Dear Beagle Editor, Finn, an 11 year old, has a beautiful message to share - watch to hear his letter and hear his beautiful song. He posted that letter.....
Our forests are not here for the will of today's government, they are here for Finn's generation too. Logging is occurring up and down the coast of Australia at such a fast rate it is hard to keep up. Nature certainly can't replace at the rate it is being taken. It is time we listened to Finn and his generation - who will be voting in just 7 years from today. We know what is happening to the planet - we know we need the forests for healthy ecosystems which will soon go beyond a tipping point if we do not change. Today's people are completely answerable to the next generation for their actions. Paul Toole MP has finally responded (in part below) to the community protests and correspondences stating that the harvest plan has been published and that Forestry is doing a good job.
Who is Paul O'Toole? The former NSW Local Government Minister, Paul Toole, escaped being dumped from Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s Cabinet and instead been handed two new portfolios. The Bathurst MP dodged a bullet that many thought was heading straight for him and scooped up two new ministries, while relinquishing his local government role, being allocated Minister for Racing and Minister for Lands and Forestry. His position as Local Government Minister would likely have become untenable after new Nationals Leader and Deputy NSW Premier John Barilaro came out publicly and said he would block some regional council amalgamations that are still hanging in the balance, something which would have clashed with Toole’s role as one of the main cheerleaders of forced council amalgamations in the former Baird government. Mr Toole is quoted as saying his portfolios reflected the concerns of people in rural and regional areas. He has vowed to oppose any future greyhound racing ban in NSW, as that state’s Racing Minister.“Racing is very big in Bathurst with harness racing, thoroughbred racing and greyhound racing so I think I was seen as an MP that had experience with all three.” “Forestry is quite big in rural areas, obviously, and also a strongly innovative industry and a big employer so it’s important that we keep that industry alive,” Someone should tell him that Forestry have estimated the average age of the forest to be well over 100 years - and that a lot of the scrappy areas of the forest are 30 years old, because they are trying to regrow after the last harvest. The giants were seeded long before Forestry obtained this land. Please speak up - be like Finn... and please write to your local member and share Finn's message that the logging MUST be stopped. Name and address supplied
