Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a confrontation between timber industry workers, or loggers, and environmental conservationists, also known as greenies, as the environmentalists stage a logging blockade. The incident was filmed using two cameras in order to capture the reactions of both groups. While the environmentalists try to explain why they are protesting, the timber workers describe them as ‘dole bludgers’ and ‘parasites’. A protester, who has fastened herself to some heavy machinery using a bike lock, sings that there will be no logging today and people will be stood down. The mood is one of antagonism as jibes are exchanged between both sides.

Educational value points

• The clip shows part of the campaign to prevent logging in old growth forests in northern New South Wales. In the early 1990s, blockades staged by activists in the state’s north-eastern and south-eastern forests disrupted logging operations and resulted in more than 1,300 arrests. The activists also challenged the Forestry Commission in the Land and Environment Court. The Court found that the Forestry Commission had disregarded its legal obligations to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs) before giving approval to logging.

• Since European settlement, half of Australia’s forests and three-quarters of its rainforests have been cleared. Australia’s forests are logged at a rate of around 200,000 ha per year (equal to about 2 million quarter-acre suburban household blocks). Environmental groups argue that timber plantations are currently able to supply all of Australia’s domestic timber needs.

• Logging blockades, as shown here, have involved protesters chaining themselves to logging machinery and equipment, sitting in front of bulldozers, digging themselves into the ground, and sitting in trees, as well as creating roadblocks. A form of direct action, blockades obstruct logging operations, but also draw attention to forest conservation by attracting media coverage.

• In the clip, timber industry workers see the protesters as 'dole-bludgers’ or 'parasites’ and define themselves as 'working people’. The fact that some environmental activists were in receipt of welfare payments, often for extended periods, provided fertile ground for attack by pro-logging groups. The activists justified welfare payments on the grounds that they were engaged in what they see as a patriotic and selfless job to conserve Australia’s unique environment for future generations. The conditions governing receipt of unemployment benefits have changed since the film was shot, and applicants now have to show evidence that they are actively seeking work or participate in a 'work for the dole’ program.

• The lives of the militant environmental protesters and activists shown in the clip are commonly shaped by their commitment to saving forests. Some spend months living in tents in the forest away from urban comforts. They are usually depicted as anarchists who are distrustful of authority, hierarchy and consumer society and many have been arrested during protest actions. Militant activists often force society to confront an 'issue’. However, the views of vocal or socially disobedient activists are often dismissed as 'extremist’ by sections of the community.

• About 82,500 people work in the forestry, logging and forest products industries in Australia. These industries are major regional employers, with some rural communities dependent on logging and saw mills for their continued survival. While loggers fear that conservation of forests will reduce the number of their jobs, evidence shows that recent job losses in the timber industry are the result of industry rationalisation, automation and restructuring.

• The logging of old growth forests is a contentious issue in Australia. In 1992 the federal, state and territory governments began introducing Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs), each of which is based on a 20-year plan to balance the conservation of Australia’s forest estate with its use for economic production and recreation. RFAs came about partly in response to campaigns by environmental groups, but they have sometimes been criticised for failing to protect forests adequately.

• Some of the environmental consequences of logging old growth forests are referred to in the clip. The consequences include the loss of, or threat to, some fauna and flora dependent on the original habitats, as well as increased levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming. The increase has two causes: forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide; moreover, logging itself causes carbon dioxide emissions.

This clip starts approximately 19 minutes into the documentary.

A logger and a greenie are walking together through the logging site.
Logger So, do you support yourself on the dole?
Greenie Yeah, I’d say so.
Logger Yeah and you know who keeps you, don’t you. The working people.
Greenie Yeah.
Logger Well, we’re trying to produce production …
Greenie Well, we’re doing something pretty important here too.
Logger Well, to a certain extent youse are, I suppose.
Greenie I mean, sure I’m on the dole but it’s not as though if I’ve never had a job and it’s not as though I don’t intend to get one. I’m just unemployed at the moment. I’m a hard worker.
Logger Yeah, you certainly look like it.

The Greenie is being interviewed.
Greenie I figure well, it’s about time that people should stand up and do something for what they believe in. There’s too many people that say ‘Oh well, I would go but I would rather be off at Byron, you know, surfing at the beach’, which is fine if that’s what you want to do, but don’t go calling yourself environmentally conscious if you’re not prepared to do something about it.

A group of loggers and greenies are standing around one of the tractors.
Logger Bloody disgusting, aren’t they?
Boy Yep.
Greenie Oh look! Don’t give us any cheek.
Logger Give it to me all you like mate. I’ve got ears. I’ve got ears. You give me all the cheek you like. Come here Alan. Are you comfortable up there?
One of the greenies has climbed into the cab of the tractor.
Greenie Yeah, you’d better believe it.
Logger Come up here Al. Have a look. Are you going to clean up all the mud off the machine when you’re finished?
Greenie No. Are you going to clean up the planet when you’re finished?
Logger It’s not what I asked you.
Greenie It’s not what I told you.
Logger I said are you or aren’t you going to clean the machine up?
Greenie Well, it’s not my fault they’re dirty. You created all the log dumps.
Logger All the dirt on your feet on the seat where our blokes gotta sit on it?
Greenie Yeah well, you created the log dumps.
Logger You must have an education, have ya? Probably more than me. Why aren’t you out there working than standing around here in the mud?
Greenie This is the biggest job around, man.
Greenie Yeah mate, this is the toughest job. We don’t come out here because we like it. We don’t sit in the rain because we like it. We sit in the rain, out here in the mud because we care about our children and our children’s children mate. We care about the air we breathe and the water we drink. We care about the animals …
Greenie And we think the last generation made a lot of mistakes.
Greenie We care about the global gene pool if you want to get down to that.
Logger It rained on you, did it?
Greenie No more trees to be logged today. The creek is here to stay. You’re going to get laid off your jobs.
Greenie Don’t worry, we can’t shut her up. (Laughter)

The Logger is being interviewed.
Logger 99 percent of them will be on the dole, living off us — parasites. They’ve got their belief, we’ve got our belief but this shouldn’t take place. This should be sorted out with the authorities. It shouldn’t have to be like this. You can see what sort of trash they are. Non-productive — absolutely parasites to the community.