Rudd the wrecker will kill action on climate change and forests

Where there is smoke there is fire.

I have wondering about media reports over the last several months about "Kevin Rudd agitating to be Prime Minister again".  Initially I thought these were a beat up. There seems to nothing some sections of the media like more than political conspiracies and plots to oust political leaders.  It is s a form of virtual blood sport.

With recent reports and comments from Kevin Rudd, and now Daryl Cheeseman (MP for Corangamite) we can see there is some substance to all this speculation.

Rudd wants his old job as Prime Minister back, at any cost.  I think he also wants revenge on those who orchestrated his sacking.

He, assisted by a secret (small?) band of followers, has been systematically undermining Julia Gillard as PM. His "campaign" includes:

• Leaks at strategic times to derail the Gillard Goverment's momentum (including during the last election campaign)
• Making "Presidential" statements and assuming a high profile as Foreign Minister
• Not ruling out contesting for PM if there is a leadership ballot - even though he says he doesn't want on and there won't be one.
• Saying he has "learnt from his mistakes" and is "more humble etc" - when by his current actions clearly this is not true.

So the Labor is in a death spiral.  Gillard cannot lead effectively with all the attention on leadership intrigue. 

Look at the Gonsky report on education - a core issue for Australia.  There has been virtually no coverage of it.  Our public education system is being denied adequate funding and is being run down.  Middle and high income earners are deserting it in droves.  It appears there is more public money going to private and "independent" schools per student than there is going to public schools.  Yet this issue is hardly getting any attention.

I can only speculate on Rudd's motives.  It would seem revenge and ambition are outweighing all other considerations.  If there was a leadership spill and Rudd got to be PM again, all the bad publicity, and his past skeletons in the closet, would mean Labor would lose the election.

Those who think Rudd can be Labor's salvation have short memories. He lost his mojo just before he was deposed. There was the complete stuff up on pink batts - this should have been done by the States, not Peter Garrett. The Australia 2020 talkfest delivered virtually nothing. Then he abandoned his compromised CPRS and adopted Brendan Nelson's policy on climate change! 

Rudd was also operating as a cell within Labor (as Latham did 2004) - this was the real reason he was shafted. However, now some nervous Labor poll-watching MPs think he might win the next election. He won't as he is shitting in his own nest in public. 

The real issue is that 19C (Labor) and 20C (Liberals) institutions are not well equipped to handle the big challenges and transitions we face in 21C as we run out fossil fuel, forests, water and degrade agricultural land. Both parties have their own right and left and are floundering about what to do. Labor has stepped in the right direction under Gillard by supporting a transition to a clean energy economy but they are having trouble selling this (Rudd's antics are not helping) while the Liberals under Abbott have stepped back in time.

If Rudd was more sensible, smart and strategic he would let Gillard lose the next election (as current polls indicate she is on track to do, if you believe them) then sail back in as the "knight in shining armour" with no bad blood and a clean(er) slate.

If Rudd and his followers keep de-stabilising the government, then Gillard will lose the next election.  One of the few things John Howard said that I agree with was "division is death".   While I am not in favour of autocratic rule by an single political party, this axiom is quite true for the game as they play it.

Unfortunately, the consequence of the current Labor-Greens-Indepedant government falling is that Tony Abbott can just sit back, keep pointing out that Labor has lost the plot, is paralysed and can't be trusted, then sail into government.

Once in government he will ditch the price on carbon and just about every other reform and piece of legislation that the current government has achieved.  Abbot would also axe National Disability Insurance, plain packaging for cigarettes, the NBN, education reform, the mining tax (weak though it is).

The Gillard government might just finalise the Intergovernmental Agreement to protection another 400,000 hectares of Tasmania's government.  They might also recognise and act on the opportunity to protect the rest of Australia's native forests subject to logging and reduce Australia's emissions by a further 5%.  An Abbott government would certainly do neither.  

Game on Kevin.  Its a lose-lose scenario.

Premier Brumby please protect Brown Mountain Forest

Below is a copy of a letter I just sent to Premier John Brumby, and some recent photos of Brown Mountain logging - a crime against the enviroment. More information here.

Orbost Spiny Cray found in Brown Mountain Creek

Illegally cleared (bulldozed) rainforest gully

Illegally felled forest giant in buffer zone outside of logging area

=======
Your Ref: DSE057747
Your File: FS/18/0020

Dear Premier Brumby,

I received a communication from Janine Haddow (DSE) dated 30/12/2008 in response to an email I sent to you and Minister Jennings on 29/10/2008 asking to stop the logging of old growth forest at Brown Mountain. Unfortunately, Ms Haddow did not adequately address the concerns I raised with you.

To reiterate, the Labor Party pledged in a policy document during the 2006 State election that:

"In addition to the Goolengook Block, a Labor Government will immediately protect remaining significant stands of old growth forest currently available for timber harvesting by including them in the National Parks and reserves system."

Premier Brumby, you have broken this promise. In late 2008 bulldozers destroyed 20 hectares of Brown Mountain forest classified as old growth. Now they are about to continue to destroy another 40 hectares.

This Brown Mountain forest should have been included in the forest areas specified for protection because it is designated as old growth forest by the Department of Sustainability and Environment and it forms an important part of the link between the Errinundra and Snowy River National Parks, the creation of which was also a policy commitment.

You are allowing and supporting the clearfelling of old growth forest as "business as usual" despite these forest's critical role in storing carbon (over 1000 tonnes per hectare) and providing water for the depleted Snowy River catchment.

Ms Haddow’s assertion that "logging occurs on a very small proportion of Victoria’s public land estate" is simply not relevant. No old growth forest should be now logged, as your policy states.

Ms Haddow’s other assertion that "over time the net result from logging Victoria’s native forest is an absolute reduction in greenhouse gas concentrations" is not correct. A scientific study by Mackey, Keith, Berry and Lindenmeyer (2008) found that:

“the carbon stock of forests subject to commercial logging, and of monoculture plantations in particular, will always be significantly less on average (40 to 60 percent depending on intensity of land use and forest type) than the carbon stock of natural, undisturbed forests.”

These forests also provide habitat for threatened species such as the Powerful Owl, the Spot Tailed Quoll, mainland Australia's largest marsupial carnivore, the Long-footed Potoroo, Victoria's rarest marsupial, and the endangered Orbost Spiny Cray.

Locals had recently constructed East Gippsland's first old growth forest walk in these forests, which the Department of Sustainability and Environment knows about. Recent logging has now destroyed much of this walk. It will soon be obliterated, which will result in the loss of an asset that had potential to generate millions of dollars from tourism, as demonstrated by the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park in Western Australia.

In addition, several serious breaches of the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2007 have occurred during the recent logging at Brown Mountain. The following breaches have been reported with photographic evidence:

1. Mixed rainforest along Brown Mountain Creek has been bulldozed in readiness to start clearfelling the adjoining stand of ancient forest.

2. A logging contractor is being investigated for theft of burls.

3. A huge old tree has been felled outside the coupe boundary – this is illegal logging.

4. Used oil filters from bulldozers have been discarded on the ground which will contaminate soil and eventually water courses.

I also note that logging has continued against occupational health and safety regulations when members of the public are present. Worksafe is apparently investigating this.

VicForests has prohibited access to the nearby Errinundra National Park via the tourist road for the past 3 months of summer holidays - with no alternative route offered. This is unacceptable. The public must have access to our National Parks.

Please stop the logging of Brown Mountain immediately, and add the remaining old growth forest on Brown Mountain to Errinundra National Park.

Please honour your stated policy to protect all remaining areas of old growth forest in Victoria.

Peter Campbell
Home address supplied


CC:

• Gavin Jennings, Environment Minister
• Robert Clark, Member for Box Hill
• Janine Haddow, Executive Director for Natural Resources, DSE