• Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group compromised by logging lobby group.

• Advisory group could not consider stopping logging of Leadbeater Possum’s habitat.

• Leadbeater’s Possum needs large Great Forest National Park to survive.

The recommendations of the Victoria Government’s Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group will not stop the extinction of the state’s endangered animal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum, the Wilderness Society said today.

“The Victorian government is executing the Leadbeater’s Possum, knowingly sending it to meet the same fate as the Tasmanian Tiger,” said Wilderness Society Victoria Campaign Manager Amelia Young. “Almost half of the Leadbeater’s Possum habitat was burnt in the tragic 2009 bushfires, so the remaining forest is critical for its survival.

“The recommendations of the state government’s Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group will not stop the Leadbeater’s Possum going extinct, or even fix the long-term decline of the logging and pulp industry. The recommendations are just tinkering around the edges, even suggesting just removing Leadbeater’s Possums from their habitat if they get in the way of logging operations.

“The Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group was compromised by the inclusion of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries, the lobby group of theindustry that is driving the Leadbeater’s Possum to extinction. The advisory group was always compromised by its brief to maintain logging.

“Zoos Victoria has found itself in the unfortunate situation of being compromised as it is funded by the very government that is subsidising the destruction of Leadbeater’s Possum habitat, the government that is propping up the failing VicForests with millions of dollars in taxpayer funding.

“There are fewer than 1,500 Leadbeater's Possums remaining in the wild, with much of its remaining habitat targeted for logging. For the Leadbeater’s Possum to have a fighting chance to survive, a Great Forest National Park needs to be established that is sufficient in size to restore the forest.

“The vast majority of people in two key Victorian marginal seats oppose the continued use of taxpayer money to subsidise native forest logging, according to a recent poll by Lonergan Research. Half of the respondents supported government subsidies of industries yet 72 per cent of voters polled in Monbulk and Bentleigh oppose the use of their taxes to subsidise VicForest’s logging of native forests that threaten the Leadbeater’s Possum.

“If the Coalition is serious about listening to the people’s concerns with its community Cabinet meetings, it should listen to the Monbulk community at this evening’s meeting in Upwey.”