The view from the woodchip mill over Twofold Bay is stunning. Activities on the ground remain deeply disturbing. We had the opportunity to walk to the top of the mill where the conveyor belt moves the woodchips across the mill to the container ships.

The three Greens MPs came together for this visit to help step up the campaign to close the Eden chipmill, stop the destruction of native forests and develop a package to restructure the industry and retrain the workforce.

From our discussions with the chipmill management and observations of the mill's operations it is clear that the need to shutdown woodchipping operations are as urgent as ever.

Since the woodchip mill was set up in 1969 by Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company over 35 million tonnes of native forest chips have been exported, mostly to Japan. Nippon Paper, now the majority shareholder, records healthy profits because it pays next to nothing for its native forest logs.

Sue, Deb and I met with Peter Mitchell, General Manager, and Peter Rutherford, Forestry Manager, of South East Fibre Exports Pty Ltd. While they were helpful and willing to answer our questions their current plan to expand the chipmill to include a biomass energy plant is deeply troubling.

At a time when the Eden Chipmill should be wound down management are publicly spruiking their biomass energy plan that would lock in native forest logging for years. The SEFE management team promote the proposed biomass plant  as clean energy that would take 80 per cent of its fuel from waste generated within the chipmill.

The bulk of this waste – sawdust, bark, shavings and undersized woodchips – comes from native forests so if the proposed multi-million biomass plant was constructed there would be further pressure to log and chip local native forests for decades to maintain a fuel source for the plant.

The NSW government should rule out the proposal before any further time and money is wasted on this exercise.

There is mounting evidence that natural forest systems can store larger amounts of carbon than previously understood. And now the forests in south eastern Australia where logging has occurred and the vegetation is being allowed to re-grow undisturbed have been identified as having one of the highest rates of carbon storage.

In contrast woodchipping operations boost greenhouse gas emissions.

Our visit to the chipmill prompted us to do the sums on what SEFE should pay for their carbon pollution. We have sent Peter Mitchell an invoice for the $181 million cost of the carbon pollution generated as a result of 2006/7 logging. This is in fact a conservative figure using an Emissions Trading Scheme based on $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide. Sir Nicholas Stern in his report to the British government put a value of $107 per tonne on carbon dioxide. Using this figure the invoice would rise to $1.9 billion

Sue, Deb and I visited the chipmill on the first day of spring. It was good to be together and on the far south coast. Our resolve to work with the locals and all those committed to depositing this destructive industry in the dustbin of history is strong. Local groups, like Chipstop have campaigned on this issue for years.

In coming months we will step up the Greens campaign to close the woodchip mill and stop the logging of native forests.

Then the NSW south east coast would have the same status as the Victorian Wilderness Coast.

That is the legacy we need to work for – a Wilderness Coast joining NSW and Victoria with woodchipping relegated to the Eden Museum along with the whaling industry.

"The Auditor General says Forests NSW should review its pricing to make it transparent and ensure costs are recovered (rec 8, p6). But the reality is that the downturn in the wood chip industry will make it impossible to turn these losses around," Ms Rhiannon said.

"The native forest industry managed by Forests NSW is a financial albatross. The economic downturn is only set to increase losses to the public purse from this financially unviable industry.

"The global economic crisis has hit the wood chip industry hard at the same time as the Auditor-General is asking Forests NSW to increase its profits.

"The reality is that the industry will be arguing for reduced prices and an even greater subsidy from the public purse than it is already getting.

"The NSW and Victorian governments have subsidised the Eden chip mill by approximately $8 million in 2006-2007.

"Forests NSW says it is working to achieve "a cash-neutral or better financial outcome for Native Forests Operations Branch within three years" but provides no plans for how (p7).

"The report also shows Forests NSW is long overdue in conducting reviews to estimate whether it has sufficient native timber to meet is obligations now and into the future.

"The Auditor-General criticises Forests NSW for failing to review yield estimates for the southern region due in 2004 for Eden and 2006 for Tumut and the south coast (p4).

"This report also fails to include in its economic analysis the value of the carbon stored in native forests.

"Climate change means we cannot ignore the significant environmental costs of continuing to log our native forests," Ms Rhiannon said.

For more information: 9230 3551, 0427 861 568

Auditor General's report at:

http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/reports/performance/2009/forests/forests-contents.htm

"The Auditor General says Forests NSW should review its pricing to make it transparent and ensure costs are recovered (rec 8, p6). But the reality is that the downturn in the wood chip industry will make it impossible to turn these losses around," Ms Rhiannon said.

"The native forest industry managed by Forests NSW is a financial albatross. The economic downturn is only set to increase losses to the public purse from this financially unviable industry.

"The global economic crisis has hit the wood chip industry hard at the same time as the Auditor-General is asking Forests NSW to increase its profits.

"The reality is that the industry will be arguing for reduced prices and an even greater subsidy from the public purse than it is already getting.

"The NSW and Victorian governments have subsidised the Eden chip mill by approximately $8 million in 2006-2007.

"Forests NSW says it is working to achieve "a cash-neutral or better financial outcome for Native Forests Operations Branch within three years" but provides no plans for how (p7).

"The report also shows Forests NSW is long overdue in conducting reviews to estimate whether it has sufficient native timber to meet is obligations now and into the future.

"The Auditor-General criticises Forests NSW for failing to review yield estimates for the southern region due in 2004 for Eden and 2006 for Tumut and the south coast (p4).

"This report also fails to include in its economic analysis the value of the carbon stored in native forests.

"Climate change means we cannot ignore the significant environmental costs of continuing to log our native forests," Ms Rhiannon said.

For more information: 9230 3551, 0427 861 568

Auditor General's report at:

http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/reports/performance/2009/forests/forests-contents.htm

"This situation highlights a serious loophole in the electoral laws passed last year," Ms Rhiannon said.

"Under new laws, individual councillors who receive donations from developers are blocked from voting on relevant developments, while councillors who are part of a group or party can have the donations sent to head office and vote as normal.

"Although the Shoalhaven Independents Group received $2,000 in donations from Malbec, the councillors still voted on the application, arguing they only had a non-pecuniary interest in the development.

"When these new laws were being debated the Greens pointed out the problem to the government, but it refused to fix it.

"This loophole in the legislation allows developers to skirt around laws designed to increase accountability by donating directly to the head office of a political party or group.

"This is the first example the Greens have seen of councillors exploiting this weakness in new electoral laws, but I doubt it will be the last.

"Despite the government's promises to clean up donations following the scandals that led to the sacking of Wollongong and Tweed councils, we now see that the new electoral laws have seen little change.

"The Premier should immediately move to close this and other loopholes if he wants to convince the electorate that he is serious about cleaning up political donations," Ms Rhiannon said.

For more information: 9230 3551, 0427 861 568

"This situation highlights a serious loophole in the electoral laws passed last year," Ms Rhiannon said.

"Under new laws, individual councillors who receive donations from developers are blocked from voting on relevant developments, while councillors who are part of a group or party can have the donations sent to head office and vote as normal.

"Although the Shoalhaven Independents Group received $2,000 in donations from Malbec, the councillors still voted on the application, arguing they only had a non-pecuniary interest in the development.

"When these new laws were being debated the Greens pointed out the problem to the government, but it refused to fix it.

"This loophole in the legislation allows developers to skirt around laws designed to increase accountability by donating directly to the head office of a political party or group.

"This is the first example the Greens have seen of councillors exploiting this weakness in new electoral laws, but I doubt it will be the last.

"Despite the government's promises to clean up donations following the scandals that led to the sacking of Wollongong and Tweed councils, we now see that the new electoral laws have seen little change.

"The Premier should immediately move to close this and other loopholes if he wants to convince the electorate that he is serious about cleaning up political donations," Ms Rhiannon said.

For more information: 9230 3551, 0427 861 568

I was in the south for the local Walk Against Warming, and the day before the rally I visited the locals' protest vigil and a few of us walked into the prohibited area in Bermagui State Forest. We did not get to where the logging was being carried out but the damage was clearly apparent as a jigger loaded with ten logs was parked not far off the road.

A forest worker told us that they were veneer logs destined for Echuca. This 800 kilometre trip from Bermagui further underlies how badly planned this industry is. There should be no native logging. Operations need to shift to plantation timber in this region with value adding occurring locally not via a long greenhouse gas intensive trip.

The climate change implications of forestry are now much clearer thanks to the ground breaking "Green Carbon" report by Professor Brendan Mackey at the Australian National University.

Federal and state Labor governments cannot ignore this research. It is time they undertook an urgent rethink on their forestry policies. The Mackey research shows that after protecting mature forests, the next biggest greenhouse impact in terms of forest policy that we can make is to allow previously disturbed forest to regrow to maturity.

Untouched forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated by the IPCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Stopping logging in NSW and Victorian southeast native forests is estimated to be equivalent to avoiding emissions of 136 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – this is an annual rate of emissions equivalent to 24 per cent of Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors in 2006.

Professor Mackey has concluded that protecting native forest is no longer an option, it is essential.

This data has given a renewed boost to the local campaign calling for the closure of the woodchip mill and an end to native forest logging in the southeast.

In 1995 then opposition leader Bob Carr wrote to Ian Cohen promising to close the chipmill by 2000. Eight years later the loss of habitat and the damage to the local economy is extreme.

The perennial argument of the forest trashers that logging equals jobs does not stack up. This is a capital-intensive industry employing a handful of jobs in the southeast. It requires more than $I million investment to provide one job.

The reality is that the environmental vandalism in the southeast forests is robbing this region of hundreds of jobs. Promoting the natural beauty of the region to attract more visitors is a tough call when the view is marred by trashed forests and polluted waterways. Current forestry practices are damaging the oyster and fishing industry.

But back to the protest – every action needs a catchy image and the campaign to save the southeast native forests and close the Eden woodchip has a winner. Check out this courageous little koala hitching a ride out of Bermagui because it lost its home to logging.

When my colleague Ian Cohen questioned the Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald about the impact of logging on koalas he was emphatic that the koalas are not under threat. He stated, "We believe that that is a furphy that has been put about by people who have no evidence. … I believe the forest is being sustainably logged."

Mr Macdonald should have the courage to visit this region and he would realise how wrong he is. I was given information about recent koala sitings and the Narooma News reports that a survey program, a joint project between the National Parks Service and the local Crossing Land Education Centre and Aboriginal students from Bega and Eden found fresh koala scats just one kilometre from logging operations in the Bermagui State Forest.

Knowing Mr Macdonald's track record he wont move to investigate this important find.

But the Minister will hear a lot more about the campaign to end logging in southeast native forests. 2009 is shaping up as a year of concerted campaigning by the Greens to close Eden chipmill. Bega Greens is joining forces with Sydney based Greens groups to boost this campaign. Marrickville will be our focus for some great actions – local member and Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt could save herself a lot of work if she moved now to end native forest logging in the southeast. So watch this space.