HAVOC Newsletter for the Huon Valley Environment Centre Winter/Spring Edition HVEC is a non-profit, volunteer organisation with a vision, for the people of the world to experience in the Huon Valley a community committed to living harmoniously with their natural environment. Committee Members Convenor: Adam Burling Treasurer: Jenny Weber Secretary: Loki Maxwell Education: Rob Sheehan Centre Co-ordination: Jamie Ward Fundraising: Daynu Other Key Positions Public Officer: Lilian Komzak Membership Co-ordinators: Karen & Chris ([email protected]) Volunteer Co-ordinator: Aviva Hannah Librarian: Robyn Von Bernburg Retail Manager: Shar Molloy HAVOC is published several times a year and is designed and edited by Melanie Simon; contributions of relevant articles and images or artwork from members are welcomed. All material for this newsletter is donated and HVEC do not take responsibility for the opinions expressed herein. HUON VALLEY ENVIRONMENT CENTRE INC. 3/17 Wilmot Rd, P.O. Box 217 HUONVILLE, 7109 Phone: 03 6264 1286 Fax: 03 6264 1243 Email: [email protected] Website: www.huon.org Dear HVEC member, You are invited to attend the opening of ‘weld echo’, presented by the Black Sassy Collective, at the Riverside Pavilion, Mawson’s place, Hobart, on Friday the 2nd of September 2005 @ 6pm. Official opening will be by Bob Brown who will introduce you to glimpses of an endangered valley, a collaborative exhibition of Weld inspired art. Then on Sunday the 11th of September, come to an auction of the art at Sirens (Victoria St, Hobart) at 4.30pm. There will be entertainment by the Stiff Gins. Entry $5, proceeds to the Weld Valley Campaign, for more info go to www.huon.org. 1 Welcome to our spring newsletter, Transformation of the Centre seems to be a continuing theme this year. Change is energy, and there is certainly plenty of that being expended around the place with people charging around working diligently on their respective projects. With GLO now open and attracting organic coffee and food lovers from around the valley there is also quality fuel available on site. The main renovation of the Environment Centre space itself in the back is complete and seems to be functioning effectively with plenty of room still for work, meetings, campaigns and informal gatherings. A big thank you to Carl for the lovely shelving system he has designed and made for the retail goods. Thanks go out also to everyone who helped with this big project, either for painting, building, moving stuff around etc. In particular to Aviva and Jenny who drove the process and Lilian for the library makeover. The back yard has also been transformed with more set to come. The cob oven is now snug and dry with a lovely roof over it and enough space for numerous people to also gather underneath. These two happened over a series of working bees so more thanks to those who helped with mud and building work. Special thanks to Hans, Lilian and Rainer for their design, leading workshops and doing so much of the hard slog. Louise has been steadily weaving her way around the fence line resulting in a nicely defined (and safer for littlies) boundary. There is also now a greenhouse for onsite propagation of native plants and herbs and with a Work for the Dole project currently on the go we shall see more progress directly. Other exciting projects like the Weld Echo exhibition and the Herb, Health and Organic Expo are examples of how our Centre and the community can help sustain each other and work together to create great events. The exhibition has attracted work from many and varied artists and is being held at a prominent and central site in Hobart so it should attract a lot of passing traffic. This is a wonderful way to showcase the treasures the Weld has to offer to the wider community and engage in a meaningful discourse about its importance from a different angle. Global Warming is an issue that affects all species and all bioregions on the globe. It has finally been accepted by most world leaders as a real phenomenon although this was resisted by many for years and still is far from being given adequate priority in terms of policy formation, or perhaps by us in our daily lives and choices. A series of discussions on Global Warming hosted by Ian Fletcher will be happening at the Centre starting in September, all welcome. Here’s to a sunny season of positive energy and great environmental and awareness outcomes. Keep smiling. 2 Gunns Update On July 18th, Justice Bongiorno of the Victorian Supreme Court, threw out versions one and two of the statement of claim against 20 defendants by Gunns Ltd. Judge Bongiorno's ruling described Gunns claims as 'incomprehensible', 'embarrassing' and 'unintelligible'. Version three was served on defendants via their legal teams on August 15th. Julian Burnside Q.C. at the mention on 17th of August 2005 said that "(Gunns latest claim was) like a Rubik's cube that's been twisted around a few times, all the same bits are there, they're just in a different place." Differences in version three to note are that Huon Valley Environment Centre are no longer part of the Banks Action, which essentially means $10 000 less on damages sought by Gunns. Bringing the amount HVEC is being sued for to $260 000. And, there is an addition $50 000 claimed in general damages and an additional $500 000 for the "campaign against Gunns". The latter is of concern because it claims acts such as writing to shareholders and making public statements are activities that have the potential to be sued. All the activities described by the "campaign against Gunns" are basic rights and essential to a campaign in a healthy democracy. The new statement of claim has increased the amount sought in damages to $6, 745,504.48 in total amongst all defendants. To be launched on Friday 26th of August is the Forests and Free Speech Tour. The tour will run until December. It will visit regional centres and cities from Maleny and Noosa in the north, down Qld, NSW and Vic to Melbourne in the South, across SA and WA to Perth. Coordinated by Louise Morris the tour will provide fantastic exposure for the Gunns 20 case. A short film and power point presentation will be shown. Local and prominent speakers are going to be part of the events. Check out www.treedomfighters.org.au and inform your friends and family; they could go along and support Gunns 20 in their area. Written by Jenny Weber 3 In court on the 17th of August, Justice Bongiorno accepted the new statement of claim which is the third Gunns has presented. However, in a positive move he has awarded the defendants costs so far associated with the two earlier versions of the claim, documents which were unacceptable to the court. He stated, “All defendants will receive their costs and receive those costs in full.” This is a significant win for those fighting the writ and obviously a great relief to everyone involved as the total costs for all defendants are estimated to be up to the six figure mark already. There is a directions hearing planned for the case in December. Visit the website at www.gunns20.org to download a copy of the latest writ or for more information visit www.mcgunns.com where you will find links to many related news articles about Gunns20 and SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). New Projects The HVEC has just started a 6 month Work for the Dole project, based mainly in the Centre’s own gardens. We have four young men participating in the project, which includes setting up a small greenhouse, propagating native plants, landscaping the garden, and painting murals. The end goal in sight is that the greenhouse will provide on-going opportunities for fundraising through native plant sales. Project days are Tuesday to Thursday, but you are welcome to come along to the Centre at any time to see the progress being made. We hope that through sponsoring projects like this the HVEC will gain recognition and integrity in the wider Huon community. As supervisor of this project I am hoping to set up a seed bank so that we can sustain our native plant propagation and sales. We are looking for native seeds in particular, but herb and vegetable seeds are also very welcome. If you, or anyone you know, has a surplus of any such seeds they would be most welcome here at the HVEC. Any donations would be very much appreciated, and can be left at the Environment Centre in Lilia’s pigeonhole. If you have any questions about the Work for the Dole project, or the seed bank, you can contact me at the HVEC on: 6264 1286. Happy spring planting! Lilia Letsch Burtons Reserve Work for the Dole Project in Cygnet The Burtons Reserve Work For the Dole Project in Cygnet is finally happening! The HVEC is the sponsor for this exciting project which will see us working in co- operation with the Huon Valley Council, Cygnet Scouts, Employment Plus and other community groups involved with Burtons Reserve. The project includes the following: 4 • Assisting Cygnet Scouts with renovation works for the large heritage listed timber shed at Burtons reserve; • Restoration of timber and fiberglass boats and canoes; • Landscaping works including preparation and planting of new areas; • Restoration of previously planted areas, and track maintenance and possible boardwalk construction; • Possible maintenance work on the bush tucker garden, which has been created by SETAC.