Many country people are involved in both timber and farming communities. What farming and timber communities have in common, is an ongoing struggle with government and the broader community, to be able to make a living from the land in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner.
The situation for The Redgum Timber Community is beyond desperate. They are permanently losing access to their forests and are being offered too little in return. In the NSW Government’s response to the Natural Resources Commission Report (NRC), it is acknowledged that it was the Government’s own misallocation of water resources, not logging, that has lead to a decline in the health of the forest. Yet the timber communities are expected to cop the NSW Government’s decision to convert these forests into National Parks, changing their lives, their communities and their towns forever.
While the NSW Government has decided to introduce legislation in April to turn the redgum forests into National Parks, they have said that they will phase out logging over five years. This is bad enough – devastating, but apparently now Bob Carr is encouraging people to contact Peter Garrett’s office to prevent the redgum timber community from harvesting anymore timber.
If this happens, it would mean immediate unemployment for many people and extreme hardship for their families and communities.
On Monday morning Peter Garrett’s office had received over 5000 emails over night supporting Bob Carr’s call to immediately and permanently put a halt to logging in the redgum forests.
Apparently Peter Garrett has the right to ‘protect’ the river redgums if they are deemed to be of “National Environmental Significance”.
That means that there is a very real possibility that Peter Garrett will put an immediate halt to logging unless something is done now.
The redgum timber communities are pleading for people to send a message to Peter Garrett now and let him know their opinion and their support for the Redgum Timber Community.
You can fill out a contact form for Peter Garrett here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/memfeedback.asp?id=HV4
Just this one message will make a huge difference!
You might also like to bother Kevin Rudd while you’re at it – we may have more luck with him!
You can fill out a contact form for Kevin Rudd here:
http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/contact_your_pm_form
If you’re feeling passionate, you could also contact the Premier, Kristina Kineally:
http://www.kristinakeneally.com.au/contact-kristina
Frank Sartor, the NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment:
Email: [email protected]
And Steve Whan, NSW Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Rural Affairs:
Email: [email protected]
