More than five hundred people marched in the rain through Lismore to the local state member’s office in protest against government-sanctioned native forest logging on Sunday.
The crowd was calling on Labor Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin to use her power as someone in government to demand an end to the practice.
Labor state governments elsewhere have banned native tree logging, including in Victoria and Western Australia.
But NSW was last year reported to be clearing 640 football fields’ worth of land per day, amounting to an average of 95,000 hectares of native vegetation cleared every year for the four preceding years.
On trend: famous fashion designer joins protest against native logging
Ms Saffin was absent from Sunday’s protest, with organisers telling The Echo it was a ‘politician-free’ event.
The protest was part of a national campaign, with the Bob Brown Foundation saying thousands marched in Bellingen, Lismore, Bega, Newcastle and Sydney in NSW as well as in Kyneton, Victoria and the cities of Adelaide and Canberra.
Bob Brown says native forest logging is destroying critical carbon stocks and razing wildlife habitat to the ground across the country.
Acclaimed environmentalist and longtime North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) member Dailan Pugh addressed Lismore’s crowd on Sunday, saying desperately needed wildlife habitats were under constant threat of destruction during a species extinction crisis.
Mr Pugh said while he supported much of Ms Saffin’s work over the years, logging was one significant exception.
Iconic Australian fashion designer Liz Davenport was also part of the protest, having played a key role speaking out against native logging in Western Australia in the leadup to its ban after a recent election.
Ms Davenport told the crowd their power was in their vote and that she would like to meet Ms Saffin.
So if a politician free event why was Janelle Saffin called out but no other politicians? Remember, though highly regarded, bob brown and his convoy led to another 3 years of climate denying coalition government.
The marches were Australia wide questioning all Governance that still allow Native Forest logging.
As to Janelles office, this was because she’s our local member and also the deputy Government whip and Parliamentary Secretary for disaster recovery. She is paid by the tax payers, not the Labor party. It’s axiomatic that deforestations are adding to our climate disasters.
Wood is renewable.
No real environmentalist opposes its use.
Real environmentalists don’t suggest we should replace its use with more use of fossil fuels and more mining, which is the consequence of ending use of timber.
Real environmentalists are supporting timber use by planting trees for future timber use, and trees for habitat too
Shane wouldn’t know an environmental issue if it bit him on the simplistic, ill-informed lump he uses for a head.
If wood was ‘renewable’ we wouldn’t have the total irreparable forest clearing that Shane and his ILK advocate.
To be a functioning forest trees need to be 500- 1000 years old , so when are you going to start planting?
Cheers, G”)
Pretty stupid comment that Ken.
Forests younger than 500 years certainly are forests, and have wildlife habitat values too. My 25 year old forests are popular with many wildlife species.
Plus, the fact that land developers clear forests does not mean logging cannot be done sustainably.
When you have this poor a capacity for logic you should not advertise it publicly
No Shane. I’m a professional Plant Ecologist, are you? There’s no point arguing with you but you are absolutely wrong on all counts. Study for 18 years, work in forestry and forest management for 40 years, then I’ll talk to you. You know nothing about it.
“Remember, though highly regarded, bob brown and his convoy led to another 3 years of climate denying coalition government.”, well, no.
It was the ALP who shot themselves in the foot over the whole Adani issue that destroyed any climate credibility that the ALP sought.
The punters decided, why vote for A ustralian L iberal-lite P arty when they can stay with full strength Liberal.
The ALP still hasn’t gotten the climate message with their unabashed support for New Fossil Fuel Adventures as at the same time they flubber about wondering why their primary vote is as low as it is.
No it was the Queensland voters responding to the convoy.
Joachim old son, that nonsensical, ideological rant has about as much spin in it as a chain of laundromats, however you were right when you stated the punters decided, but that’s it. The punters in Qld turned on the Greens en masse and when there were no Green candidates they turned on Labor, our primary vote fell by 5% overnight, that was the main reason Labor did not win any seats north of Brisbane. If you Greens even had half a brain you would still be dangerous.
Keith, Keith, Keith, we feel your pain, ‘Its all the Greens fault”; always is, always will be. Ouch!
Keith, if your ALP mob grew a spine in 2019 and stood for something on the Adani / Climate / Fossil Fuels issue you would have won the election. Instead, the ALP’s word games and action on Adani torpedoed any claims that the ALP made about being the so called climate champions. The punters saw through the ALP con on climate, your ALP rabble rightly got what they deserved.
But Keith, why blame yourselves/ ALP for your 2019FAIL when you can throw the switch on …..distract and divert to the Greens. Lol.
Keith, the Greens are always on the money with climate and energy related policies.
That your ALP mob is a too lazy to work up policy/ies for the times is all on the ALP, no one else.
And as we see all too regularly, the slow learning ALP does eventually come around, copying and adopting Greens policy initiatives and claiming them as ALP’s own.
Onya ALP, job done!
Joachim,I fell your pain old son, but ranting and raving and completely ignoring reality will not help.
Pretending the answers are easy and that there will be no consequences is the lazy approach to policy. Transforming our grid to renewables is genuine action. Serious policy is also informed by some realities like without gas as a transition fuel the world will burn more polluting coal. Oh, and that turning off the power has serious humanitarian consequences.
Re forest now are legends planting thousands of trees in the Byron shire and beyond trying to fix the mess left behind by clearing the big scrub clearly using air crete for housing is the way to go no timber nesscersary or mud brick or straw brick housing sending trees to wood chip is criminal far out lunacy . We need to end logging native forests and only log pine and non native species for any furniture or other purposes.
It is hard to find anything Saffin and the NSW Labor party have done for Lismore & NSW and particularly the environment
All very LNP like on environment and the unjust drug driving particularly
Looks like a one term government in the making
You can only pray for a return of the LNP to power Ron.