Liberals misrepresent findings of research report on Otway logging in televised political leaders TV debate

In light the televised debate (Fri Nov 8), and a conversation OREN had with Bill Forwood (Shadow Environment Minister), it is evident that the Liberals are saying that the ALP's 'no Otway logging' policy is not scientific. The Liberals are claiming that logging is sustainable because the Jerry Vanclay report nominated 27,000 cubic metres per annum.

However the report released by the Expert Data Reference Group (Professor Vanclay and Dr Turner) recommended that the sustainable level of logging for the Otways has still to be resolved.

Key report findings that support further investigation were:

1. Section 8 "Management implications" (page 47 Table 5) has concluded that the data used to calculate the present rates of logging for the Otways is inadequate.

2. Section 6 "Environmental Considerations"(pages 38 & 39)
Recommendation 16: Acknowledge two components of sustainable yield: the maximum timber yield that can be sustained and the optimal harvesting rate that delivers the greatest benefit to stakeholders.

Recommendation 16 provides an acknowledgment that the figure of 27,000 cubic metres of sawlog is a maximum rate of logging but an optimum rate of logging would factors in issues such as the need to protect water catchments, tourism values and biodiversity values. The optimum rate of logging for the community is zero. This is reflected in the ALP Otway policy.

This information is available on the OREN web site.

It seems that the Liberals may have fail to understand the report or, even worse, have not actually read it.

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