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The Forum > Article Comments > Open season on Tasmania’s old growth forests > Comments

Open season on Tasmania’s old growth forests : Comments

By Don Henry, published 3/8/2007

WANTED: Major political party prepared to stand up for Tasmania's world-renowned old-growth forests.

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We make so little money out of exporting timber and there are relatively so few jobs in the timber industry, the 30-year fight over old growth forests could have been avoided by simply giving the workers a redundancy package out of the public purse.

Where is the money to come from? We seem to have no shortage of splurge money. Here is one current example. Three warplanes on order at a billion dollars each. Can you believe that? A billion each and thay could crash in training.
Posted by healthwatcher, Friday, 3 August 2007 9:05:46 AM
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I believe that climate change is gradually transforming Tasmania's forest from 90m giant trees with fern understorey to more open woodland. That drying out may release carbon dioxide and methane so that tropical not temperate forests become the remaining carbon sink. It also means regrowth is unlikely to have the productivity of old growth. Nonetheless extensive patches of old growth need to be locked up to let nature take its course for better or worse. I agree with the previous commentor; instead of marvelling at the wonders of our own backyard we ogle like schoolboys at foreign military toys. Yet we sell the wonders for a pittance and pay top dollar for the toys.
Posted by Taswegian, Friday, 3 August 2007 12:01:12 PM
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In to days world of profit and shareholders value you need to show that in the longer term old growth forest has a commercial value greater than logging.
You then have to show that this longer term value is of benefit to those whose jobs are threatened.
You then must show that the Tasmanian governments chances of being re elected are not diminished by such saving.
You then have to show that Gunn’s can remain as a profitable enterprise by looking at the longer term prospects.
You might wish to show the effort will cause damage but this may be hard to demonstrate in legal terms.

You purport to show how jobs can be made but do not show that such come at no cost to incumbents whose current job will need to change.
In other words in an uncertain world you do not offer security in the current term.
Governments are one would suppose obliged to plan for continuance of the state. Hard when one is periodically subject to election.

What there for do we need to change?
The conduct of business denying them profit made from short term expediency?
The politicians, of all levels and stripes, arranging, somehow to have people of integrity committed to the long term future?
Devising means of isolating from political patronage those elements that are basic to the countries continuance?
How does one define such?
Who will then ensure such remain sacrosanct in the light of recent evidence that the protection given by separation of powers can as happened in Queensland, and is happening now, be ignored, changed
Posted by untutored mind, Friday, 3 August 2007 12:01:27 PM
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The Tasmanian old growth forests are sacred to me. The Earth has so little old growth forest left that what we have should be preserved. Both Labor and Liberal parties are wrong on this issue.

Sadly the average Aussie is so apathetic this is allowed to go on, if Gunn's want timber use plantation timber.
Posted by SHONGA, Friday, 3 August 2007 12:57:00 PM
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I don't think that Gunn's should be able to remove the last remaining old growth native forest. Australia hasn't been a frontier economy for 50 years and if we want to have a any standard of living in 50 years time we had better start managing our environment sustainably for a long term horizon.
Posted by billie, Friday, 3 August 2007 1:05:55 PM
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You get what you stand for
For me will be running as an independent in the seat off charlton.

Why

Well I tried to get The Australian Peoples Party going but interest just wasnt the case so now you are winging about the majors. They will tell you what they will do and just like kelly hoare will use a large knife to stab you in the back, if they have the effort to put it in.

www.tapp.org.au

Stuart Ulrich
Independent Candidate for Charlton
Posted by tapp, Friday, 3 August 2007 1:47:31 PM
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