The Dandenong Leader: Council at loggerheads over catchment logging
BY LIZ BELL
3/11/2008
GREATER Dandenong Council’s green credentials have been called into
question after it failed to support a ban on logging in water catchments.
Cr Maria Sampey accused the council of having “no courage” after six of
10 councillors voted to reject a no-logging motion similar to one
supported by the Municipal Association of Victoria and 15 other councils.
The MAV recently backed a Yarra Valley Council motion calling on the
State Government to outlaw logging in catchments, including those in the
Upper Yarra.
Cr Sampey said she was disappointed Greater Dandenong had not done the same.
“We are the only council without any courage.”
She rejected Cr Roz Blades’ concerns that banning logging in catchments
could lead to up to 200 job losses.
Cr Blades, a member of the Springvale Benevolent Society, said she had
visited many families in Greater Dandenong who were already suffering
due to unemployment and family distress, and feared the ban would deepen
problems.
“We don’t know what the flow-on effect of this [ban] will be.”
Other councils that were not significant employers in the logging
industry may have different perspectives, she said.
But Cr Sampey said many more jobs would be lost if there was no water.
Cr Peter Brown said an MAV briefing to council on October 17 highlighted
concerns about the ecological damage of logging in catchment areas.
He said councils could not change government policy but could have “a
strong influence”.
After the council meeting, spokesman for lobby group Melbourne Water
Catchment Network, Simon Birrell, accused Cr Blades of “scaremongering”.
Mr Birrell said that while a consultant’s report to government stated
that 200 jobs were associated with catchment logging, there was no
suggestion by anyone that those jobs would actually be lost.
admin @ November 11, 2008