Land Clearing

8 November 2005

The Environment Centre NT (ECNT) has learned that the Federal government has approved an acceleration of native forest clearfelling on Melville Island , north of Darwin (Melville and the smaller Bathurst Island make up the Tiwi Islands ).

ECNT Coordinator Peter Robertson said the decision, made on 12 th of September, meant almost as much native forest would be clearfelled on Melville Island next year as is currently clearfelled in all of Tasmania – Australia ’s most notorious abuser of native forests. Melville Island is less than one tenth the size of Tasmania .

“The Federal Minister for the Environment has approved clearfelling of 10,000 hectares of forest in 2006 – which compares to last year’s figure for clearfelling of Tasmania ’s native forests of just over 13,000 hectares. (Source: Tasmanian Government Forest Practices Authority - Annual Reports and phone calls)

“The approval was granted to the new owners of the Tiwi Island clearfelling project, WA-based Great Southern Plantations Ltd (GSP).

“No public notification was given of the proposal to accelerate this destructive project, and there was no opportunity for the public to raise valid concerns about the impacts of doubling the current rate of clearfelling.

“By trying to clearfell such a massive area over such a short time frame, measures that are in place to try to reduce the impacts of the project on the environment may be ignored and the impacts of clearfelling operations will be much harder to control, e.g. erosion and sedimentation; weeds; habitat protection; chemical use, etc.

“The decision to approve the acceleration of the project probably reflects two considerations:

- the recent cyclone (Ingrid) destroyed quite a large area of woodchip plantation and the company may now be trying to ‘catch up’;

- the company may want to reach the currently approved clearing limit of 26,000 hectares sooner so that it can apply to a sympathetic government in Canberra to increase the area approved for clearing up to its stated desired level of 80,000 to 100,000 hectares – an expansion that would be a disaster for the Melville Island environment.

Further comment: Peter Robertson – 0409 089 020
Copies of the Minister's approval are available on request.

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