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 Andrews in late November 2019 seeking “urgent clarification” of the measures they had given public support for.
The claim that 90,000 hectares of old growth had been protected from logging did not match the reality and zones designated as old growth on the map the government released continued to be logged.