S1: From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
S1: This is the morning edition. I'm Julia Katzel, filling in
S1: for Samantha Selinger. Morris. It's Wednesday, February 12th. Camping, fishing,
S1: hunting and four wheel driving are just some of the
S1: ways Aussies experience the bush every day. But there are
S1: activities that are now, according to some, under threat. New
S1: land management proposals by state governments to protect the environment
S1: have been met with fierce backlash from some Bush users,
S1: who claim the government is, quote, locking up the bush. Today,
S1: environment and climate reporter Bianca Hall on whether a balance
S1: of both environmental protection and our recreation is achievable. So, Bianca,
S1: you've been privy to some culture wars online involving recreational
S1: bush user groups. Those four wheel drivers, those who hunt
S1: and fish and they're pretty incensed about something at the moment.
S1: Can you tell me what they're upset about?
S2: So national parks, we like to think of them as
S2: places we can go bushwalking and reconnect with nature and
S2: take our kids. But they've been the focus of a
S2: bit of a culture war lately, which would probably come
S2: as a surprise to a lot of people who enjoy
S2: using them for some background in Victoria. The state government,
S2: the then Andrews government, announced the phase out of native
S2: logging by the 1st of January this year. That came
S2: with a nearly $900 million package to support timber workers
S2: exiting the industry, and also to look at how to
S2: transform the former state forests into future use. Some of
S2: that could be national parks, some of it could be
S2: state forests. A similar issue is playing out in New
S2: South Wales as well, where the Minns government has promised
S2: before the last election to election to establish a Great
S2: Koala National Park in state forests that are currently logged.
S2: So the Victorian government established a Great Outdoors Task Force
S2: to examine the future use and management of these forests.
S2: And then the backlash began.
S3: Melbourne hundreds gathered from all corners of Victoria to scream
S3: hands off our state forests!
S4: This government locked us down. Now they want to lock
S4: us out. And I say enough is enough.
S2: The various groups are opposing the push to turn state
S2: forests into national parks, because they think that they're going
S2: to be locked out of these areas.
S3: Demonstrators at Drouin fear that will stop them from camping,
S3: hunting or accessing those areas altogether.
S5: What other culture have you got in Australia? This is it.
S4: Let's put it to bed.
S2: So in Victoria, there's a motley crew, as I've described them,
S2: of gold prospectors, four wheel drive enthusiasts, shooters, fishers, horse
S2: riders and other bush users groups. They're also being heavily
S2: backed nationwide by the Electrical Trades Union. We have seen
S2: a number of online petitions. The most recent has attracted
S2: 34,000 signatures. This is the biggest petition in Victorian parliamentary history.
S2: It actually is bigger than the 1891 seminal petition in
S2: support of women's suffrage. If you can believe that.
S1: Wow.
S2: I mean, there is a real culture war aspect to
S2: this as well. In some of the more fringy elements
S2: of the debate, we've had people recommending everyone raise the
S2: Australian flag in their front yard. There's been people advocating
S2: a withdrawal from the United Nations. Perhaps that's a little
S2: bit more fringy and accusing greenies of trying to lock
S2: up the bush. There's also been some backing by groups
S2: including the Freedom Party of Australia and Advance Australia. So
S2: there definitely are groups trying to whip up a culture
S2: war here.
S1: And misinformation can be central to some of these campaigns,
S1: which is what we saw in another campaign against Great
S1: Northern Beer. So can you tell me more about that case?
S2: Yeah, this was a good one. So Great Northern Beer
S2: launched a outdoors for a cause campaign, was heavily marketed.
S6: By Great Northern Brewing Co. The beer for Up Here.
S2: It aimed to match donations to buy private land holdings
S2: and turn them into national parks for public use. An
S2: online campaign by detractors accused the brewer of going woke
S2: and trying to lock up state forests and turn them
S2: into national parks. So it was clearly misinformation, but that
S2: didn't stop anyone from getting excited about it online.
S7: One of Australia's most popular beer brands has come under
S7: fire this week for its woke advertising campaign, leaving customers outraged.
S8: What the bloody hell is Great Northern thinking back in
S8: the idea of locking up the bush? Um, so I
S8: can tell you now, I won't be drinking Great Northern
S8: from now on. And, um. This used to be my
S8: favorite beer before you went. Whoa.
S2: People filmed themselves backing their enormous yurts over six packs
S2: of Great Northern beer. They filmed themselves tipping the beer out.
S2: They said they would never drink the beer again. Funnily enough,
S2: Great Northern Beer markets itself as an outdoors kind of
S2: beer to take fishing and camping. They've got all the
S2: associated merch. The CEO of Carlton and United Breweries subsequently
S2: left the company after the brouhaha, but a spokesperson for
S2: Asahi told Adnews his departure was unrelated to the online storm,
S2: but people online feel they got a scalp out of
S2: that one.
S1: So these proposals by both state governments, they're looking at
S1: converting what were state forests into national parks and essentially
S1: limiting some of the activities for bush users. So what
S1: are the major differences between a national park and a
S1: state forest? And is this claim of locking up the
S1: bush accurate or not?
S2: Well, this is a tricky one because what you can
S2: and can't do in a national park depends on the
S2: national park. So in Kosciuszko, in New South Wales, for example,
S2: you can hunt deer if you have a licence. In Victoria,
S2: in some national parks you can also hunt, but you
S2: can't hunt at Wilsons prom, for example. In a lot
S2: of national parks, you can drive your four wheel drive
S2: on roads, and in some national parks, you can drive
S2: a four wheel drive off road. But it really does
S2: depend on the park itself.
S1: So would you say that the national park status does
S1: mean more environmental protection? Is one managed better than the other?
S2: Well, exactly. I mean, this is the point of a
S2: national park is to protect endangered and imperiled flora and fauna. So,
S2: for example, in Victoria, we have mountain ash forests, which
S2: are one of the most dense carbon sinks in the world.
S2: They're the tallest flowering plant in the world. They are
S2: absolutely beautiful, and they provide crucial habitat for greater gliders
S2: and sugar gliders, which rely on the hollows in old
S2: growth forests for their for their homes. If they don't
S2: have old forests, they just become extinct. And as we
S2: all know, koalas are threatened all over the country. The
S2: Great Koala National Park in New South Wales could link
S2: up a bunch of different state forests and different parks
S2: to create almost a super national park that would give
S2: koalas a big area to roam. So national parks are really,
S2: really important thing for protecting our beloved native wildlife.
S1: We'll be right.
S2: Back.
S1: Bianca. Central to the campaigners argument is that locking up
S1: public forests would actually lead to a risk of bushfires,
S1: and would place the environment in greater peril. Is there
S1: any truth to that claim?
S2: So to get into the weeds of the argument, as
S2: you might say, a lot of what you see in
S2: state forests is actually quite denuded vegetation. You'll see a
S2: lot of empty undergrowth with some trees, but in a
S2: national park you might see a lot more dense vegetation.
S2: And that's partly because they're not used so much. But
S2: also national parks are created for their own protection there
S2: to protect the animals that live within them. And they're
S2: protecting the forests. So a big complaint by people who
S2: are opposed to national parks is that the national park
S2: allegedly gets left to build up the undergrowth, builds up
S2: a lot. People aren't allowed to take firewood out of
S2: there to use to burn in their own homes. And
S2: so the argument goes that they become absolute fire traps.
S2: I think it's safe to say that that is fairly
S2: solidly misinformation. Forest ecologists and conservationists will say that the
S2: thing that is leading to more frequent and more high
S2: intensity bushfires isn't a build up of growth. It is
S2: climate change. It is climate change that's fuelling a drying
S2: out of vegetation. It's climate change that's fuelling higher winds.
S2: And they say that when you don't have the understory
S2: of wet forest to keep a forest protected, then you
S2: get higher intensity bushfires. What is actually happening in a
S2: lot of national parks, and also, you'd have to say
S2: in state forests, is that state governments probably don't have
S2: the money or the resources to look after them, as
S2: well as they should be being looked after. And Bush users,
S2: groups and conservationists are actually united on this point that
S2: they would like to see more resources going into managing
S2: these areas better.
S1: Yeah. And so you spoke before about this Bush user
S1: group amassing, you know, tens of thousands of signatures in
S1: its petition against national parks in Victoria. But other polling
S1: tells a different story. Can you tell me about that?
S2: Yeah, correct. So Monash University conducted a pretty widespread survey
S2: in November and December. They polled about three times the
S2: number of people that would typically be polled in a Newspoll,
S2: for example, 3500 people for the Biodiversity Council of Australia.
S2: They found that 72% of people supported establishing new national parks,
S2: and that's to protect natural and cultural values, while 5%
S2: of people were opposed. So that is a clear majority.
S2: It's also more common for people who vote left to
S2: support new national parks. The overwhelming majority, I think it
S2: was 82% of Greens voters supported them, but that's still
S2: compared with 61% of nationals voters. So it's a clear majority.
S1: So, Bianca, this is a real challenge for state governments
S1: going ahead in Victoria, managing land that was once used
S1: for logging and in New South Wales, attempting to save
S1: the endangered koala. So how do we achieve a balance
S1: here in allowing both nature to be experienced while also
S1: protecting the environment?
S2: Well, this is the central question, isn't it? And I
S2: think one thing that's important to remember is that people
S2: aren't locked out of national parks. We are encouraged as
S2: Australians to get out into our national parks and to
S2: enjoy the spaces and to, you know, really take those moments,
S2: but to do it in a respectful way that is
S2: gentle on the environment. And national parks are areas where
S2: some really delicate landscapes and native animals are trying to
S2: be protected. If you want to go and drive your
S2: ute on four wheel drive tracks, there are places to
S2: do that. But there are also places where you can
S2: go out and take nothing but a backpack and your
S2: runners and go and, you know, climb a mountain and
S2: commune with nature and leave nothing but your footprints behind.
S1: Well, thank you so much for your time today, Bianca.
S2: Thanks so much.
S1: Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by me,
S1: Julia Katzel. Our executive producer is Tami Mills. Tom McKendrick
S1: is our head of audio. The Morning Edition is a
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S1: Thanks for listening.