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The fact that business as usual in the past six weeks has managed to enrage unions, sawmillers, conservationists, local government and community groups has not been enough to jolt the new minister, Sherryl Garbutt, into asserting her authority.
It is an extraordinary metamorphosis for a politician who before the September election was saying all the right things about cleaning up the deeply flawed state regional forest agreements.
The 20-year agreements, which enable unlimited woodchip exports, are supposed to balance timber cutting with other values such as conservation, beekeeping, water catchments, tourism and recreation.
In reality, the agreements signed so far have given little weight to anything other than timber production.
Conservation reserves are not permanent. Everything outside a reserve or national park is scheduled to be replaced with even-aged regrowth by the end of the 20 years. Endangered species protection is cursory. Water catchments, tourism and beekeeping are acknowledged with motherhood statements.
Conscious of the biases, Labor promised to put an end to the bureaucratic secrecy surrounding forest management, to set up independent public consultation panels and to abide by ecologically sustainable principles.
Realising that genuine sustainability would inevitably reduce timber volumes, Labor also promised to protect regional jobs by developing alternatives such as plantations and farm forestry coupled with value-adding to get more out of each log. It was a responsive, responsible policy.
The first test of Labor's commitment came in mid-January when the Department of Natural Resources and Environment put out consultation papers outlining the likely shape of the Gippsland and western Victorian forest agreements.
Remarkably, they contained not a hint of Labor's reforms, but set the scene instead for massive timber job losses, biodiversity decline and continuing tension in the forest. According to this blueprint, the shocking raid on the Goolengook conservationists' camp last week could be a taste of things to come; the tension on both sides is driven by frustration over the way the department has managed the East Gippsland forests.
Garbutt has tried to distance her from the disastrous consultation papers, with the disclaimer that they do not purport to represent the Government's views. Amid heavy criticism of their contents, her only response is that everyone will have a voice in the final out come through the independent panels, whose hearings begin this week.
Maybe, but the deadline for the agreements is 31 March. This is hardly a timetable to inspire public confidence in a considered outcome. In any case, the stakeholders don't just want their concerns duly noted. They want a radically different out come. With time running out, it is hard to see this materialising unless the Government does something truly courageous like refuse to sign the agreements with the Common wealth. After all, only woodchip exports depend on the deadline and they could be sourced from other regions if necessary.
Garbutt cannot pretend the situation is merely an unfortunate hangover from past regimes for which she bears no responsibility. She has been in office for more than four months: time enough to turn any ship if the captain is in command.
Four months ago the minister had time and plenty of community goodwill
to help her do the job of reforming Victoria's forest management system.
Now, unfortunately she has neither.
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