By JESSE GRAHAM
TOOLANGI’s Knitting Nannas have gone to police after allegedly being bullied by VicForest contractors and receiving a barrage of abuse on Facebook.
A member of the Knitting Nannas of Toolangi (KNOT), who asked not to be named, said the group had been inundated with abusive Facebook messages after posting about a VicForests contractor allegedly driving dangerously.
On the KNOT Facebook page, the group posted a photo of a truck, which the group said was travelling along Sylvia Creek Road and sent “a young child running frightened for his life and covering us all in dust”, when the group was by the roadside on the corner of Myers Creek Road.
The member said that pro-timber industry Facebook users took to the thread with abusive and threatening comments.
“I was the person monitoring the page … and spent most of the day fielding abusive, insulting and threatening comments,” they said.
“It did continue a little bit, until I put up a note saying we take screenshots and said trolling will not be tolerated.”
One of the comments posted a photograph of a large log, on the back of a logging truck in East Gippsland, with the words “hug this” spray painted onto its base.
The post appears to be a reference to ‘tree huggers’, one of the terms used against anti-logging protesters and environmentalists.
The photo has been re-posted numerous times on social media by environmentalists, with the hashtag #Hugthis. Other media outlets estimated the tree to be about 100 years old.
“It’s clear that it offended a lot of people, not just us,” the KNOT member said.
They said the group contacted police about the incident, but Kinglake Police Leading Senior Constable (LSC) Roger Wood said no registration number for the vehicle was provided.
He said residents wanting to report dangerous driving should take note of registration numbers, and that video or photographic evidence was “the best evidence we can have”.
VicForests general manager of Stakeholders and Planning Nathan Trushell said the organisation was “aware” of the photograph, and apologised for any offence it caused.
“We don’t condone this type of behaviour and we are following up with the contractor concerned to address this issue,” Mr Trushell said.
“Our contractors are very responsible in the way they conduct themselves, but this was a clear error in judgement from the individual involved,” he said.
Mr Trushell said the tree was between two metres in diameter, and while it was “larger than average”, the size of tree was “not uncommon”.
“Trees of this size, and much larger, are well represented in extensive parks and reserves system as well as in State forest areas,” he said.
