Ms BADGER (Lyons) – As the Leader of the Greens stated, it is International Biodiversity Day, so what an appropriate topic. This year’s theme is encouraging everyone to further their commitment to the pledges made at COP 15 in 2022: to halt and reverse the destruction of biodiversity and the natural world. Australia has signed up to be part of this commitment, so of course Tasmania has a significant role to play.
I wanted to talk about two specific forest areas of extraordinary biodiversity that are currently and consistently under threat. The first one is a part of kooparoona niara/Great Western Tiers. At Quamby Bluff, we have seen 200 hectares logged just over 12 months ago, with much community opposition, with a further 110 to 115 hectares still to come. This has significantly impacted the scenic values of the area and it has obliterated the biodiversity. That whole area of kooparoona niara is a missed opportunity of a future opportunity to have a new national park declared: Tasmania’s first national park under Aboriginal management.
In takayna, as Dr Woodruff mentioned, the Franklin River coupe is under threat right now. It is an incredible biodiversity hotspot. There are three eagle’s nests within one kilometre of the coupe. In the coupe itself there are endangered quolls and Tasmanian devils. This is an abundant habitat for the Tasmanian azure kingfisher, and the coupe is its last refuge on the lower reaches of the Franklin River.
Both kooparoona niara and takayna could be new national parks for our state. Tasmania has not had a new national park in over 30 years. It can help protect our forests, and safeguard globally important biodiversity and our carbon banks, which are our greatest sequestering tools.
An investment in parks is an investment in our carbon bank. It will help expand the state’s tourism offerings, and it will help greater disperse the regional tourism dollar across the new national parks.
Private land investment has also been mentioned, and I want to pay tribute to the huge role that it is playing in conserving biodiversity in Tasmania’s forests, particularly from the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, who have done a tremendous job off their own back to make sure we are protecting some of the ecosystems that are absolutely critical to not only Tasmania but the planet.
The Australian Government’s Tasmanian Forest Tourism Initiative states that Tasmania’s ancient forests and other natural features are some of the core reasons and the state’s greatest attractions for tourists. That is absolutely correct. That is why people want to come here. We need to make sure that we are continuing investment into the infrastructure that allows people to come to our currently protected forests. That includes the Styx River Road, which we spoke about last week in this House as well. We have to improve the road so that people can access these World Heritage‑valued trees that are protected and extraordinary and are easy to access for a wide variety of tourists.
There are other places, particularly in the north-east of the state, which we so often forget has magnificent forests as well, places such as the Blue Tier. Tall tree tourism is a fantastic initiative that we can have here in Tasmania that is a low to no‑impact option that helps celebrate the beautiful forests we have here.
