Protest against red gum logging

For a brief time last Tuesday morning it was the hammock with the best view in Sydney.

That was until police forcibly removed and arrested environmental activist Peter Cooper, who was campaigning against logging in the Millewa Forest.

The tree-top protest at Mrs Macquarie’s Point was jointly organised by the National Parks Association and the Wilderness Society, after the NSW Government announced plans to continue logging in Millewa.

National Parks Association Spokesperson Carmel Flint said the State Government had done a back-flip since the state’s change of Premier.

“Nathan Rees promised to protect that area in full immediately, but under the new Premier [Kristina] Keneally that decision was overturned,” she said.

“Half of the area will now be open for logging for at least five years.”

Ms Flint said Millewa, located near Deniliquin in the state’s Murray-Darling area, is the biggest red gum forest in the world but is under threat.

“The forests of the Murray-Darling really are the most threatened ecosystem … on the continent at the moment,” she said.

“The water situation is so dire down there, they’re no longer being flooded and they’re dying at an incredible rate and on top of that they’re being logged.

“The Millewa Forest … needs to be protected by this government in order for them to have any environmental credentials.”

Ms Flint said the important message was that areas far from home and perhaps not in our consciousness were still incredibly significant.

“Those forests are a long way from Sydney and it’s hard to bring the message of just how threatened they are and how important their protection is to the city,” she said.

“So the protest was designed to bring the red gum icons of the Murray-Darling to the icons of Sydney … the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.”