Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
The logging of ancient rainforest ecosystems in the Tarkine is utterly unjustifiable on environmental, social and economic grounds, yet it is accelerating under the Gutwein Government.
This is putting Tasmanian communities at risk in a drying climate where logged forests increase bushfire risk.
Today more than 60 forest defenders have walked in to forests flattened by the mendicant faction in Tasmania’s logging industry, enabled by Suss Timbers and cheered on by the Liberals.
Labor’s silence, of course, tells us they support rainforest logging and ecosystem destruction in the Tarkine. It also tells us their climate credentials are as weak as ever.
The damage to Tasmania’s hard won, fragile Brand is also serious, with the Tarkine Defenders broadcasting scenes of devastation globally from the front line.
And, according to Suss Timbers’ own data, there’s simply no need to log native forest and rainforest. All the industry’s needs can be met by the current plantation resource.
Logging in the Tarkine comes down to ideology and greed.
We believe the majority of Tasmanians and Australians now recognise logging the Tarkine is a crime against nature and the climate.
If the new Premier and Climate Change Minister wants to be taken seriously on climate, he must step in to protect the Tarkine and take the necessary steps to end native forest logging.
Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Climate spokesperson
We need to do everything we can to curb the most extreme impacts of global heating, and that means the carbon stored in old trees has to stay in the ground.
This past week, as a result of the Gutwein Government’s policies, massive amounts of carbon dioxide was belched into the atmosphere from logging in the Tarkine.
Tasmanians watched the harrowing bushfires that destroyed so many communities on the mainland this summer. The loss of bushland has been extreme, and with it the threat of extinction for many native species.
The science is very clear that continuing to operate business as usual amounts to criminal negligence.
Logging intact forests increases bushfire risk, in both intensity and severity. It dries the forest, creates flammable waste, and regenerates to kindle a fire prone landscape.
The question is, do both the Liberals and Labor have any regard for science?
If they do, they will take a stand against the logging of ancient rainforest, and give Tasmanians a pathway to the future by keeping our carbon stores intact and reducing our bushfire risk.