The Greens thank the courage of the peaceful forest defenders who were sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court today. Their commitment to protecting our island’s special places, in spite of draconian anti-protest laws designed to silence them, is inspiring.
Bob, Karen, and Kristy are defending our forests against a government wholly focussed on propping up an unsustainable and loss-making forest industry. When arrested at Snow Hill, they were engaged in stopping allegedly illegal actions of Forestry Tasmania in destroying an active Swift Parrot nesting tree.
We commend their bravery in standing up for our native forests and the critically endangered Swift Parrot.
The Liberal Government continues to push to open a further 39,000 hectares of high conservation value native forests. With just a few hundred swift parrots remaining, Tasmanians who love our forests and this speedy bird won’t stop exercising their right to peaceful protest. They know our forests need to be protected for their beauty, their large carbon stores, the future of threatened species, and the long-term economic prosperity of our state.
The only way to stop forests defenders defying laws that would see our wild places destroyed is for the Rockliff Government to follow the lead of other states and bring native forest logging to an end.
