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Home » 2006 » #689 » Cultural Dissent » Review: Save the Goolengook

Review by Margarita Windisch

The Last Valley chronicles the battle to save the ancient old-growth forest in East Gippsland's Goolengook valley from being logged to extinction. As conservationists and loggers come head-to-head in nasty confrontations, the film reveals the real issue at hand <197> the Bracks Labor government's abysmal mismanagement of publicly owned forests.

Shot over four years, the film draws out the concerns of the environmental activists, the contradictory position of the local loggers and the interests of the logging industry itself. It also shows the events that led to the collapse of the East Gippsland logging industry, including the controversial decision by the Bracks government to log the infamous Goolengook valley.

The film is honest, brave and without pretensions. The Last Valley is a stunning indictment of government cover-up and incompetence, exposing the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment's attempts at censorship by spending $120,000 in blocking access to sensitive government information under freedom of information legislation. A must see!