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Media release From the Bracks Government Wednesday, 6 November 2002 BRACKS GOVERNMENT TO END LOGGING IN THE OTWAYS The Bracks Government will end the logging of native forests in the Otways within six years and immediately reduce timber harvesting and woodchipping in the area by more than a quarter, the Premier, Steve Bracks, announced today. Releasing the Government's Forests and National Parks Policy, Mr Bracks said the commitments would see the transition out of native forests and into plantations, as well as the creation of a continuous National Park between Anglesea and Cape Otway. "We have listened to the community and we will now act on behalf of future generations to save the Otways," Mr Bracks said. "If re-elected, we will make the Otways one of the world's great National Parks. "This Government already has a strong record on the environment, having created more National Parks than any other government in the history of Victoria. The Otways plan will build on achievements such as the creation of Marine National Parks, Box-Ironbark parks and increased flows to the Snowy River. "All Otways sawlog licences will run out before 2008, and it will be our policy not to renew them. We are also hopeful the industry will work with the Government to stop native forest harvesting in the Otways long before then." Mr Bracks said the Government would allocate $14 million for the Otways plan, to enable the transition from logging in native forests to logging in plantations, as well as providing worker assistance for those who wish to leave the industry. The Otway timber industry currently employs around 70 people. Most of these jobs are expected to transfer over to the plantation sector. Those who leave the industry altogether will be assisted to find jobs in tourism and other local industries. Mr Bracks said a large amount of the funding would also be invested in infrastructure to support eco-tourism initiatives - such as the Trans-Otways walk, an Otways treetops walk and increased visitor capacity at Triplet Falls - to boost visitor numbers and create hundreds of flow-on jobs. The Government will also provide an additional $1 million to the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC), primarily to undertake a public study to determine the makeup and boundaries of the new National Park. Mr Bracks said the Government would spend $50 million on forests and National Parks in a second term, additional to the $80 million allocated earlier this year for timber industry reform. Mr Bracks said the immediate 25 per cent reduction in the Otways had been made possible because of the voluntary surrendering of a major timber licence in the Otways, handed back as part of the Government's timber industry reform program. "Over the past three years, our Government has worked tirelessly to put the industry on a sustainable footing across the State. Now that process is in train, we can now begin immediately phasing out logging in the Otways," Mr Bracks said. He said the Government would assist the industry in moving to alternative sustainable areas, such as western Victoria's maturing plantation resource. Other elements of the Forests and National Parks policy include:
The Minister for Environment and Conservation, Sherryl Garbutt, said western Victoria's unique circumstances presented opportunities for industry transition that did not exist, and were unlikely to exist, anywhere else in the State. These circumstances include the high economic potential of the tourism industry around the Great Ocean Road, the large area of plantation timber in the region that will mature in the next 10 years and dramatic and unforeseen reductions in timber yields. "A second-term Labor Government will work with industry to ensure that all employees of mills which decide to leave will be assisted in finding new jobs, and all communities will be supported," Ms Garbutt said. Ms Garbutt said the development of the transition process and plantation resource would be undertaken in partnership with industry and would utilise the respected Industry Transition Taskforce. "Whether the mills stay or go, no one will be left behind. This Government has already secured more than 600 new jobs in Victorian timber towns, and facilitated $55 million in new investment, following moves to make the industry more sustainable." What
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