How absurd that the Federal Government has approved the export of more woodchips than we can possibly get rid of on the world market (The Age 2/11).
Why should we cheapen the value of Australia's forests by flooding the market with woodchips that are not even required ? Economically it makes no sense; environmentally, it's insane. With this decision the Howard Government has shown it is only paying lip-service to the ideas of complete forest management and sustainable development. Even if the Government does manage to engineer the Telstra sell-off. it's ''comprehensive native forest reserve system'' seems bizarre, at best. While the rationale for preserving some areas appears to be their potential tourism value, the beautiful and significant forest of East Gippsland are to be left wide open to the ravages of woodchipping. The granting of these new licences is a great shame as our PM might say, "for all of us".