A shire council is considering legal action against the new American owners of Victoria's state plantations over alleged breaches of forestry codes and regulations in Gippsland's Strzelecki ranges. The La Trobe Shire council voted narrowly this month to begin preparing a possible case for presentation to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over alleged breaches of the forestry code of practice and planning regulations by Hancock Victorian Plantations.
Cr Tony Hanning, who recommended that the council consider taking action, said he and two council officers had attempted unsuccessfully to resolve a number of issues with HVP, a subsidiary of the United States insurance giant Hancock. He accused the company of irregularities in its policy on clearing native vegetation, of failing to submit detailed harvesting plans to the council, of not adhering to its plans and failing to lodge plantation development notices.
The Strzeleckis have proved contentious since Hancock bought the rights to the state's public plantations from the Kennett Government last year. The sale shifted responsibility for enforcing forestry standards from the state government to local government.
Eucalypt plantations and native forest remnants are tightly interlaced in the Strzeleckis, leading to community disputes about the accuracy of delineation maps and allegations that remnants and rainforest are being wrongly cleared.
Having inherited long-standing complaints about the former Victorian Plantations Corporation, Hancock has sought to resolve out standing issues through a broadly representative consultative committee. Hancock's chief executive officer Mr Kevin White, said the company had discussed La Trobe Shire's potential case-with its chief executive officer and mayor, and was citing specific details, of alleged breaches. "HVP regrets the inference of any possible legal action ahead of HVP being provided with such details," Mr White said.
He said the company did not harvest native forests, only pine and eucalypt plantations. He said 18,000 hectares of native forest had been set aside in the La Trobe region and Hancock was managing it for conservation and protection.
Mr White said the issues raised by La Trobe Shire were a matter of interpretation of the regulations and should be resolved through constructive discussions. He said the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority was already chairing discussions intended to provide all timber companies and shires in the Strzeleckis with an agreed interpretation of the code of forest practices.