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The moral economy of the bush: debates about logging and forestry are typically presented as pitted wars between urban environmentalists and logging communities. In north-east Tasmania, Peter Hay finds other voices.

Article Excerpt
On 6 October 2004, in the last crucial week of the election campaign, Prime Minister Howard announced his 'rescue package' for Tasmania's disputed forests at a Timber Communities Australia (TCA) rally in Launceston. He was cheered by a boisterous crowd, and vivid media imagery portrayed a chuffed Prime Minister shaking hands with enthusiastic men in singlets and flannel shirts. Several key ALP figures broke ranks with their Federal Leader to embrace the Howard Plan, including sitting MHR and election candidate, Dick Adams, Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon, and, Scott McLean, the State Secretary of the CFMSU and a member of the ALP National Executive. Labor lost two of its five Tasmanian House of Representatives seats, although opinion polls taken before the rally had already signalled the likelihood of these two seats changing hands.

Given the dramatic and highly visible nature of such electorally pivotal events it is probable that most Australians now see forest communities as politically homogenous. Conflict over the fate of the Tasmanian forests takes on a simple rural-urban conflict: the seat of opposition to current forest practices is to be found in large urban areas, with the pro-status quo position articulated by Timber Communities Australia--the voice of the bush.

Though an entirely reasonable interpretation of the election outcome, a closer inspection reveals a more complex picture. Local anti-forestry campaigns tend to be led by and largely consist of comparative newcomers to the communities in which they live. This is in contrast to TCA, which frequently makes potent ideological appeals to a generations-long continuity of involvement in forest industries.

Many of...

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