Whilst planting any kind of tree close to a house is certainly not the wisest of things to do, is Barry Chipman not aware that orchards, vineyards etc. are nowhere near as combustible as pine or eucalypt trees?

Foresty gains much of its power by being able to offer complicit governments a ‘voting bloc’ of support that is appealing to political parties.

Of course, whether they really do control these votes is unknown, but their story is plausible, at least in part because of their internal discipline.

As an industry, their discipline is obtained through mutual interests, promises, coercion and physical threats - or some combination of all of these.

Someone like Barry Chipman is required to sing the forestry song, regardless of any personal views. Doing so is a matter of survival.

Many in the forest industry are in the same situation - limited job skills - limited jobs - a nice little earner in forestry - threats - intimidation - all in it together to protect an industry that’s dying from focussing on near valueless woodchips from trees worth more than FT or Gunns can be bothered to make from them.

Brenda is one person caught in the system of plantation expansion without any reference to community needs.

Our governments exempted forestry from many of the laws that apply to the rest of us, and have given them powers that others do not have.

The result is unfair treatment, ignoring any public good, and a chasm between ordinary people and those working for forestry.