Murray Barson, Hurstbridge
The Age (letter), 26 Jan 2011
AGRICULTURE Minister Peter Walsh ''find[s] it hard to understand how such a small area of logging can have such a big impact'' on state forest biodiversity (''Minister challenges logging advice'', 24/1). (One wonders if he is a climate-change sceptic too.)
The man admits his ignorance and should take the scientific advice offered, not hide behind the wasteful procrastination of a departmental study. Habitat destruction is not an easily reversible process.
If the state's timber industry is indeed financially unviable, ''20 years' access … to timber'' only prolongs the agony, but may irrevocably damage the forests.
Vested interests, factional pressures and marginal electorate sensitivities must not be allowed to warp the decision process.
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