Instead, 66per cent want an immediate end to woodchipping and 73per cent supported phasing the local timber industry into plantations. The polled area included towns such as Woodend where sawmills and logging contractors are major employers.
The agreement will set aside conservation reserves but also removes federal export controls on woodchips. The bulk of woodchips are whole logs rejected for sawmilling when areas are clear-felled. Almost 80per cent of the timber taken from the Wombat-Cobaw forests is chipped.
In an ominous sign for Labor, which narrowly won five seats in the Wombat-Cobaw region, including the Premier Mr Steve Bracks' home territory around Ballarat, 56per cent said forestry issues would influence their vote. Two-thirds of Labor supporters said their vote would be affected.
Opposition to the regional forest agreement has continued to gather momentum despite Labor's efforts to restructure the public consultation process and its promise to balance timber interests with other forest values such as tourism, beekeeping, water catchments and biodiversity.
The Environment and Conservation Minister, Ms Sherryl Garbutt, is on leave but a spokesman for the acting minister, Mr Keith Hamilton, said the consultation process had been improved and everyone would now have a say in how "our wonderful forest resource" is managed.
He said Labor had "a dynamic plan to maintain the best values of our forests" and the 20-year agreement would not eliminate long-term debate about the best way to manage public forests. Mr Marcus Ward, the president of the Cobaw and Wombat Forest Action Group which commissioned the poll, said the community had seen through Labor's rhetoric as "a dishonest ploy by the Government to get an agreement through that will guarantee woodchips".
He said Ms Garbutt was the latest in a long line of ministers with no control over the forest bureaucracy, which he said was closely linked with timber industry interests. Without departmental reform, Mr Ward said Ms Garbutt was perpetuating Kennett Government policies. He said if the Bracks Government was serious about regional consultation, it would follow Queensland's lead where the Government, greens, unions and the timber industry cut a deal to phase logging out of forests and into plantations over 25 years.
The executive director of the Victorian Association of Timber Industries, Mr Graeme Gooding, said poll results depended on how questions were phrased, and most people said yes if asked whether they supported using sawmill and forest waste for woodchips. He said native hardwood plantations should be regarded as an additional source of timber and employment, not an alternative for existing jobs in forests.