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The Guardian: Albanese urged to ditch Howard-era native forest logging exemptions

October 03, 2024

Exclusive: independent MPs and Lidia Thorpe tell PM that environment law reforms under negotiation must remove exemptions for native forest logging.

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Sydney Morning Herald: Why native forest harvesting is the ‘zombie’ industry that won’t die - Victorian Forest Alliance

October 03, 2024

When the Victorian government announced it would stop logging its own native timber for commercial purposes, environment groups celebrated.

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The Age: Carbon ‘sharks’: How private companies are cashing in on ancient practices

October 03, 2024

First come the new utes, then come the questions. The carbon industry presents a generation-defining opportunity for Indigenous Australians, but there are concerns the rewards are not being fairly shared.

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ABC: Satellite AI analysis finds thousands of hectares of 'magnificent forests' in Victoria that haven't regenerated after logging

December 08, 2023

For decades, chainsaws have ripped through the native forests of south-east Australia. Across Australia, Victoria’s forests have been logged more than any other mainland state over the past two decades. Now the state is...

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ABC: Coalition of environmentalists call on Premier Jacinta Allan to abolish VicForests

October 09, 2023

Sixty Victorian not-for-profit organisations have written to Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas to urge them to abolish state-owned logging business VicForests. They say the organisation has outlived its purpose and lost public...

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ABC: Supreme Court orders VicForests to halt salvage logging in Wombat State Forest coupe

September 26, 2023

A Supreme Court justice has ordered VicForests to temporarily halt the harvesting of fallen trees at a site in Victoria's west, after a community group alleged it had not surveyed for threatened species. Wombat...

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The Age: VicForests on the verge of being dismantled after government change

September 07, 2023

Victoria’s state-owned logging business is on the verge of being dismantled and absorbed into other areas of the bureaucracy after the state government reclassified it and announced a review of its operations. VicForests has...

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ABC: Alpine coupes earmarked for forestry could be bulldozed before Victoria's end of year native logging ban

August 23, 2023

Environmental groups are calling on VicForests to abandon logging plans in the state's alpine region after endangered native plants were found near the earmarked sites. Five threatened plant species were seen at several coupes near Mount Stirling by surveyors...

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ABC: Investigation find VicForests hired a private investigator to spy on environmental campaigners

August 10, 2023

VicForests hired a private investigator to spy on environmental campaigners and an academic, an investigation by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) has found. The investigation was sparked by an ABC report...

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MEDIA RELEASE: VicForests boycott urged over greenwashing claims

July 25, 2023

The Victorian Government's logging agency, VicForests, is under fire for allegations of misleading marketing and state-sponsored greenwashing.  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been asked to investigate whether statements on the VicForests...

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Crikey: Dan Andrews’ parks choke towns, divide communities and favour white men

July 04, 2023

Just as research has shown the health benefits of being in nature, the Victorian government has allowed its parks to fall into disrepair. A Cranbourne family arrives at a Rubicon campsite to find a...

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Yahoo News: Endangered species found 'smashed up' under bulldozed trees

June 28, 2023

Victorian authorities are investigating allegations critically endangered trees were illegally cleared in the state's Central Highlands. One specimen photographed buried under a pile of bulldozed flora is believed to be hundreds of years old....

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The Conversation: We can't just walk away after the logging stops in Victoria's native forests. Here's what must happen next

June 05, 2023

By the end of this year, native forest logging will cease in Victoria. Now begins a long and difficult process to recover vast areas of forest after more than 50 years of clearfelling and...

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The Guardian: Ending native forest logging in Victoria is long overdue. Australia must protect its precious trees

May 25, 2023

By the end of the year, Victoria’s trouble-plagued native forest industry will end – six years ahead of schedule. The state’s mountain ash forests and endangered wildlife will at last be safe from chainsaws....

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The Guardian: End of native logging in Victoria 'a monumental win for forests', say conservationists

May 25, 2023

Native forest logging in Victoria will end in December, six years earlier than previously planned, after the state government decided severe bushfires and legal campaigns had made it economically and environmentally unviable. The announcement...

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The Wilderness Society: Pulp the pulp contract, not Victoria's native forests

May 20, 2023

The Andrews Labor Government has legal grounds to suspend its controversial wood pulp contract, according to new legal advice from top silk Perry Herzfeld SC and barrister Daye Gang. The barristers, who specialise in...

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The Age: The legal manoeuvre activists hope will trigger an early end to native forest logging

May 20, 2023

Victoria could end native forest logging before its 2030 deadline without paying contractual penalties, according to fresh legal advice commissioned by environmental groups. The Andrews government is contractually obliged to supply pulpwood, a by-product...

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ABC: VicForests slammed for its handling of FOI request following 'spying' allegations

March 09, 2023

A government agency that allegedly spied on a woman to "dig up dirt" has been slammed by Victoria's information commissioner, who said the agency should apologise for its response to her request for information...

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The Age: Taxpayer to pay $38 million as logging agency fails to supply timber

March 08, 2023

Victorian taxpayers will fork out more than $38 million after state-owned logging agency VicForests was forced to compensate customers and contractors it could not supply with timber and billed the Andrews government for the...

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The Guardian: Australia's white paper industry is dead, leaving rural communities to pick through the pulp

February 17, 2023

For Pete Henry, who has worked at the Maryvale paper mill in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley for 42 years, there was no specific time when the decline in white paper began. “It’s been happening for...

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The Age: Logging uncertainty: Nippon to close white paper mill in La Trobe Valley

February 15, 2023

Japanese paper giant Nippon will close Australia’s last white paper plant, meaning 200 jobs will be lost at the Maryvale mill and native forest logging in Victoria could end sooner than scheduled. The Japanese...

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The Age: The closure of Australia's last white paper mill could end native forest logging in Victoria

February 06, 2023

Native forest logging in Victoria could end sooner than scheduled if a Japanese paper company decides to close down its Latrobe Valley white paper plant, the last of its kind in Australia and one...

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The Age: ‘Entirely inappropriate’: Alarm over Dandenongs National Park tree removal

December 24, 2022

Conservationists and landcare groups have raised the alarm over plans to remove fallen and “hazardous” trees from two forested areas in the Dandenong Ranges National Park on Melbourne's suburban fringe.

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The Age: Logging agency VicForests blames legal woes for record financial loss

December 22, 2022

State-owned logging agency VicForests has recorded an unprecedented $52.4 million financial loss this year, blaming it on the cost of court cases brought against it by community environment groups. The figure is significantly higher...

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The Age: ‘Protection zones’ for endangered possums already logged, environment groups say

November 25, 2022

Forest areas the Andrews government recently set aside to protect the endangered greater glider had been logged before they were gazetted, providing scant additional habitat for the rare possum. In October, the state government...

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AFR: Logging native forests in Victoria costs more money than it makes

November 15, 2022

Immediately ending native forest logging across Victoria’s central highlands, one of the world’s most intense carbon sinks, would generate an extra $60 million in benefits for the state this decade alone. In a challenge...

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ABC News: 90,000 hectares of old growth forest was earmarked for protection, within days it was being logged

November 13, 2022

Environmentalists who had supported and applauded the government’s move were blindsided — and now say they were tricked by the government. A letter on behalf of six of those groups wrote to Premier Daniel...

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Doctors for the Environment Australia: Victorian Government urged to end native forest logging

November 10, 2022

As the federal government considers joining the global push to halt deforestation by 2030 at COP27 this week, the Victorian government is facing calls at home to end native forest logging and protect the...

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The Age: Logging agency VicForests failed to protect endangered possums, court finds

November 05, 2022

Victoria’s Supreme Court has found state-owned logging agency VicForests failed to follow the law and protect endangered greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders when logging native forests.

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The Guardian: Victorian state logging company failed to protect threatened gliders, court finds

November 05, 2022

Victoria’s state logging company has failed to protect threatened species of gliders, and its methods to check for them before logging are inadequate, the state’s supreme court has found. Justice Melinda Richards ordered VicForests...

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The Age: ‘Terrible for the climate’: Victoria’s native logging emissions equivalent to 700,000 cars

November 04, 2022

Native forest logging in Victoria produces about 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to the pollution from 700,000 medium-sized cars or double the state’s domestic aviation sector, research shows. For the...

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Yahoo News: Dark twist hidden in impossible Captcha internet test

November 03, 2022

Captcha tests are used by websites to determine users are human and not a bot trying to create a fake account. Challenges usually include clicking on all of the zebra crossings or traffic lights....

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The Saturday Paper: Timber town’s change of heart on native logging

October 15, 2022

While state MPs keep backing the destruction of native forest for woodchips and paper pulp, a once-divided timber region is getting out of native logging. By Katherine Wilson.

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The ABC: Logging regulator not adequately detecting illegal logging, Victorian Auditor-General's Office finds

October 10, 2022

Victoria's logging regulator is failing to fully use its powers, and cannot assure the public it is effectively reducing the risk of illegal logging, according to a report by the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO)....

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The Guardian: Sixty endangered greater gliders found in Victorian forests tagged for logging

October 04, 2022

Citizen scientists have reportedly found about 60 endangered greater gliders in a dozen Victorian areas that have been targeted for logging. The greater glider – one of the world’s largest gliding mammals – was...

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ABC News: Victoria's logging agency VicForests cleared possum habitat and broke laws, audit finds

August 24, 2022

Victoria's government-owned logging company illegally cleared 1,000 square metres of protected possum habitat and broke the law in 25 out of 30 logging areas, according to a government-commissioned audit.

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The Age: Logging under way a month after greater glider declared endangered

August 09, 2022

Environmentalists have accused state agency VicForests of logging an area identified as greater glider habitat in East Gippsland, less than a month after federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek declared the rare possum endangered.  ...

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The Guardian: Unions call for Victoria’s proposed laws targeting environmental protesters to be scrapped

August 04, 2022

In letter to Daniel Andrews, union groups argue bill is ‘disproportionate’ and could lead to further limiting of workplace action. A group of unions have hit out at the Andrews government over proposed legislation...

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The Guardian: Australia’s farcical climate policy: market forces to cut emissions and subsidies to destroy carbon sinks

July 13, 2022

"The climate crisis often gets blamed on market failure, but government failure plays a pretty big role as well. Not only do Australian governments spend more than $11.6bn a year subsidising fossil fuels, at...

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The Age: Green groups worried new ‘unchecked powers’ will lead to more logging

March 18, 2022

Efforts to protect threatened species will be undermined and it will be easier to log native forests if proposed changes to Victoria’s forestry laws are approved, environment groups have warned. The state government says...

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The Guardian: Victorian logging rule changes will weaken protection for bushfire-prone areas, conservation groups warn

February 24, 2022

Conservation groups have accused the Victorian government of proposing changes to logging rules that would weaken protections for bushfire-prone communities and the environment. The Andrews government has published draft changes to logging standards that regulate VicForests’...

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