KATRINA BRANDON
By KATRINA BRANDON
ABOUT 500 people attended another timber rally in Traralgon last week to protest against the state government’s policy to close the native timber industry in January. Held at Gippsland Performing Arts Centre (GPAC), people came to hear from the Gippsland People’s Council, Wellington Shire Council, the Victorian Farmers Federation, East Gippsland’s Councillor Sonia Buckley and a few Latrobe City Council members. Their target was the Premier, Daniel Andrews, and the Greens for not having forestry knowledge or for using misinformation to adhere to the closure decision. “At least with the 2030 closure announcement, they could work until then and have plenty of time to either figure it out or to reverse the closure,” Gippsland People’s Council member, Darryl Bird, said. “They were all going to be working until 2030 so they all went out and invested in machinery and they were going to try and sustain the living for another six to seven years. Pay off debt and maybe he (Andrews) wouldn’t be there so they would keep the timber industry. They now have all of this debt. All those families are shattered.” Even through wet and cold weather, people kept joining the rally from 11am until 2pm when the speakers had finished. Altogether there were 10 speakers which included Darryl Bird (Feathers), Carleen Haylock, Noel Blundell, Mark Hollman, Wade Northausen, Cr Dale Harriman, Cr Sharon Gibson, Gregory Forster, Michael Morrison and Cr Sonia Buckley. Others that stood in the crowd included people from all over Victoria and some Melbourne Freedom Riot members joined in. During the rally, the generator for the microphone and speakers kept failing even though they were at GPAC. The Gippsland People’s Council were allowed to rally but were denied facilities in the GPAC building. Instead, local businesses supplied bathroom facilities and food for the people in attendance in support. Naked Spud, GPAC café, Pizza HQ and Hotel Traralgon were some of the ones who helped in support by opening their doors. Starting with Mr Bird and Ms Haylock, they introduced the crowd to how the Gippsland People’s Council came about. “Starting in November 2021, we started the council on the grounds to help with mental concerns within industry. It is overwhelming enough to say that we are now above 300 members,” said Ms Haylock. Ms Haylock said that not only was the decision for closure going to affect those already in the industry, it was going to affect the future of children and their job opportunities. “Enough is enough”, she said and asked what it was going to take to reverse the policy, urging that everyone pitch in for social support. Next came Mr Hollman, showing the research that had supposedly been done for the support on the closure. As he held it up, he showed that it was heavily redacted and that it took him 12 months just to receive something that can’t be read. “Where is Dan’s research coming from? Why hasn’t he made it public knowledge?” Mr Hollman said. “All he knows is how to do is close down industries.” This was then followed by Mr Northausen, who said that “We (Victoria) should just sack the lot!” and “It’s a them problem, we are a sustainable industry”. Next was Latrobe City’s Cr Dale Harriman, who said that it was five to four voting against timber in the local council chambers. “Timber puts back into the community. We are now getting timber from Tasmania. Why can we use theirs but not our own?” he said. At the peak of interest from the crowd, Cr Harriman pulled out a vest from nine years ago showing that the whole council used to support the timber industry. He then said people should note who voted for timber and then vote for them in the next local election in November. Climbing the stage after Cr Harriman was Cr Sharon Gibson, who wanted to lay out timber industry facts that she had obtained. “For the latte sippers in Melbourne, let me read out the research that we have had gathered,” said Cr Gibson. Cr Gibson shared 10 facts that she has on the timber industry in favour which were: Four out of 10,000 trees are harvested a year and replanted; More than 5800 directly will be made unemployed by the closures; $1.3 billion in economic support taken out of Gippsland due to the closure; Trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere and new trees absorb more carbon; Timber is a natural insulator, is recyclable and biodegradable; Logging cleans up the bush and reduces the risk of fires; No animals are harmed because of logging practices under the timber code; Firefighting expertise will be lost due to the timber closure; A variety of wood types are needed in a lot of uses (for example, guitar bases, flooring and pallets); and Trees are the best renewable commodity in the world. Greg Forster said that due to timber demand, many builders had collapsed due to alternative timber varieties being expensive and hard to source. The overall feeling of the crowd and speakers was a broken sense of pride in relation to the closure, but a willingness to fight until they are heard. East Gippsland’s, Cr Sonia Buckley, said the move to close the native timber industry was counter-productive for the state, with a lack of thought into community safety. “It is never lost, we can turn it over. We want voices in the chambers and we will have it. We aren’t just wood, we are a sense of pride,” said Cr Buckley. “Melbourne people should get on a bus and take a tour of the region, the country to find out what is going on here. Our whole food bowl is here. We are letting city people control the whole state in which they are using the power, the gas, and the water,” Mr Bird said. “The Greens should come up here and see what is actually here.”
