Jennifer Marohasy

FORMER New South Wales Premier, Bob Carr, obviously has no idea when it comes to the history and ecology of river red gum forests in south western NSW. His misguided comments in The Land one week ago (“Forests or fenceposts”, July 30, pg 19) reflect the prejudices of someone born and breed in Sydney and trained as [...]

IN 1994, Ray Evans bought a cottage at Marysville (Victoria, Australia) which he and his wife subsequently renovated and extended.   The cottage and its extensive garden were destroyed by fire on the night of Saturday February 7 – now known as Black Saturday.    In the following provocative and political article Mr Evans blames the fire “on green [...]

A RECENT Australian Government study of 115 key industries found that only the forestry sector was net carbon-positive. Yet, a major Wilderness Society campaign is advocating the closure of Australian timber industries to help mitigate climate change.
Their campaign revolves around research by scientists from the Australian National University Fenner School of Environment and Society who have [...]

IN the south east of Tasmania, there was once a thriving timber town known as Wielangata. In its heyday it had a general store, bakery, blacksmiths’ shops, school and of course several saw mills.  Wielangta was ravaged by bushfires in the 1920s and abandoned in 1928.
Australian Greens’ Senator Bob Brown has been claiming the area [...]

ASK a forest worker from Tasmania, a commercial fisherman from South Australia, a sugarcane grower from Queensland or a cattle producer from New South Wales what they think of Greens and a common complaint will be that “Greens tell lies”.  
Each of these groups have been the target of clever campaigns by Green groups including The Wilderness [...]

VicForests estimates that $600 million of timber and economic activity related to its harvesting was lost.  Read more here.

IN a rare display of sympathy and understanding for forest contractors, ABC journalist Tom Tilley has put the hard word on protestors in the Upper Florentine Valley, accusing them of perhaps even being “unethical”.  
You can play the interview at the ABC Triple J website  while watching a slide show. [1]
  

The issue is ongoing conflict at a blockade in the Florentine [...]

THE Victorian Premier, John Brumby, has waited until New Year’s Eve to announce the end of timber harvesting and grazing in 83,000 hectares of red gum forest in the Central Murray Valley in north western Victoria, Australia.
The creation of new national parks was a 2006 election promise to secure inner-city votes but is based on a [...]

ON December 1, the first day of summer here in Australia, residents of the little town of Barmah in northwestern Victoria, drove cattle into their forest in defiance of a government ban.  The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has threatened legal action, but so far the cattle are still there.  The forest has historically [...]

Australia’s Independent Complaints Review Panel (ICRP) has upheld a complaint made against a segment on the 7.30 Report, titled “Pulp mill could taint catch: fishing industry”, broadcast on 5 June 2007 and later made available on ABC Online.   Read more here.