The world started in 1992

As I listened to ABC Radio in Gippsland this morning I heard a debate between Brendan Jenkins MP, MLA for Morwell and Hon.Philip Davis MP, MLC for Gippsland.

 

According to the ALP dogma, all the ailments in Victoria stem back to the time when Jeff Kennett ruled this roost and, for people like myself who were Jeffed, a new unwecome way of life started.

 

But if Kennett had to use draconian methods (and I was in the ALP at the time) it was because both John Cain and Joan Kirner had borrowed so much cash, our State credit rating was downgraded. That and the Government advice to invest in the shonky Pyramid Building Society were typical of the administration of the ALP.

 

So, when I hear inter party debates upon what happened when and who did it, can we agree to go back to 1983 and start from there?

 

One truth will always remain. The quality of care of our remote lands in Victoria has substantially reduced since then and the Government's own statistics from 1983 and 2005 prove it.

 

My research is fair dinkum and my sources impeccable.

Why do I want bush access in my 4WD?

All of  us have gone through some sort of driver training. When we have passed a test we are then let loose on the roads. If accidents don't happen, we gain confidence in our driving ability and when we convert to a 4WD, we travel on another, different, training program.

 

With me, that program lasted until I felt comfortable when confronted with an obstacle that demanded skill to overcome it safely.

 

I moved on to the stage where I was enjoying what my 4WD was allowing me to see. I no longer had any need for obstacles; those that arose, in the usual course of my driving, were overcome and I travelled further into that wonderful area, the bush.

 

Now, I have seen many native animals in areas that an ordinary car would not travel. I have seen scenery that would be impossible in my Ford Falcon and my appreciation of these environmental wonders has led me to input to this fight for the next Victorian State Election. If you think I am some sort of pansy because I don't seek to climb Mayford Spur Track every week, then just you carry on your way and let me travel mine.

 

I have a small library of authoratitive books to guide me regarding the history of fire. I have access through email to some brilliant scientists who are keen to tell me the truth about forest management. 

 

I understand the relationship between our Australian environment and human beings and I acknowledge that our indigenous peoples found all of the support for life that was needed before us Anglo-Saxons hove to and took over.

 

Words spoken at the "Education For A Sustainable Future" symposium of the Australian College of Education, held in Canbera in 1991 come to mind.

 

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, the aboriginal Principal of the Daly River School in the Northern Territory started her address by pointing out that and I quote "For forty thousand years Aboriginal people have maintained  a sustainable society .Its very duration is proof of its sustainability.End quote.

 

What she didn't have to spell out is that they had no problems of inflation, unemployment, balance of payments, good budgets or bad budgets and they were not supporting any overseas aid projects. They had no problems with school absences, trade unions, socialism or capitalism and this was all because they tended their environment regularly with frequent fuel reduction burning.

 

They had a great affinity with the bush and, living next door to a Koori that I am pleased to call my friend, I also am developing that affinity.

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong in admitting that you do not go to the bush purely to drive and find obstacles to overcome. Just enjoy it for what it is. Good scenery, good camping, very bad official maintenance with little done to eradicate pest plants and feral animals but it is still worth caring about.

 

Now, I'm fair dinkum, my neighbour is fair dinkum and I want you to be fairdinkum too.

Why do we elect them.

Every four years we elect Members of Parliament to the Victorian State Parliament. It'll happen again on November 25th 2006. Every three years we elect Members of Parliament to the Federal Government in Canberra. So keep watching for November 2007, maybe earlier. Some of these people work to our bidding but, in the main, they take their orders from senior public servants. Why? We do not elect the public servants and I don't see how they have come to wield such power over our properly elected representatives. That they have done so is obvious to students of "Yes Minister and "Yes Prime Minister". Lets not dwell on that issue. Lets join together on November 25th and elect people to represent our interests. Lets tell them that we will not take no for an answer, that if the public servants insist upon a course of action that they, our representatives, know is contrary to our wishes, they must overrule them. I have been talking to a political party that is prepared to stand up to these public servants who are usually members of a green Non Government Organisation and make sure that Land Management takes a priority in Parks Victoria and to an extent, with our Dept of Environment & Sustainability. We must bring back our natural land back to good health before it is completely overtaken by exotic pest plants and feral animals. Keep watching for breaking news as our search for political representatives continues. I'm fairdinkum and I want our politicians to be fairdinkum as well.

Good environment doesn't come cheaply.

In 1983, the total cost of administering the 985,000 hectares of public land was $11.1 million. Add a CPI factor of 2.26 and the cost today would be $25 million.

 

In practical terms, it was costing $25.38 per ha and while that management was better than we see today, it could have had more resources put into it.

 

Surely, our stewardship of the environment is no less important than our care of our home? Do we allow a leaking roof to continue leaking? Do we not call in a plumber when the cistern gives up the ghost? So why don't we give equal importance to our planet?

 

In 2005, the cost of care of Victoria's National, State and Marine Parks etc.fell to $20.93 per hectare.

 

Why am I not surprised? Because any trip into our high country reveals the high standard of neglect. At least eighteen pest plants flourish in our Alpine National Park. At least nine pest plants are now protected and no doubt nurtured in the new Otways National Park. An enquiry is taking place on the status of the forests of East Gippsland. No doubt this Victorian Government will roll out its "sound" scientists to advise the Minister just what he wants to hear and we will have another sanctuary for pest plants and feral animals.

 

Costs of maintaining the Public's land are inflated by paper shufflers in East Melbourne. Their building costs more to maintain and run than a similar building in a rural city. There can be no possible excuse for staff to be maintained in East Melbourne while the land that they supposedly look after, suffers from a total lack of care.

 

Send 251 jobs from there to rural and regional Victoria, hire another 251 in areas well away from Melbourne and lets start getting the Public's Land back into some sort of order.

 

When a Victorian Government starts spending an average of $30 per ha on staff to work in National, State and Marine Parks and show us some real results, the sooner I will cease my complaints.

 

On November 25th, don't forget to vote for the environment.

 

My name ain't Jones, but I am fairdinkum.

Why follow the lead of 4WD clubs?

Four Wheel Drive clubs do an extraordinary amount of work, some of which is unrelated to four wheel driving, much of it directly assisting the Land Managers in Victoria. Their grievance with the present Government of Victoria stems from the endless hours of work providing submissions to National Parks Management Plans and seeing the work ignored in that the funding has not been made available by successive ALP and Liberal Governments. An increasing number of clubs have members who are asking why National Parks are declared when there is no funding to maintain them.

 

Members note the increasing land degradation and ask when something is going to be done to clear pest plants and eradicate feral animals.

 

Recent work on the Victorian National Parks Act, 2005 Annual Report shows that the cost of our National Parks per ha is $20.94.  What does that bring. Statements by the Minister that a project is to be started. When, where? Do we see signs of it on our visits to the bush? No.

 

If the Government has to keep the paper shufflers in East Melbourne it will need at least $30 to $35 per hectare to make a significant effect on our National Parks.

 

Members look to "conservation bodies" and seek a lead.

 

What they get is typified by the Australian Conservation Foundation's Policy No 26. Motorised Vehicles In Natural Areas. (MORVINA) This policy ought to tell all 4WD'ers to take care of the environment, to keep to tracks formed for the purpose of providing access to vehicles with four wheels or more. To behave politely in the bush whan confronting walkers and to follow the 4WD Code of Ethics.

 

But what do they find? A diatribe on bush walkers always being in the right in the bush. Surely, safe in our motorised form of transport, we will not make things difficult for walkers. They are forced away from their walking tracks onto our roads. The lack of prescribed burning has put their recreation at risk because, generally speaking, it is impossible for them to walk OFF 4WD tracks. It is difficult to be a bush basher when your walk is confined to 4WD access tracks.

 

Land Rover Owners Club of Victoria Inc.

For 36 years, on a continuous basis, LROCV has supported the running of the Red Cross Annual Murray River Marathon. Providing up to fifty members each year, their duties are vital to the running of the Marathon. The task involves preparing for a Boxing Day drive to the start of the Marathon, then, carrying out duties for a week until the finish on New Years Day.

This club also runs the Wandin Field Day held in the third weekend of February each year. Semi professionally run by club members, this is the premier outdoor 4WD shows event in Australia.

Other duties that are done, or have been done by this club include support for The Scouts Jamboree (now undertaken by the Victorian Scout 4X4 Group), for six years they assisted the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind by providing marshals for the Business Review Weekly sponsored triathalon. For a number of years the club organised trips to the Red Cross Blood Bank in South Melbourne.

Members of their club, in 1987, started the Phoenix Bush Can Plan, a campaign, still running, to encourage members to avoid leaving rubbish in remote locations. Recently, LROCV has operated as a Mobile Unit of LandCare and is regularly engaged in willow clearing, tree planting and other duties as directed by LandCare.

Pajero 4WD Club Inc  

This is another club that operates as a LandCare unit. It is currently active also in Commonwealth Games Green House –Neutral  activities as a project.

Pajero Club members built and continue to maintain Mt Stirling Rescue Hut. Each year, at the clubs expense, it is maintained and stocks of food replenished.

Pajero Club members have adopted the Mississippi Track and perform hand tool maintenance and attend to signs.

Melbourne Jeep Owners Club Inc.

Phoenix Bush Can Plan is now operated by the Melbourne Jeep Club. In 2005, MJOC received a congratulatory letter from Mayor Jane Rowe of East Gippsland Shire. The letter acknowledges the efforts of the MJOC in continuing the Phoenix Bush Can Plan that was started by the Phoenix 4WD Club in 1987.

She continued ‘This is a fantastic effort and members should be congratulated and feel proud that they have become role models in the Four Wheel Drive Club industry, by providing the funds to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and encouraging good behaviour. East Gippsland is one of the country’s most beautiful regions and it is heartbreaking to see how casually it is littered, however with the assistance of individuals and groups like yourselves we are enjoying the benefits of a cleaner and better environment."

Swan Hill 4X 4 Club Inc.

This club has been involved in track clearance work in Hattah National Park and is currently involved in a signage and cleaning project on the banks of the River Murray.

They are working towards a scheme to assist tree seed collectors with a view to collecting seed themselves.

Otways 4 X 4 Club Inc.

This club operates a monthly maintenance schedule in the Cape Otway Cemetery. The club has a local reputation for being a competent, trustworthy group. Once, called upon by Victoria Police to assist at the scene of an accident, they stayed on duty for almost four hours, directing traffic around the problem site.

The local Department of Sustainability and Environment sought their assistance to clear a campsite after a group of logging protesters had vacated it. Eight club members worked for eight hours to clear the site of concrete obstacles loaded with steel spikes as well as a wrecked car that had been left there. Two skips of removable rubbish constituted a "cleaned" campsite.

City West Four Wheel Drive Club.

This small city club showed the way recently with a huge input to the management of the Wombat State Forest. In addition to wholehearted support for the following activities, they were also involved in a Parks Victoria/ Dept of Sustainability & Environment High Country Promotion, a special project over the Queens Birthday weekend in 2005

The following clubs have a special activity;

Jackaroo Club has regular bone seed pulling days in the You Yangs.

Hamilton has a Club track available for emergency services training.

South Gippsland teaches sand driving to surf life saving clubs.

Victoria Police provides support drivers for Typo Station.

Generally speaking, all of our clubs take the following activities for granted. They tackle these tasks without too much thought for the cost of volunteering.

Community activities;

Oxfam Xmas Tree deliveries.

Bush cemetery clean up activities.

Clean Up Australia.

RFDS. Red Cross. Variety Club fundraising activities.

Give blood to Red Cross Blood Bank.

Big Brother, Big Sister activities.

Carted hay for Qld fodder relief train.

Promotes 4WD Values at local community events.

Carer's relief, taking kids on a trip to give relief to carers.

Bush activities.

Supports 4WD Code of Ethics.

Support for the High Country Huts Assn.

DSE/PV organised clean ups (small scoped)

DSE/PV organised huge clean ups. (Wombat)

DSE General maintenance.

Multiple clubs, huge clean ups. (1985 Thomson Catchment Clean Up)

Bush fire relief and fencing (includes comforting dispossessed families)

Flood relief and fencing (includes comforting stunned families)

Has repaired log bridges. Land Rover, Pajero. Phoenix.

Regular track clearance activities.

Always clears up campsites left in bad condition.

Clears trees during club trips.

Now, thats not a bad record for a recreation that is vilified by the media and after they have thought a bit, they will be issuing a "How to Vote" Card for the next election. If you put a number 1 in the Legislative Council voting paper where outdoor recreation has indicated, you too, as responsible electors can send a strong message to the political parties in Melbourne.

Four Wheel Drive Clubs are fair dinkum - and so am I.

Foxes, a vexing question.

The previous scheme of encouraging the hunting of foxes in Victoria had some problems, not the least of which were;

1. How could you tell where the fox was killed? If hunters in other States conveyed them into Victoria, it was no wonder that that scheme failed.
2. Handing in the tail meant that the hides were virtually worthless. To be a commercial proposition, the hides must have tails attached.

The fox marks its area with urine, so eliminating them in one State gave foxes from other states an invitation to come into Victoria and set up a new home.

 

If there is no market for hides without a tail attached, why cut off the tail? Why not scalp it instead? Hides without ears are a lot more valuable than hides without tails.

 

Encourage furriers to promote fox as a natural fur for that section of the community that enjoys looking good in fur. Lets encourage fur fashions, even back to the point where fox furs have a good value and, as they become even scarcer, a lot more value.

 

Foxes are a problem in States other than Victoria. Have the Federal Government promote a national scheme where, in the first three months a bounty is paid on a scalp and the valuable hide is sold with ease. In the second three months, double the bounty. Increasing the bounty for fox fur at the same time as we are increasing the demand for beautiful clothing will encourage shooters to make a "bit on the side" and rid us of this feral pest.

 

When the hunters have culled the foxes, they might set out to cull the pigs, dogs and cats. Let's put a National bounty on them as well, ensuring the hunter is well paid for the service provided.

 

This solution will not work when States are so divided as to the method, so lets have the Federals in Canberra take note of our wishes for once.

 

I say, as it is the 4WD clubs in Victoria who recognise the host of problems in bush management, let's all support them on 25th November. Lets place our number 1 in their box above the line. Lets vote for positive land management by PV & DSE.

 

Again, I'm fair dinkum and I think you should be too.

Fires. Do we need so many?

I'm not a scientist. I'm not a bushman. I can read and my bible on fire is the book "Burning Bush - A Fire History of Australia".  Author Professor Stephen J Pyne. Arizona University.

 

Australia is a continent shaped by fire. This can still be seen in the northern parts, where they burn every year and always in such a manner that their native flora and fauna benefit.

 

As early as 1642. explorer Abel Tasman reported 'smoak and flame' around the coast. Similar observations were made by Hooker DeNyptang in 1697.

 

In 1773, Tobias Furneaux recorded that there was continual fire along the shore. He wrote "Tasmanians habitually carried firesticks (and) applied fire beyond their windbreaks and throughout the interior. At the same time, explorer Baudin observed "the natives" had lit many fires and witnessed "five of them on the nearest shore, each one holding a firebrand and setting fire to everything".

 

Francois Peron, George Robinson and the French explorer Captain Marion were  followed by Captain James Cook.

 

Cook, indeed, was very aware of constant smoke by day and fires by night. He described the scene at Botany Bay as "like an English Park with lush grasses, interspersed with manificent trees" He noted that the trees were so far apart that a horseman could freely travel across the country.

 

After Cook, other explorers, Leichardt, Sturt, Mitchell, Eyre, Gregory, Giles, Arthur Phillip and George White all made observations regarding fire.

 

We must conjecture that the Anglo-Saxon fear of fire brought to Australia by our early settlers must have had the influence on our current environment management that treats fire as if it was a threat.

 

I doesn't have to be a threat. If there is sufficient prescribed burning in the cool months, animals are left alive, humus retains its moisture and ability to provide a medium for the growth of flora and the habitat of fauna.

 

The alternative, as we saw in 2003 was an unstoppable fire that not only destroys habitat, it causes serious erosion. Captain of the Licola Fire Brigade can take the doubter to the valley of the Caledonia River to show where soil has now disappeared, washed and blown into streams and river, ultimately to finish up in the Glenmaggie Dam. Perhaps, in twenty years time we will wonder why there is no water for irrigation?

 

For whatever reason, our political representatives are hampered in their mission to represent you and I in Parliament. They listen to the Sir Humphrey Appleby's of the Public Service and do not dare answer back.

 

Fire shaped Australia. It is needed to enable us to restore our land to the condition that will one day approach what Captain Cook saw.

 

Look, I'm Fair dinkum. How about you?

Another experiment gone wrong?

The Great Russian Communism experiment came to a halt in 1990 when it was realised that it wasn't working for millions of Russians. Only the chiefs got anything out of it, the others got very little.

 

The same type of experiment came about in Australia in the early 1980's when Governments were advised to "Lock Up Our High Country" and leave it. Further, they were encouraged to set aside vast tracts of natural land as "Wilderness" for the exclusive use of bushwalkers. Today, Wilderness is equal to death trap for bushwalksers in summer with so many pest plants, some of which, blackberry for instance, become very volatile in dry seasons.

 

Governments led by John Cain, Joan Kirner, Jeff Kennett and Steve Bracks have not drawn back to consider what their actions have done. Thery have all, for budgetary reasons, adopted the ill founded policy of groups of Non Government Organisations who have no ides of the proper management of remote regions of Australia. It is bad that their philosophies have been bad for human beings, it is disastrous for native flora and fauna.

 

The Public's land has become a pest plant and feral animal haven where there is little management. They have all but thrown out a thriving timber industry that saved us importing timber from areas of the planet where forest destruction is greeted as a matter of fact. They have denied access to cattle grazing where the amount of fire fuel was reduced by 10 kgs, per cow, per day.

 

The withdrawal of these industries has left a vacuum where fuel reduction burning is not taking place in sufficient volume. Forest fuel is building up. Dead grasses are not being cleared and some species are already suffering or will suffer.

 

Combining Government fuel reduction burns with timber industry and graziers burning in the 1970's and early 1980's, there were probably 350,000 hectraes of land subjected to cool slow, "carpet burns".  It was possible for native fauna to escape these fires.

 

The current practice of allowing horrendous 'feral fires' whipped along at high speed by strong winds at time of low humidity allows no escape for these animals nor many birds. It has been reported that some 5 million birds, probably much more, were incinerated, cremated, or whatever in 2003.

 

National Parks Act, Annual Report 2005.

 

The 2005 National Parks Act, Annual Report when compared with the 1983 Annual Report shows an increase in administration at the cost of people working in our Parks and reserves. It shows that, in 1983 management (in 2005 values) was costing over $25 per hectare. In 2005 expenditure now costs only $20 per hectare

 

Over a period of twenty two years, their records show that the area of National Parks has increased from 985,000 hectares to 3.2 million hectares.

 

The number of people working actually on the land has risen from 272 in 1983 to 396 in 2005. If there was an equivalent number of workers to land there ought to be 883 of them.  Employing another 487 people to eradicate weeds around the public's land in Victoria might go a little way to arrest the flow of population towards Melbourne.

 

Denying our public land the care and attention has been at the cost of public servants at Perks Vic Headquarters in East Melbourne.

 

Administrators in 1983? 115 of them. Administrators in 2005? 625 of them. What are their duties?

 

One rural Parks worker commented that he joined to have an outdoor job but the majority of his time is spent behind a desk answering questions about reports that he has had to make. He attends meetings, sometimes about having other meetings, sometimes about filling in returns of an obscure nature that flow ceaselessly to East Melbourne.

 

Isn't it time to tell all Victorian Governments that enough is enough?  Do we have to put up with so many staff located in East Melbourne? What can er do to tell them?

 

Take note of the block on the voting paper that has been approved by many of the outdoor recreation groups around Victoria. Place a 1 in that box. That is all you need to do to tell politicians that our Australian environment has to be managed by our competent managers in Parks Victoria and Dept of Sustainability & Environment.

 

These Managers must be empowered to carry out their duties without shuffling reamsn of papers.

 

I'm Fairdinkum.