Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Climate Change spokesperson
The Greens welcome the call by 250 doctors and medical students to end native forest logging in lutruwita/Tasmania. It is a critical step in tackling the climate emergency, and protecting the health of Tasmanians.
Climate change is a health emergency – as has been made clear by the Australian Medical Association and eight national medical college bodies. The doctors who signed the letter to the Premier understand all too well how intrinsically linked the health of the planet and its people are.
The need for climate action is urgent. We must do everything we can to secure a safer future for the planet and its people. In Tasmania, this requires protecting the island’s biodiverse, carbon bank forests.
Despite the urgent need to reduce emissions and preserve biodiversity, the Liberals in government have escalated the logging of native forests. Resources Minister, Guy Barnett, and his colleagues are willfully destroying critical carbon banks.
No government serious about climate action can log and burn native forests. This environmental and climate destruction, however, is the daily business of Forestry Tasmania, cheered on by the Liberals.
The Gutwein Government is happy to pat itself on the back about lutruwita/Tasmania’s emissions profile, but refuses to admit it’s due to the Tasmanian Forest Agreement - negotiated under the Labor Green Government.
The Premier, and Climate Change Minister, Peter Gutwein needs to listen to experts, just as he has done so well during the coronavirus emergency.
We urge him to listen to the 250 Tasmanian doctors and medical students and immediately protect the state’s biggest climate asset – our carbon rich native forests.