Destruction of native forests continues
By Francesca Davis
On April 20, 70 protesters gathered around Harris Daishowa's woodchipping mill in Eden, preventing 40 trucks from entering the mill. Thirteen arrests were made. The protest was part of a week of action by forest activists to draw attention to logging in old growth forests in the lead up to the signing of a regional forest agreement (RFA) for the Eden area.
The Eden agreement will be the fourth RFA signed under a national forest peace plan, launched by the Labor federal government in 1992. Agreements have also been signed for East Gippsland, Tasmania and the Victorian Central Highlands — all have been met with protests by environmentalists.
The Eden action was initiated by Concerned Residents of East Gippsland, said Gippsland activist Jill Redwood, because they were determined not to let the Eden RFA be "as farcical as ours".
The main beneficiary of the proposed Eden RFA is woodchipping company Harris Daishowa. The company made a profit of $16 million in 1996 and, according to Mark Blecher, spokesperson for the South East Forests Conservation Council, "its chip mill in Eden is the single biggest factor in destructive forestry practices in the region. It is a scandal that Harris Daishowa makes super-profits while the government forest agencies in both Victoria and NSW are propped up with public subsidies."
Harris Daishowa is moving north into areas near Ulladulla and Merimbula. Last year, it took 70,000 tonnes from those areas, a significant increase on previous years. Since the chip mill was set up in 1969, koala and several other species are on the brink of extinction.
An options report for Eden was supposed to be published last December but has been delayed. The NSW Forest Alliance, compromising nine environment organisations, has released a compromise proposal which reserves key areas of high conservation value, supports local small sawmillers through dedicated selective logging zones and replaces clear-felling with less intensive logging in state forests.
Jeff Angel, director of the Total Environment Centre, believes "a solution to the conflict in the south-east forests has never been closer". The proposal supplies sawmillers with 20,000 cubic metres of timber, as promised by the government in September 1996, and addresses key conservation needs. Industry lobbyists, on the other hand, have raised their demands to 26,000 cubic metres for logging.
The RFA process is described by Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown as a "conservation sham". RFAs are supposed to be based on consultation with representatives of the timber industry, environmentalists and trade unions, and then agreed to by state and federal governments. Yet in the NSW RFA process in 1995, the Australian Conservation Foundation tried unsuccessfully to meet with the state land and water conservation minister. Brown points out that three major woodchipping companies donated $700,000 in one year to the Labor and Liberal parties.
The RFAs were supposed to be based on approximately 6 million hectares reserved by the Keating government in 1995. A ceiling was placed on exports until the agreements were signed. However, nearly three years after that deadline, most RFAs are not in place, yet logging continues.
After just one assessment, the federal government promised four exporters 800,000 cubic metres of timber per annum from East Gippsland's forests.
In Tasmania, the November 1997 RFA allows industry an increase of 790,000 cubic metres and $110 million in compensation for 400,000 hectares set aside for new forest "reserves". These reserves are mostly bands of forest along roads which cannot be logged. Areas previously destroyed by industry were protected, while areas such as Mother Cummings coupe HU307 — virgin forest in Kooparoona Niara, part of a proposed national park in the Great Western Tiers — were denied protection.
When the East Gippsland RFA was signed in February 1997, John Howard claimed it would be a"win-win" situation for conservationists and the timber industry, creating 400 jobs, contributing $140 million to the economy and protecting the environment through a native reserve system. Loggers have already been cutting the reserves.
Harris Daishowa has been cutting in the 200-metre buffer zones near rivers. Rather than penalise the company, the Victorian government is to change the Heritage Rivers Act to retrospectively validate the company's actions.
Harris Daishowa is also buying freehold plots in the area and getting permits to clear multi-species forest in order to start single-species plantations, rather than using already cleared land.
A legal opinion prepared for Brown concludes that the Tasmanian RFA has no legal effect and does not bind current or future governments. Federal environment laws still apply, despite statements to the contrary in the RFA.
In East Gippsland, the industry is under a cloud after the Moe Magistrates Court dismissed charges against Brown arising from protest actions because the magistrate doubted logging along the Goolengook River was lawful. Brown was awarded costs of $35,000. Protests there are continuing.
Activists returned to the Harris Daishowa Eden mill on April 22 to continue their protest, despite police cordoning off the mill.