"Letting the community down on forests yet again isn't new, but this deal by Mr Brumby is a super-shocker." said Dr McKelvie. "The Kennett Government handed South Gippsland's public forests to the Hancock company on a plate in 1998. They were meant to log the state owned plantations only - not the rare public forests of the Strzeleckis as well."

"However, due to deliberately defining the 7000ha regrowth ash forests wrongly as plantation, Hancocks have logged them for years, against government policy, in broad daylight and with government approval. Now the government has formalised this logging and dressed it up as a conservation win. No wonder the community is outraged."

"South Gippsland's native forests have been over-cleared and are now extremely rare. The Cores and Links are critically important and were identified by the community as an urgent priority in the protection of the Strzelecki forests in 2001. But community consultation was not even part of this latest sham.

"A large area of Mountain Ash inside the Cores and Links will be clearfelled mainly for woodchips over the next 20 years - and only then will the 8,000 ha be fully managed as a reserve.

"It has been government policy for years to outlaw clearing native forests to replant a commercial plantation, but this hasn't stopped South Gippsland's forests being converted to tree farms with full consent of both the Kennett and Brumby Government's.

"The government is currently parading its Green Paper on Bio-diversity around the state, while making sneaky deals on forest destruction. Environmentally concerned voters just become more cynical of John Brumby by the day.

For further information please contact: Malcolm McKelvie 0417 364 615 Greens Candidate for Gippsland By – Election