Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader and Forests spokesperson
Blatant breaches of the Forest Practices Code in the Styx Valley demand an explanation from Resources Minister, Guy Barnett.
It took citizen scientists to reveal illegal logging operations, with multiple breaches of the Forest Practices Code, including logging outside the coupe boundary and the mysterious disappearance of previously mapped streams.
As the responsible Minister, Guy Barnett must explain to Tasmanians how this can happen in their public forests and at public expense.
Is Forestry Tasmania monitoring logging operations at all, or are breaches of the Forest Practices Code so commonplace, they don’t bother?
Given the shoddy practices, it’s no wonder Forestry Tasmania has twice failed to get Forest Stewardship Certification.
If the forestry GBE can’t properly protect Wildlife Habitat Clumps or a water course with a defined border, how can it claim to be able to protect critically endangered species.
This is just the most recent example of the destruction inflicted by the native forest industry that Guy Barnett gleefully claims is, ‘best practice.’
Will he, in the face of this damning evidence, claim all is above board in the Styx?
The case for ending native forest logging gets stronger by the hour.
In a climate and biodiversity emergency, protection is the only way to manage Tasmania’s biodiverse, carbon-rich forests.