DEAR News Of The Area,

I ATTENDED the Bellingen Shire Council entrance courtyard on Wednesday 24 April to support the Greens submissions requesting the council pass two motions.

One supported stopping logging and another for a ceasefire in Gaza; a few of us got together to take a photo and we chanted to stop the logging at Pine Creek.

A bloke called out to me and stated we were wrong about Pine Creek, an exchange which included that the logging had been going on for 80 years, that he had lived in Bellingen for 79 years and that he knew more about it than I.

He was sick of new people coming in and I was dismissed when he told me to go back to the others, which I declined. He asked if I had taken a day off to come here and then asked if I was going to show some respect tomorrow, which was Anzac Day.

I have only lived in the Bellingen area for about four years, am 69 years of age, retired and work a small farm, plus putting effort into saving our precious forests for our beautiful wildlife and future generations.

Forest protectors regularly have these comments aimed at them, but it was the suggestion about me not respecting Anzac Day which really hurt, so I told him a short version of my family’s WW2 story.

Mum was in her early twenties when war broke out and it had only been a couple of years when her older and then younger brothers enlisted, with one dying in 1942 and the other in 1943.

In late 1943 Mum enlisted and was selected to serve in Rabaul, PNG, assisting in the hospital.

I think of Mum from time to time, but Anzac Day is important to remember what happened during those years, the feats, the bravery, the suffering and the tragedy of the war.

The people defending our forests receive quite a few comments, a lot of waves and toots from supporters and others that use words, physical assault, intimidation, threats, drive close and at speed, fingers and damage protestors’ cars to show their thoughts.

When forest protectors talk, we collectively want a just and fair transition for forestry workers and their families.

We believe keeping native forest and developing plantations will achieve outcomes that will work for all sides without damaging our environment.

We acknowledge that change is not always comfortable.

I hope this story shows there are a lot of misconceptions about people that are fighting to protect our forests and even though we have differences in opinion on one issue that doesn’t mean we don’t share the same opinions and values about other issues.

Regards,
Colin HUTTON,
Thora.