On behalf of the Greens, I was proud to table a petition in Parliament signed by more than 900 north-east community members, calling for permanent protection of forests. Given the Premier has now taken these forests off the table for logging, we urge him to also protect them permanently.
Tasmania’s forests are crucial for the survival of species and for the health of the planet. Tasmania’s State of the Environment Report 2024 makes for grim reading – so many environmental indicators are in decline and so many species under threat.
The Rockliff Government can satisfy a key recommendation of the SOE report and at the same time to rest the anxieties of forest communities all over Tasmania. The Premier should listen to the calls of petitioners and permanently protect so-called ‘Future Potential Production Forests’.
These forests were identified for protection under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement for their high conservation value. It was only last year, the Greens and The Wilderness Society revealed the Liberals were secretly attempting to rezone these stunning forests for logging.
Thankfully, in the face of community outrage, the Premier reversed that decision and scrapped that divisive policy. The next step is to set aside these forests as permanent reserves and as an extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area – as was originally intended.
The government must move to protect other forests that are key to the survival of species like the swift parrot, azure kingfisher and masked owl. Risking these species’ survival by doing nothing is unconscionable.
Native forest logging is worse than a loss-making enterprise – it’s our highest emitting sector in a time of climate crisis. It pollutes waterways, spreads invasive species, is driving threatened species closer to the brink – and it also divides the community.
Native forest logging is a relic of a bygone era – more and more Tasmanians realise this. We urge the Premier to listen to petitioners, and to the community at large, and end the destruction in this island’s precious forests.
