Spokesman surprise

I WAS surprised to see in the ‘Mail’, Geoff Biggs of Toolangi presented as a spokesman for the community.
In the 1990s, Geoff was a member of the committee that created the Central Highlands Forest Management Plan that weakened the implementation of the Leadbeater’s Possum Action Statement.
This allowed industrial logging to continue on a collision path with the broader conservation needs of public forests.
Since then, he has played little or no role in community life and it appears he has not kept up to date with the science.
Decades ago, claims like Geoff’s that logging would ensure possum numbers were maintained were exposed as self-serving rhetoric fabricated by those who supported logging.
Where is there any evidence for his claim the possums are “around a lot of other areas in quite good numbers“?
When researchers from the government’s Arthur Rylah Institute were searching for them with the latest available technology, they achieved only 29 sightings in four months.
Before dismissing the advice of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, which Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt described as “clear and unequivocal”, I wonder if Geoff even bothered to read it?
Geoff’s father and grandfather may have worked in the timber industry and, as such, they played an important role, deserving respect for their part in the history of the area.
But the industry taskforce currently being established by Minister Neville will be considering the future of the forests and seeking a way forward.
Geoff is harking back to a past era that is long gone and is clearly out of touch with the needs and aspirations of the current community.
Steve Meacher,
Toolangi.