Dandenong Leader: Green push to give five councillors the chop
http://springvale-dandenong-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/green-push-to-give-five-councillors-the-chop/
10 November 2008
The Melbourne Water Catchment Network is pressuring the State Government to ban logging.
ON THE eve of the 2008 council elections, a green group has declared war on five Greater Dandenong councillors seeking re-election.
The Melbourne Water Catchment Network has launched a campaign against councillors Roz Blades, Paul Donovan, Pinar Yesil, Jim Memeti and Youhorn Chea for opposing a motion to ban logging.
A sixth councillor, Alan Gordon, who also voted against the motion is not seeking re-election.
The network has taken out election advertisements asking readers, “Which Dandenong councillors voted to reduce your water supply?” and then naming the five councillors.
Greater Dandenong was the first of 16 councils to reject the environmental push. Councillors voiced concern at the ban’s potential impact on local jobs and industry.
Greater Dandenong rejects anti-logging bid
Dandenong South sawmill Dormit this week backed their claims.
But network spokesman Simon Birrell said his research showed outlawing logging in Melbourne’s water catchments would not affect Dandenong jobs.
He said Dormit annually used 140,000 cubic metres of E-grade logs, 30 per cent of which came from plantations.
“At most, only 8 per cent of the E-grade logs used by Dormit could possibly come from the Melbourne catchments,” Mr Birrell said.
“In the short term, VicForests has a contract with Dormit to supply logs until 2010.”
But Dormit resource manager John Cogley said a logging ban would have a drastic impact on the industry.
“We do get a lot of plantation timber,” Mr Cogley said.
“But if there was no logging we’d pretty much be dead in the water.”
Such a ban would also have a flow-on impact from sawmills to other local industries such as paper production, he said.
State Government research shows stopping harvesting by 2010 would increase Melbourne’s yearly water flow by 16 gigalitres by 2050.
“That is the same amount of water consumed by 96,000 people, almost the population of Greater Dandenong itself,” Mr Birrell said.
But the government report concedes the 2050 forecast does not consider timber supply commitments.
admin @ November 11, 2008