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Commissioned by the informal ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group, the Saulwick poll of 800 people shows nearly 70 per cent want to end clear felling, with majority opposition across all age, gender, income and political groupings. Even in the timber industry town of Colac, more people oppose clear felling (45 per cent) than support it (38 per cent). "Myself and many others have been campaigning within the Labor Party to protect the Otways for a number of years," Mr Bjork-Billings said. "This poll was commissioned to demonstrate to government the need to move in this direction."
Although opposing clear felling, he does not totally oppose logging, arguing that sawlogs can still be taken and job losses in the timber industry kept to a minimum. It could also be done with the regional forests agreement process, in which there was now a review of harvesting practices. Mr Bjork-Billings wants a transition to a more plantation-based softwood and hardwood industry.
The Otways have been the scene of some of the most bitter and protracted battles between environmentalists and the timber interests. Mr Bjork-Billings wants a package approach that would enhance eco-tourism along the Great Ocean Road and in the Otways. It would require marine parks as well as the declaration of the Angahook Lorne Forest as a national park.
He said the Great Ocean Road community consultation process, announced by Premier Steve Bracks after a Warrnambool cabinet meeting last week, would provide the forum. But there was no specific mention of the timber industry in that announcement. Mr Bjork-Billings said a partnership between federal and state governments could help bring about the end of clear felling, and he strongly believed that timber workers should not be abandoned.
Mr Bjork-Billings, 52, is an industrial officer with the National Tertiary Education Union, and is a non-factionalised candidate who reduced Liberal Stewart McArthur's majority from 7.9 per cent at the 1998 election. Covering a huge slice of Victoria from the western side of Geelong to Apollo Bay, the seat is one of the fastest-growing housing regions in the state.
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