Grannies protest as loggers unite

By KATH GANNAWAY
AS FOUR Toolangi grandmothers locked themselves onto machinery at the Leo’s Foot logging coupe last week, the local forest industry has mounted its own campaign aimed at levelling the information war.
About 100 people attended a private meeting in Healesville on 18 July leading to the formation of Friends of Forestry (FOF).
FOF spokesperson and Toolangi logging operator Kerri Perry said the industry wanted to be part of the debate.
“It was for supporters of the industry and a few business people just to see what support the forest industry has in the area, to get some information out to the community and to combat some of the misinformation that is going out,” she said.
Ms Perry estimated about 95 per cent of the people attending were working in the industry and participants included Toolangi residents.
While protests against the logging in Toolangi have intensified since the 2009 bushfires, Ms Perry said a number of recent incidents were behind the formation of the group.
“For the last couple of months on the weekends environment groups have had their say in the main street (of Healesville) and with the camp set up in Toolangi as well, and we believe it’s time for us to tell our side of the story,” she said.
“There are some people from the (Toolangi) community opposed to the logging, but it has been reported as the whole community, and it is not.
“There are a lot of people up here who support what we do,” she said.
However, grandmothers Marion Lewis, Tess Hughes, Kerryn Blackshaw and Lynn Dean are not among them.
The women walked out of the Leo’s Foot coup on Friday morning after spending more than five hours in the mud and cold.
They said they were making a stand out of sheer desperation to get their point across.
“We want them to stop this,” Ms Dean said.
“This coup is almost gone but there are five others joining this one in the Toolangi State Forest, set for logging.”
Ms Blackshaw carried the Australian flag in deference to her father Kevin Jonson who she said fought in World War I for an entire year, putting up with cold and a lot more.
“People have to stand up and fight for this country, this environment, this forest and if that means a little bit of cold and discomfort it’s worth it,” she said. “We stopped the logging for another day.”
The women said they hoped their action would convince Premier Ted Baillieu to put a stop to the logging which they said was destroying the iconic mountain.
FOF president Brett Robin said he was disgusted with the action of the women.
“I’m not against protesting in a legal way but if that was my grandmother up there chained on a worksite illegally, condoning what she is doing by saying she is doing it for their grandchildren, what that says to me is that she is fine with her grandkids pursuing illegal practices in the future,” he said.
“I feel very sorry also for the contractor too who has been violated every day by these environmental groups and their actions.”