Copyright © The Age Company Ltd 2001
August 30, 2001

How many Victorians have seen a regent honeyeater? A barking owl? A brush-tailed phascogale? How about a pink-tailed worm lizard? In all cases, the answer is very few. The reason is simple: these creatures' habitat, box-ironbark woodland, is vanishing. The woodlands are the forgotten forests of public conservation debate - 83 per cent has been cleared - yet harbor about 50 animal species and 300 plant species that are endangered. And not only biodiversity is at risk. The woodlands are archetypal Australian bush, part of a cultural and literary heritage, which gave rise to Banjo Paterson's The Man from Ironbark, Steele Rudd's On Our Selection and Henry Lawson's The Ironbark Chip. This was the bush through which Ned Kelly ranged. Before the Europeans, Aborigines dwelt in the woodlands, and traces of their way of life remain. Later, the miners who made Victoria wealthy left their mark on the landscape. Yet almost none of it has national park status. An Environment Conservation Council report tabled in State Parliament now proposes to increase the protected area of woodlands, scattered across central Victoria, from 121,000 hectares to 190,500 - about 6.5per cent of the original extent.

The recommendations, which include five new national and state parks, will adversely affect many people who make a living from the woodlands. The ECC estimates that up to 50 jobs may be lost, with almost as many created in tourism and park management. Clearly, though, a disproportionate burden of sacrifice will fall on some communities; it is the duty of government to resolve conflicts between socio-economic and environmental interests in a fair way. The failure to do that last June sank the Marine Parks Bill. Its withdrawal marked the end of a bipartisan approach to parks creation that had endured for three decades since a public campaign, in which The Age was prominent, against the lands minister's plans to carve up the Little Desert for grazing. That plan was a stark illustration of the potential consequences for conservation if party-political interests prevail. The need for an independent, balanced overview is the reason for the ECC investigation, which began in 1995 and attracted more than 3500 submissions.

Both sides of politics can learn from last June. The government must be more careful and transparent in its drafting of legislation, and has to face the need for fair compensation. The opposition should desist from political point-scoring, accept the ECC recommendations in good faith - on both the land and marine parks - and accept that some areas must be fully protected. The marine parks failure was a tragedy for conservation in this state. All parties acknowledge that, and they can atone for it. By reverting to a bipartisan approach, they might yet share in an enduring triumph. Error: Unable to read footer file.