photo Jeff Dawson
On Sunday 700 to 800 people marched through the streets of Byron Bay calling for an end to native forest logging, joining close to 10,000 people marching nationwide.
‘It was such strong public mobilisation to end native forest logging,’ Valerie Thompson, Coordinator of the Byron march, told The Echo.
‘The energy and creativity that people brought to the march, speeches and music really highlighted that the best time to end native forest logging is now.
photo Jeff Dawson
‘This was a call to take action directly, to vote for candidates who commit to the end of native forest logging, and letting our MPs know that there is a Native Forest Declaration that already has over 60,000 signatures.
‘It is modelled off the New Zealand Maruia Declaration that was a public petition calling for the immediate phasing out of logging in New Zealand. It was presented with over 300,000 signatures to the New Zealand Parliament in 1977 and logging ceased shortly after. We are asking everyone who wants to see an end to native forest logging to sign the petition online at: https://bobbrown.org.au/get-involved/native-forest-declaration.’
Scott Sledge, President of the Nimbin Environment Centre and Northern Rivers Guardians, told The Echo that, ‘This march was about putting pressure on politicians to protect forests.’
photo Jeff Dawson
Disband NSW Forestry Corporation
Former magistrate and Dean of Law at Southern Cross University (SCU) DAvid Heilpern spoke to the rally telling the crowd that the NSW Forestry Corporation needed to be disbanded.
‘They have been fined for multiple breaches of the regulations but they don’t learn their lessons and we the tax payers are the ones that pay their fines. Anybody else would have been disbanded by now.’
Heilpern also highlighted that the NSW Forestry Corporation’s propaganda that logging forests helps prevent weeds and forest fires was ‘the opposite of the case’. He pointed out that after logging the weeds grow in and that these areas as significantly more likely to burn with hot forest fires.
photo Jeff Dawson
Community cost
Local ecologist Dailan Pugh explained that ‘NSW Forestry cost the community $20m a year in subsidies to keep this forest destruction going’.
Frustration at the lack of action to protect native forests and end native forest logging was clear.
‘We are not having much success with the two major parties,’ said Mr Sledge.
‘Labor has promised on both the state and federal level to bring in more environmentally friendly laws but it hasn’t occurred. It doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. We are still waiting for the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) to be declared by NSW state Labor. Apart from the few high-value koala hubs that have been protected from logging there is no protection for those areas that are to be included in the GKNP and the NSW Forestry Corporation continues to log them.’
photo Jeff Dawson
Australia wide marches
March for Forests took place across the country with marches in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns and across NSW in Ulladulla, Bellingen, Bega, Newcastle and Armidale.
‘Against the wishes of the majority of Labor and Liberal voters, Prime Minister Albanese is in lockstep with Peter Dutton to plan to fast-track legislation that will weaken national environment laws for toxic salmon corporations. Already, our national environment laws have given logging a free pass to kill endangered species and increase global heating,’ said Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Manager.
‘The people expect governments to rule for the people, not corporations. The people have spoken and showed up to take action and call for native forest protection.
‘The world is in climate and extinction crises, but Australia’s forests that are carbon storehouses and home to rare and endangered species are being relentlessly logged. In Tasmania, since 2014, logging has significantly increased in the only breeding habitat on Earth for critically endangered Swift Parrots. In NSW, logging continues to flatten the forest homes of endangered Koalas and Greater Gliders,’ said Jenny Weber.
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