Untitled Document

"2020 Vision" for plantations community nightmare

Interview with Dave Reid - Beef Farmer
Oldina, North West Tasmania

"My name is Dave Reid and I've lived here on this lovely little farm Ive got with creeks and you can see it in the background and trees and all sorts of animals for 10 years. And in actual fact I came up here to procreate the race and be left alone, and I did the first thing but the rampant plantation development in this area has forced me simply to become involved in this issue in which I have been involved for three, threeand a half years now.

And I suppose when you do become involved in anything you find out things that amaze, you horrify you etc etc. And one of the things I discovered is one of the root causes, and probably the major route cause leading to this massive rampant invasion of plantations in Tasmania in the last 3 years has been the 2020 vision which needs to be explained to a lot of people who really don't know much about it and that's my role here at the moment.

I would add that yesterday I went to a meeting with regards to a Revision of the Vision and that was held at forestry offices at Launceston. At which there were 40 people. My statement at yesterdays meeting were words to the effect that your vision is our nightmare. The 2020 Vision eminated from Canberra in 1997, was signed by Senator Hill which I discovered yesterday. It is an alliance between Government, both major parties giving their support to the broadening of the plantation base in Australia to the tune of 3 million hectares by 2020.

And Tasmania should not become confused by the 2020 state vision. The vision was essentially set up without any community input whatsoever and has been described by people as the greatest impact on the surface of the earth since white colonialisation and I would have to simply endorse that. All this done without community input and part of their strategy summary states that the vision intends to remove legislative, cultural and historical impediments in other words kick the laws out of the way and let the forestry industries run rampant. And you can take it from me that's already happened.

Quarter of an hour that way in the car is a lovely little township called Preolinna. It was also the birthplace of rural youth in 1932. That community placed conservatively when it was a daring rural community, 4.1 to 4.2 millilon dollars into the main street of the local town called Wynyard. Well not any more it doesn't. Because Preolinna is an absolute sea of Eucalyptus Nitens put in by these rampant plantation developments. How sad it is.

There goes your history, there goes your culture. The 2020 vision has allowed this carte blanche rampant destruction of those sorts of things for the last 3 yrs in Tasmania as well as Australia but the impact as we mentioned at the Revision of the Vision yesterday in Launceston, impact in Tasmania has been dramatic and disasterous.

And it was interesting to note that those people producing the statements eminating from yesterdays meeting, talk about it simply on the basis of it being good for the country, good for the environment, good for the social fabric of Australia. Well you can take it from me that if they dane as requested to visit the areas that we and others can show them in Tasmania they will find out that things are very very wrong and very very different. Recently theres a case a quarter of an hour to the west of us where six houses are going to suffer massive devaluation by being surrounded and affected by plantations very close to their houses. Now people are being hurt from this.

I led a deputation to the members of the legislative council, two odd years ago all this was pointed out. No planning, carte blanche approach, has to be reigned in, a call for a moratorium to get at the planning schemes, not heeded I would have to say as well as many others that the more we dig the more we find that forestry fingers reach everywhere. They reach to local councils with precunary interests, with direct links to members of family through forestry contractors etc etc.

Yesterday at the meeting we have called for an enquiry into the plantation effects in Tasmania, this call has certainly been heard. The issue now is whether it will be acted upon. Senator Shayne Murphy was in attendence, as was the head of Doctors for Forests, the group of 40 people there represented thousands.

I can go on I can tell you about cultural loss of culture in Victorian landscape assessed at Preolinna as being some of the finest left in Tasmania, well not any more. I can tell you of the massive forty thousand loss of dairy and beef cattle going through abbatoirs and now you see the breakdown of Blue Ribbon today in actual fact the announcement that people are being retrenched.

The effect of plantation has affected employment in this state adversely. Now AFFFA the governing body in terms of this revision need to look at the effects on rural Australia, in particular Tasmania. In terms of the adverse effects via plantations on our rural economy as has happened."


Home Articles Discussion Gallery Maps Links	"2020 Vision" for plantations community nightmare Interview with Dave Reid - Beef Farmer Oldina, North West Tasmania "My name is Dave Reid and I've lived here on this lovely little farm Ive got with creeks and you can see it in the background and trees and all sorts of animals for 10 years. And in actual fact I came up here to procreate the race and be left alone, and I did the first thing but the rampant plantation development in this area has forced me simply to become involved in this issue in which I have been involved for three, threeand a half years now. And I suppose when you do become involved in anything you find out things that amaze, you horrify you etc etc. And one of the things I discovered is one of the root causes, and probably the major route cause leading to this massive rampant invasion of plantations in Tasmania in the last 3 years has been the 2020 vision which needs to be explained to a lot of people who really don't know much about it and that's my role here at the moment. I would add that yesterday I went to a meeting with regards to a Revision of the Vision and that was held at forestry offices at Launceston. At which there were 40 people. My statement at yesterdays meeting were words to the effect that your vision is our nightmare. The 2020 Vision eminated from Canberra in 1997, was signed by Senator Hill which I discovered yesterday. It is an alliance between Government, both major parties giving their support to the broadening of the plantation base in Australia to the tune of 3 million hectares by 2020. And Tasmania should not become confused by the 2020 state vision. The vision was essentially set up without any community input whatsoever and has been described by people as the greatest impact on the surface of the earth since white colonialisation and I would have to simply endorse that. All this done without community input and part of their strategy summary states that the vision intends to remove legislative, cultural and historical impediments in other words kick the laws out of the way and let the forestry industries run rampant. And you can take it from me that's already happened. Quarter of an hour that way in the car is a lovely little township called Preolinna. It was also the birthplace of rural youth in 1932. That community placed conservatively when it was a daring rural community, 4.1 to 4.2 millilon dollars into the main street of the local town called Wynyard. Well not any more it doesn't. Because Preolinna is an absolute sea of Eucalyptus Nitens put in by these rampant plantation developments. How sad it is. There goes your history, there goes your culture. The 2020 vision has allowed this carte blanche rampant destruction of those sorts of things for the last 3 yrs in Tasmania as well as Australia but the impact as we mentioned at the Revision of the Vision yesterday in Launceston, impact in Tasmania has been dramatic and disasterous. And it was interesting to note that those people producing the statements eminating from yesterdays meeting, talk about it simply on the basis of it being good for the country, good for the environment, good for the social fabric of Australia. Well you can take it from me that if they dane as requested to visit the areas that we and others can show them in Tasmania they will find out that things are very very wrong and very very different. Recently theres a case a quarter of an hour to the west of us where six houses are going to suffer massive devaluation by being surrounded and affected by plantations very close to their houses. Now people are being hurt from this. I led a deputation to the members of the legislative council, two odd years ago all this was pointed out. No planning, carte blanche approach, has to be reigned in, a call for a moratorium to get at the planning schemes, not heeded I would have to say as well as many others that the more we dig the more we find that forestry fingers reach everywhere. They reach to local councils with precunary interests, with direct links to members of family through forestry contractors etc etc. Yesterday at the meeting we have called for an enquiry into the plantation effects in Tasmania, this call has certainly been heard. The issue now is whether it will be acted upon. Senator Shayne Murphy was in attendence, as was the head of Doctors for Forests, the group of 40 people there represented thousands. I can go on I can tell you about cultural loss of culture in Victorian landscape assessed at Preolinna as being some of the finest left in Tasmania, well not any more. I can tell you of the massive forty thousand loss of dairy and beef cattle going through abbatoirs and now you see the breakdown of Blue Ribbon today in actual fact the announcement that people are being retrenched. The effect of plantation has affected employment in this state adversely. Now AFFFA the governing body in terms of this revision need to look at the effects on rural Australia, in particular Tasmania. In terms of the adverse effects via plantations on our rural economy as has happened."