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In Tasmania, the logging industry is a billion-dollar sector that provides employment to thousands and exports millions of tonnes of timber, woodchips, and pulp overseas, mainly serving paper mills in China and Japan.
“Becoming a lawyer was my part in that, breaking down those systems and really bringing us home to that key message.“

Maggie Blanden, a 25-year-old palawa lawyer, with the host of NITV’s The Point, John Paul Janke. Source: SBS News
It’s a message that echoes across places like the Styx Valley, a stronghold of Tasmania’s ancient forests and a hotspot for protests against logging.
“The concern that we have is these types of plantings create potentially catastrophic bushfires, as well as it’s sucking all the water up.”
“The government is subsidising all the roads, all the departments, and loses all of our carbon, all of the biodiversity, and all of the water catchment, forsaking the very potential of what this could represent for timber production and for future generations.”

Ruth Langford, a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman born in Tasmania (lutruwita), is among the cultural custodians taking a stand. Source: Supplied
Palawa woman Carleeta is part of a protest camp in Styx Valley and believes balance is possible and immediate change essential.
At the heart of the movement is a deep reverence for inter-generational responsibility. For Blanden, elders like Uncle Jim Everett (Puralia Meenamatta), who still physically defends forested areas, represent that legacy.