania's infamous corporate logger, Gunns Ltd, dropped its multi-million dollar defamation suit against the remaining 13 environmental activitists protesting against its immoral pulp mill logging threat to Tasmania's old growth native forests.

But Gunn's Neanderthal arrogance persists. According to Gunns 13 spokesperson Warrick Jordan, "the world needs to know..that Gunns continues to sue Tasmanians who oppose their environmental vandalism.” [Tasmanian Times].

Here are some more Auditor General reports on the predicament of wildlife in Australia, due to the cruel negligence and sheer incompetence of Australia's state and Federal governments.

Over 1,800 animal and plant species in the Swedish forests are red-listed. Could this be the price that Tasmanians, and Australians, are willing to pay for what is "good" for jobs and the economy?

Guns' mills are faltering. The Japanese company, Nippon, has just bought the Latrobe Valley's Paperlinx factory, at a time of major downturn in woodchip prices. It seems like a very risky purchase - even if they got it dirt cheap. But is this a buyers' market or a fire-sale?

Fall in wood-chip imports is related to the fall in production of cars, machine tools, electronic goods and mobile phones. How so?

Enviro Minister Peter Garrett confirms his department refuses Senator Milne's request for release of CSIRO report relating to Gunns’ Pulp Mill project, but that's not all that people are complaining about