Thousands rally for the forests

By Susan Price MELBOURNE — Despite torrential rain, over 2000 protesters rallied against the woodchipping of old-growth forests on October 22. The rally, organised by Friends of the Earth, the Wilderness Society and Environment Victoria, was the first for some time and the large turnout indicates the scale of continuing public opposition to woodchipping exports. Speakers at the rally were Australian Greens leader Bob Brown; Tricia Caswell; John Brumby, the Victorian ALP Opposition leader; Australian Democrats Senator Cheryl Kernot; Barry Traill from Environment Victoria; and Martin Daly from Friends of the Earth. While Brown and Caswell focussed on the need to put pressure on the Labor government to adopt pro-forest policies, Kernot stressed the need to look beyond the two-party game. Refreshingly, Daly's contribution highlighted the need to mobilise the mass movements, and not to rely on politicians' "good deeds" to save the forests. Daly also queried why Brumby was asked to speak, given the ALP's poor environmental record. Green Left Weekly asked FOE forest campaigner Gavin McFadzen about FOE's view of the Victorian ALP's environment record on the environment, in particular its recent decision to defer Brumby's ten-point forest strategy in favour of six months of discussion. "This report has now been buried in bureaucracy for six months, [until] the next state ALP conference", said McFadzen. "There were differences in opinion on the rally organising committee as to whether the record of the Victorian ALP on the environment warranted Brumby the privilege of getting up on the platform. FOE was the group that held out ... and as a trade-off, Friends of the Earth spoke just before him." "We wanted to put Brumby's speech into the context of the performance of the Labor Party on the environment. While Brumby may be going out on a limb, historically the Labor Party hasn't", said McFadzen.