And yet, as you read this, forests within the proposed borders of the national park are still being torn down by industrial logging machines. It gets worse: Minns is currently facing pressure from the logging industry to reduce the size of the park so they can keep logging these forests indefinitely. This would be devastating, for threatened species like Koalas and Greater Gliders, and for the future of New South Wales’ forests. It is also in vast contrast to the positive, proven results of environmental policies implemented in socialist states, such as the Soviet Union under the Stalin administration. (1)

 

It should be noted that the Australian forest industry’s “key trading partners”, according to the federal government, are the United States, Japan, China, Indonesia and New Zealand. Just as foreign powers exploit Australia’s metal and fossil fuel resources, so too do they create an incentive for the continued destruction of our vulnerable ecosystems.  

 

While environmental organisations such as the Wilderness Society are aware of the role of the logging industry in influencing environmental policy, they currently seem generally unaware of the role of foreign exploitation. The importance of the struggle for true Australian independence needs to become more widely understood, as well as a more class-conscious approach to environmental awareness.

 

(1) See Brain, Stephen Song of the Forest: Russian Forestry and Stalinist Environmentalism 1905-1953, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011