Media
Spring Street continued to bully uni over grazing
Melissa Fyfe
Sunday Age , May 29, 2011
THE Baillieu government continued to bully Melbourne University over the controversial alpine grazing trial even after The Sunday Age exposed its threatening behaviour.
Emails tabled in Parliament show that weeks after it was revealed the Department of Sustainability and Environment had threatened the university's funding, senior government official Peter Appleford demanded action on a letter from two university academics to Environment Minister Ryan Smith.
Green Paper Needs Reflex Action
Ben Butler
The Age, May 30, 2011
REFLEX, Australia's best-known brand of paper, is set to lose its international green accreditation within the next two months unless its manufacturer can strike an unlikely deal with some of its fiercest enemies.
The loss of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification would force Australian Paper, which makes Reflex, to either abandon its public commitment to the FSC process or shift its sourcing from native forests to more expensive plantation timber.
News that Australian Paper's international certification is at risk will come as an embarrassment to Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh, who recently threatened to take forestry jobs away from the Yarra Ranges Council unless it ends a boycott of Reflex paper.
It also threatens Victoria's state-owned logger VicForests, a key supplier of native forest woodchips to Australian Paper.
Google under fire for dumping paper ad
Julian Lee - February 1, 2011
GOOGLE has been accused of stifling free speech after it banned an ad attacking a paper manufacturer over its environmental record.
The Wilderness Society paid to have its ad on Google promoting a boycott against a paper manufacturer that uses wood sourced from Australian old growth forests.
When web users typed ''office paper'', ''office stationery'' or the brand names Australian Paper and Reflex into Google, a link to the Wilderness Society's website, Ethical Paper, would appear at the top of the search engine's listings.
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But after a complaint by the company at the centre of the boycott, Australian Paper, Google removed the ads saying that because the society did not own the trademark for the popular paper brand, Reflex, it could not use the name in its ads.
Letter to the Editor - Herald Sun
Dear editor,
In June, 2010 over 300 local residents packed the Healesville Memorial Hall for presentations on the destruction of the public forests of the Victorian Central Highlands. The call from the floor was, "VicForests are no good for the forests; no good for themselves; no good for us and no good for Victoria - they should just be closed down!" So Minister Peter Walsh might receive plenty of local support for his "threat" (Council gags on Reflex vow , Herald Sun, May 21) to Yarra Ranges Council to not further expand VicForests presence in our town - though not the support he might have wished for.
Nevertheless, the principle that a State Minister should seek to bully a council to spend ratepayers' money on a product the council doesn't want to buy, under threat of removal of local jobs, is one that should raise the hackles of every Victorian. Such juvenile, though brutal, tactics do not befit a senior minister. Minister Walsh is a disgrace - he should either apologise or resign.
Sincerely,
Steve Meacher
Toolangi Vic 3777
Reflex Rebellion
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
24th May 2011 02:00:24 AM
THE State Government says a deal to relocate VicForests' head office to the Yarra Ranges, along with a possible 45 new jobs, has been taken “off the table” until Yarra Ranges Council reneges on its “so-called ethical paper pledge”.
The council move to boycott the Reflex brand paper and teach Australian Paper to switch to 100 per cent plantation paper, as The Mail reported on 3 May, seems to have backfired as it puts local job interests in jeopardy.
But YRC mayor Terry Avery said he was disappointed the State Government had chosen to establish a direct link between the two unrelated issues.
Underwear models expose Victoria’s (dirty little) secret
24 May 2011
Peter Cooper
Senior Campaigner
The Wilderness Society Sydney Inc
Victoria is hiding a dirty little secret, exposed today by lingerie wearing protestors in central Sydney and Melbourne. Around 15 models braved the cold and stripped down to expose the fact that Reflex Paper is sourced from logging that is pushing Victoria’s emblem, the Leadbeaters Possum, to the brink of extinction.
Forest logging a big carbon culprit
Ben Cubby
May 24, 2011
STOPPING logging in old-growth forests, particularly in southern Australia, is one of the best ways of making timely cuts to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Climate Commission's first report.
Established forests store much more carbon dioxide than plantations, so cutting them down releases more heat-trapping gases, it concluded.
A COUNCIL has been warned to lift its ban on a brand of paper or risk losing 45 new jobs.
The State Government said a proposal to move the VicForests corporate offices into the Yarra Range Council's area would be "off the table", unless it started using Reflex paper.
Click here to Contact Hon. Peter Walsh
A letter from Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh to Yarra Ranges Council chief executive Glenn Patterson, seen by the Herald Sun, commended the proposal for the VicForests corporate office to move, which would create 45 jobs.
Tasmanian logging pact hits hurdle
Andrew Darby
The Age , May 18, 2011
Tasmania's once-in-a-generation forest peace talks have been rocked by the decision of a key green group, The Wilderness Society, to suspend its involvement citing a lack of action.
Talks eight months ago reached agreement on a historic blueprint to end conflict over the island's contentious wild forests, but a logging moratorium is yet to be fully implemented, months after it was due.