Deal aims to bring peace to Tasmanian forests
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 04/08/2011
Reporter: Martin Cuddihy
A deal that aims to bring peace to Tasmania's forests, conservationists and loggers is about to be signed at the end of the week. But is the plan enough to keep all parties happy?
Transcript
CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: A deal that effectively halves the Tasmanian forest industry is set to be signed this weekend. It has federal backing, giving more than $250 million to the industry and the communities that will be most affected. It's meant to be the start of a new era, bringing about peace between conservationists and loggers. But at this stage, that doesn't look likely. Martin Cuddihy reports.
MARTIN CUDDIHY, REPORTER: It's the middle of a wet and misty winter in Tasmania's southern forests. Snow-capped mountains feed rushing streams and rivers.
In the Upper Florentine, a hardy group of environmental protestors is braving the elements.
MIRANDA GIBSON, STILL WILD STILL THREATENED: Gets pretty cold in the winter, but it's also one of the most beautiful times when it's snowy and, yeah, the forest looks beautiful in the snow. But, yeah, it can get pretty tough out here.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: For the past four years there have always been members of Still Wild Still Threatened at this camp. They want this valley to become a national park. It's less than 10 kilometres from World Heritage area. The group uses a variety of methods to draw attention to its cause, including frontline action.
In early 2009, more than a dozen people were arrested when they tried to enter an exclusion zone to stop logging.
These days, the passion is still there, but things are a little quieter at Camp Flozza.
Sunday is the deadline for an agreement that's meant to bring peace to Tasmania's forests and end the need for camps like this one.
Essentially, the agreement will halve the number of people employed in forestry and in return provide tens of millions of dollars in compensation. 430,000 hectares of high conservation value forests will be immediately protected in informal reserves.
But that's not good enough for these protestors. They want a further 140,000 hectares included in the deal.
BRIDIE MCENTEE, STILL WILD STILL THREATENED: It's not a comprehensive plan. It's just protecting a small amount of - a relatively small amount of forest when you look at the wilderness that's out here. So there's a huge amount of forest that's not protected and that's not going to be protected under this deal.
ROBERT TORENIUS, SAWMILLER: To me, it's just such bloody miners and there's no middle ground anywhere. As soon as you concede more area, next minute we're back on the same track again.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Unions, timber workers and conservationists have worked on the deal for the past 18 months and they all agreed to a statement of principles late last year. Unions say this final hurdle is a frustrating sticking point.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR, FORESTRY UNION: We always knew that there will be some people who were stuck in the old ways. You know, there's old people trynna fight old wars here. Some people need to move on.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: The Commonwealth will spend $85 million to help forestry workers transition out of the industry and compensate those who've lost their jobs. $120 million will be spent in regional communities to help diversify their economies.
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Tasmania's Premier Lara Giddings personally negotiated the latest agreement, but the federal influence over the heads of agreement has drawn criticism from the Greens leader Nick McKim.
NICK MCKIM, TASMANIAN GREENS LEADER: To think you could come into town, crack a few heads together and resolve what's been a very difficult and divisive debate in Tasmania for decades and to think that you could resolve that in 24 or 36 hours I think was quite naive, and ultimately what we're doing now is having to come in and try and pick up the pieces, if you like.
JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER (July 25th): Legislation will be presented in the first six months of next year to move forests into better levels of protection. It would seem to me, once again, a very strange result indeed if Mr McKim and his political party voted against that.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: An inter-governmental agreement is scheduled to be signed this weekend. At this stage, it won't have the backing of the Greens.
NICK MCKIM: There is very little or no certainty around the conservation outcomes and particularly new national parks that we have out of this process, but things are still moving forward.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR: This is not a Greens-versus-workers debate. This about trying to grab some opportunities through dialogue and trying to work collectively together to establish a better space for the industry going forward.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: South of Hobart at Torenius Timber, these logs are being turned into hardwood decking. The wood, commonly known as yellow gum, comes from native forests in the central highlands. The owner of the sawmill, Robert Torenius, isn't optimistic about the weekend deadline.
ROBERT TORENIUS: The industry's given so much over the years, given up so much production forests. We're now reduced to a very small area and still they persist, so I don't think there's gonna be any peace in our forests, as they have said, till the last chainsaw stops operating in the native forests.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Robert Torenius has been involved in the timber industry for more than 30 years, but in the last six months his workforce has almost halved. He wants green groups to stop being so hard-nosed.
ROBERT TORENIUS: Well, I think they should actually start thinking about the people, the people that are in the industry and what alternatives have they got for employment for those people? I mean, we've got rural areas that are really suffering now that historically have been supplying the workers for the timber industry.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Back in the Florentine, there is a determination to stay until this area is transformed into a national park. But even with the weekend deadline looming and the promise of peace in the forests, it's unlikely this latest agreement will end the divisive debate.
MIRANDA GIBSON: Until the forest is actually protected, then we need to be out here standing up for these forests.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR: We have a chance of having a sustainable future. If we do not, this industry will have no future.
CHRIS UHLMANN: Martin Cuddihy reporting from Hobart.