People power can save Recherche Bay

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart

The federal government will allow logging to occur at Recherche Bay, despite including the area on the National Heritage List on October 6.

Recherche Bay was the site of two French landings in 1792-93, notable for the friendly relations established with local Indigenous people and the scientific research that was undertaken at the time.

Greens Senator Bob Brown said that the federal environment minister Ian Campbell had sold out both the world heritage value of Recherche Bay and the National Heritage List. "This spineless minister has taken an axe to the nation's environmental standards", he told the October 7 Mercury.

The Tasmanian government had previously declared the site a heritage area, while also approving logging.

A rally to save Recherche Bay will be held in Hobart on the Parliament Lawns on November 5. It is being promoted by environmental groups including the Wilderness Society, the Greens and the Recherche Bay action group.

Socialist Alliance spokesperson Kamala Emanuel urged support for the rally from all progressive activists and trade unionists. "Neither federal nor state governments seem willing to save the heritage values of Recherche Bay, so the only option left is people power", she told Green Left Weekly.

From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.

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From GLW issue 645