Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Wombat Action Group

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:54): (76) My adjournment debate this evening is for the Minister for Environment in this place. It is actually quite a disturbing one that I do feel uncomfortable with, but I feel compelled to raise it as an issue. It relates to an appalling social media post by so-called environmental group Wombat Action Group. The action I seek from the minister is for them to write a letter to the Wombat Action Group castigating its members for vilifying native timber harvester and president of the Victoria Axemen’s Council Mr Brad Meyer and informing them that their group will never receive government funding now or in the future. I also ask the minister to provide a copy of this letter to Mr Meyer.

In the past 30 years Brad Meyer has spent no less than 200 days working on the fireground, protecting life and property, protecting our native forests, protecting our communities and protecting flora and fauna, livestock and human life. He has used his specialised equipment and harvesting machinery and regularly put his own life on the line accessing and opening up vital links for first responders, opening up local roads and cutting down dangerous trees. This man also fought the fires in 2003, 2009 Black Saturday and 2019–20 Black Summer, to name a few.

Enter the Wombat Action Group, who feel elitist and entitled enough to denigrate Brad for their own amusement. Their Facebook shows – and I will not produce it, but it is here – a naked muscular torso holding a koala, with Brad’s head superimposed on the body. This is from 27 February. This is a disgraceful personal attack. And why? Because he is the president of the Victorian Axemen’s Council, who want to preserve a 140-year-old tradition of accessing logs for timber for a competition. The quote from them is:

It’s a satirical attack on … his ridiculous opinions.

Apparently now we cannot have opinions. If they differ from somebody else’s, they are ridiculous opinions. This is not the hallmark of a responsible environmentalist group; it is the hallmark of a group that think they know better. I believe that we should stand up against these sorts of people, and I call on the minister to do so. Brad’s commitment to preservation of public and private forests over 30 years is nothing short of heroic, and this is a disturbing image for him to have to endure.