Victorain Assocaition of Forset Industries

Annual Reports target OREN/Otway forest campaign

The OREN/Otways campaign to stop logging in the Otways really annoyed the Victorian Association of Forest Industries(VAFI). So much so, the Otways campaign often featured in the VAFI annual reports where derogatory and false claims are made to attack the character of community people trying to stop clearfell logging in the Otways.

OREN has made some of the VAFI annual reports publicly available for all time (all pdf's).

2000 - 2001 VAFI Annual Report.

Forest activists are described as "extremists". This is said three times. In fact the address by Greg McCormack, the President of VAFI (who is also a boss owner of the Geelong Midway export woodchip mill), includes a reference to small extremist groups in the first sentence. One would assume McCormack is referring to OREN, the Geelong City Council, and the Labor and Liberal Party who all supported legislation to ban logging in the Otways.

2002 - 2003 VAFI Annual Report

This is a great read as VAFI has to concede that the broad public is against native forest logging, the West RFA has been torn up and logging is going to be banned in the Otways.

For Mr McCormack this means he will now personally make less money from the sale of native forest woodchips from Otways native forest after 2008.

Interestingly the word "extremist" has gone from Mr McCormaks opening rave in this VAFI annual report. Instead what were extremists are now "well intentioned" protestors.

Many of those people participating in protests against timber harvesting are well intentioned,
but the views and information they circulate are often demonstrably inaccurate.

Don't know the meaning of a word? Check the glossary.