Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Environment spokesperson
Yesterday, the Federal Government silently moved the swift parrot up to critically endangered status under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
This is a tragic confirmation that the inaction of Liberal governments is driving this wonderful speedy bird to extinction.
Swift parrots are especially vulnerable to habitat loss. Logging in Tasmania has now so reduced nesting and feeding sites that the bird is under immense pressure from sugar glider predation.
The so-called Minister for the Environment, Matthew Groom, needs to shift the moratorium on logging on Bruny Island to a permanent ban immediately.
The Liberals need to properly protect the swift parrot habitat in the south and eastern Tasmania, where their habitat is at risk of being logged.
The threatened species plan for the swift parrot is woefully out of date. Minister Groom has failed to act and the parrot is becoming more endangered as he procrastinates.
The swift parrot, masked owl and orange bellied parrot are the canaries in the coal mine for Tasmania’s biodiversity crisis.
There are less than 1000 swift parrot breeding pairs left in the wild. If Minister Groom and the Liberals don't do something now, they are effectively condemning the swift parrot to extinction.