Ms O'CONNOR - Minister, I'm interested in what STT's plans are for coupe SH045E, which is at Snow Hill in the Eastern Tiers. You might be aware, minister, that it's where Dr Bob Brown was arrested recently. It is also where swift parrot breeding behaviour has been observed. STT was told about swift parrots in this coupe, demonstrating breeding behaviour inside the coupe boundary, three weeks ago, and yet, logging continued. We're not surprised that the GBE struggles to achieve Forest Stewardship Certification when it is clear that forest practices in this state are driving swift parrots closer to extinction.
I am interestedton know what the GBEs plans are for coupe SH045E?
Mr ELLIS - I will pass over to the STT team on the specifics of the coupe, but I utterly reject your assertion, Ms O'Connor, about the sustainable forest industry in Tasmania.
Ms O'CONNOR - The highest carbon emitter in the state. Because you're a scientist and Dr Jen Sanger's not. That's right, I remember. Absolute garbage.
Mr ELLIS - That is absolutely garbage, Ms O'Connor, because we are, through Forestry, one of the largest sequesterers of carbon. Indeed, this room that we sit in, Ms O'Connor, is a testament to sequestration of the carbon that is all around us. As you know, the absurdity of trying to claim that emissions -
Ms O'CONNOR - Most of it turns into wood chips, and you know it.
Mr ELLIS - Mr O'Connor, I thought you were supportive of plantation. That's where most plantations go, into wood chips.
Ms O'CONNOR - We're supportive of plantations but not of the devastation of native forest. However, I am really interested in the future of this coupe and the swift parrots.
Mr ELLIS - That is the hypocrisy and the irony, Ms O'Connor, in the approach that you take.
We manage for a range of different values, including threatened species like the swift parrot. We are very proud of that work that STT does -
Ms O'CONNOR - Logging swift parrot habitat? You're proud of that? Really?
Mr ELLIS - We are very proud of the management of swift parrots and a range of other values in this state. I will hand over to the STT team to update you on that particular coupe.
Mr WHITELEY - I think mention has been made already of the importance of swift parrot habitat management, and that is something we actively participate within. This season we started off our monitoring broadly within the swift parrot important breeding areas which are dispersed widely across the state. What we tend to do is, both directly and indirectly, seek out where flowering is likely to occur which is going to guide where the swift parrots are likely to nest in that particular year.
Last year many of them were in the southern forests. This year the indications are further up the east coast, Tasman Peninsula and perhaps Bruny. Each year we go through this process, trying to anticipate where swift parrots may choose to nest. In the end, they are indicators only. Early in the season the swift parrots begin to migrate and we start to see them moving broadly around the state. They spread very widely. Many people will report the sighting of swift parrots early, but it's too early to say at that point where they will nest. The birds will then settle down. They'll choose their nesting. It's still possibly broad, but they tend to concentrate in some areas.
The indications are this year it will be Eastern Tiers, Tasman and Bruny. We prepare our three year plans well ahead of knowing in any season where the swift parrots are likely to choose to nest. In this case, we planned a coupe at Snow Hill - that's Snow Hill 45A - and commenced harvesting that. There were some early sightings of birds in that area, broadly in the Eastern Tiers. Within the plan there are prescriptions to stop and desist if there's likely to be nesting in any area.
Ms O'CONNOR - That hasn't happened in this coupe's case.
Mr WHITELEY - It has happened now.
Ms O'CONNOR - What's the plan for the coupe? Through you, minister, and with respect, Mr Whiteley, when I have a crack at this table it is not at you or anyone who works for FT. We know where policy comes from.
Mr WHITELEY - I am talking about our management process. I accept that.
Ms O'CONNOR - Yes.
Mr WHITELEY - In this season, in this particular coupe, there were some early broad sightings of swift parrots. We're aware of those. We've been monitoring those and we follow the rules in terms of not harvesting. There are rules within a forest practices plan and we comply with those. In the case of this coupe, within the time the harvesting was going on there were sightings of swift parrots broadly in the Eastern Tiers. Now there is sufficient evidence that we should not continue harvesting and we've stopped.
Ms O'CONNOR - Great.
Mr WHITELEY - We do this with all the plans. It's difficult with six months to go to predict exactly where the bird's nesting will occur.
Ms O'CONNOR - Thank you, Mr Whiteley.
Mr WHITELEY - We'll do the same with any of the areas, whether it's south, Eastern Tiers, or anywhere else in each year. It is a difficult species to forecast. Not like eagles where we go out and confine the nests. We know broadly where they're going to nest, we avoid disturbing them. We would seek to do the same with swift parrots but we have to run a different process.
Ms O'CONNOR - I would say that you could protect the swift parrot and guarantee its future - and I say this to the minister - by not logging forests that have trees for foraging and breeding.
Minister, are you able to tell the committee how much swift parrot habitat on PTPZ land has been logged since the last Estimates, when we asked a series of questions of this?
Mr ELLIS - I'll pass over to the team from STT soon around the operational side of that. I would like to echo what Mr Whiteley mentioned before about the quality of the adaptive management that STT undertakes as part of our forest practices system. I noted in your voice, Ms O'Connor, perhaps taking of heart from that work. That's fair enough. We all want to make sure we're looking after the species that roam across this landscape.
Ms O'CONNOR - Sure.
Mr ELLIS - As part of the work that STT does, there is also some significant land management that happens to protect the swift parrot. The PAMA, which has been spoken about in this place before, about 9300 hectares of land which is managed by STT to help protect the swift parrot. In Tasmania, 50 per cent of our entire island is locked up in reserves -
Ms O'CONNOR - It is not locked up. It's reserves. You lock people out of forestry coupes. You don't lock them out of their own parks and reserves. Anyway, carry on.
Mr ELLIS - So, 50 per cent of the island's locked up in reserves -
Ms O'CONNOR - It is not. It's a mindset. The problem with the Earth is people like you. It is. That's why kids are despairing, because of that sort of attitude.
Mr ELLIS - Ms O'Connor, as I say, 50 per cent -
ACTING CHAIR - Can I please remind everyone about interjections and the impact it's having on Hansard recording, as well as the duration of the answers, which need to be limited as much as we can to three minutes.
Mr ELLIS - It would nice to get a word in edgeways, Chair.
Ms O'CONNOR - Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we asked a question, the minister's been waffling and propagandising for three minutes or so. I just want an answer to the question.
Mr ELLIS - If you're not interested in hearing about swift parrot management that happens and STT -
Ms O'CONNOR - Propaganda. I know all about it. You don't need to lecture me about the swift parrot.
Mr ELLIS - If you know about it, then it is interesting that you're asking questions on it, Ms O'Connor.
Ms O'CONNOR - No, I'm trying to find out how much swift parrot habitat's been logged.
Mr ELLIS - Much of your concern in this space is simply a trojan horse to shut down native forestry in Tasmania, which you admitted on the Floor of parliament the other day. That was part of your policy.
Ms O'CONNOR - Yes, of course we want to see it shut down. Who cares? That is irrelevant.
Mr ELLIS - The rest of us want to manage the landscape in a way that balances the need for timber supply, for fibre for the future and our beautiful native animals that we have here in Tasmania. I will pass over to the STT team with regard to the operational side.
Mr WHITELEY - You made reference to some area?
Ms O'CONNOR - Yes, I am trying to determine how much swift parrot habitat has been logged. I acknowledge the presence of the PAMA, but we know that swift habitats are being logged. I am interested to find out how much.
Mr WHITELEY - To comment generally, I have seen some quite clearly exaggerated statements made about area which really relate to activities that fall within identified swift parrot important breeding areas. That is an important structural aspect to quantifying what proportion of the island is seen to be most important for breeding activity. We have already heard about the PAMA.
We have gone through a comprehensive exercise in southern Tasmania to identify the most important areas within the identified 10 kilometres from the coast generalisation around where swift parrots find their suitable habitat. It is layering within that. We then come to monitoring and each individual harvest area. We do surveys. If there's identified nesting habitat or feeding habitat, that is part of the management we apply. We would seek to have minimal to no impacts directly on those things through the very localised management that we apply. The broad statements about whether we scheduled a harvest area within 10 kilometres of the coast in eastern Tasmania doesn't well represent any impact at all on swift parrot breeding.
Regarding the management we then apply, we will monitor, plan and to the extent that we observe swift parrots nesting within the area, we will desist.
Ms O'CONNOR - I need to clarify. We did not get an answer to the question about hectarage of swift parrot habitat that has been logged. I can only gather from that, that data is not kept?
Mr WHITELEY - The question is framed in a way that -
Ms O'CONNOR - Since the last Estimates.
Mr WHITELEY - misrepresents. If the question is 'how many coupes were scheduled within 10 kilometres of the coast in eastern Tasmania?', that is a statistic but it does not represent the assertion that you are making as to the impact on swift parrots.
Ms O'CONNOR - You do not have the data about how much habitat has been logged?
Mr WHITELEY - The question is probably being framed in a way that it misrepresents impact on -
Ms O'CONNOR - Do you want to reframe the question for me and then answer it?
Mr WHITELEY - As I say, we have a management system, we publish our three-year plan, we operate in such a way as to minimise any impact on swift parrots and their habitat.
Ms O'CONNOR - Thank you, Acting Chair. I'll just point out that the minister completely misrepresents the science on climate, but anyway, we won't go there.
I am interested in the adaptive management of swift parrots and the flaws in the adaptive management approach. We just heard from Mr Whiteley that unlike eagles, for example, it's very difficult to predict where swift parrots will go in any given year. So, the adaptive management process, do you agree, minister, means that swift parrot foraging and breeding trees in a given year may well be logged, which removes them forever for the swift parrots' survival? Do you recognise the flaws in the adaptive management policy which do lead to habitat loss for the parrot?
Mr ELLIS - Ms O'Connor, I completely reject the premise of your question.
Ms O'CONNOR - But it's just logic, it's actually logic.
Mr ELLIS - I also reject the assertion that when forests are harvested in Tasmania they're lost forever, because that's simply not the case.
Ms O'CONNOR - They are to the swift parrot. They. Are. Lost. Forever. The problem is that because you are anti-science -
Mr ELLIS - It's simply not the case, Ms O'Connor. I've just mentioned that STT planted 117 million tree seeds just in the last year. I don't know what you think those tree seeds are doing -
Ms O'CONNOR - What I know is that they won't be there for the parrot because you'll have driven them to extinction.
Mr ELLIS - or why they would bother planting seeds if they didn't want to grow trees, Ms O'Connor. That is what we do. You, of course, pay an unwitting tribute to the work of our foresters when you say just how beautiful some of these regrown forests are. Those forests were put there by foresters in Tasmania -
Ms O'CONNOR - How much time do you think the swift parrot has? How much time before it's extinct? On your watch.
Mr ELLIS - That is an extraordinary record of achievement, Ms O'Connor. We manage swift parrots and a whole range of other threatened and native species in Tasmania -
Ms O'CONNOR - Do you want to answer the question? Do you recognise the flaws in the adaptive management approach because foraging and breeding trees are lost each season?
Mr ELLIS - Yes. As I say, Ms O'Connor, I reject the assertion and also reject -
Ms O'CONNOR - It's logic.
Mr ELLIS - the false claims that you make around deforestation.
Ms O'CONNOR - So you reject logic.
Mr ELLIS - No, I just reject your false claims.
Ms O'CONNOR - No, it's not a false claim, it's a fact.
Mr ELLIS - To claim that deforestation happens under STT's management is false.
Ms O'CONNOR - It's not false.
Mr ELLIS - To be honest, you should probably correct the record.
Ms O'CONNOR - I'm not here to please you.
Mr ELLIS - We are in here in parliament, Ms O'Connor, and you can't -
Ms O'CONNOR - If I want advice on fixing a pipe, I'll go to you.
ACTING CHAIR - Order, please. Can we please allow the minister to answer. Minister if you could you please stick to a more reduced answer to allow other members of committee to ask their questions.
Mr ELLIS - Thanks, Acting Chair. I'll probably pass over to the STT team if they have anything further to add in an operational sense. Ms O'Connor, you can spout all the nonsense that you want outside -
Ms O'CONNOR - It's not nonsense, it's logic.
Mr ELLIS - but, in here, if you make false statements you need to correct the record.
Ms O'CONNOR - What false statement did I make? That swift parrot habitats are being lost.
Mr ELLIS - That these trees aren't coming back. Frankly, whenever -
Ms O'CONNOR - But it's false of you to claim they're not losing habitat each year. That's a lie.
Mr ELLIS - Whenever STT harvest forest, Ms O'Connor, they are replanted and regrown. That's why we have 117 million tree seeds planted in this state.
Ms O'CONNOR - You are not addressing the question.
Mr ELLIS - I would like you to correct the record.
Ms O'CONNOR - The question is about habitat.
Mr ELLIS - If that's of no interest to you, Ms O'Connor, that speaks more to your integrity than anything. I will be passing -
Ms O'CONNOR - Mate, I'm not the minister -
Mr ELLIS - I know you're not the minister and thank God for that
Ms O'CONNOR - and I won't be answering to you when you say correct the record because I put a straight statement of fact on the record that adaptive management is leading to the loss of swift parrot foraging and breeding trees. That is a logical extension of the adaptive management policy.
Mr ELLIS - Yes. As I say, that's absolute nonsense, Ms O'Connor.
Ms O'CONNOR - Really?
Mr ELLIS - I'll pass over to the STT team to add anything further in terms of adaptive management.
Mr WHITELEY - I'll pass to Suzette to provide some detail, but generally, in terms of adaptive management, as you say, with a species like swift parrot there is a time imperative, there's no doubt about that. But, the view that the forests are like a museum and they don't change is clearly incorrect -
Ms O'CONNOR - I never said that, Mr Whiteley.
Mr WHITELEY - I think in terms of loss, there's change.
Ms O'CONNOR - Loss of big old trees.
Mr WHITELEY - Each year there is increase in habitat in some areas, and loss in others.
Ms O'CONNOR - Really?
Mr WHITELEY - There's bushfire, there's disease. It's a dynamic system.
Ms O'CONNOR - Sure.
Mr WHITELEY - So, rather than a view that we have to try to preserve everything as it exists now, which clearly is unreal, we are managing within a system that keeps changing. That's the context within which any approach to adaptive management applies. I'll pass to Suzette to talk specifically about the issue.
Ms O'CONNOR - I'm fine. Unless there is something new from Ms Weeding on this, I don't think it's going to be illuminating.
Mr ELLIS - I always find Ms Weeding's contributions illuminating, Ms O'Connor, so perhaps we might give her an opportunity to add something here.
Ms O'CONNOR - Sure. It will take the answer to well over three minutes. I don't think it will illuminate the table but by all means.
Ms WEEDING - Thank you, minister. As has been mentioned previously, for every harvesting coupe we undertake pre-harvest habitat surveys and work to exclude nest trees and specific types of habitat for swift parrots. We undertake assessments for foraging habitat. We undertake assessments for nesting habitat and exclude those from our forest management activities and operational activities. We've got quite a few examples of our harvesting coupes where we've excluded significant areas of those specifically for swift parrot management.
Going to your question about adaptive management, in the past 12 months, we've had quite a good example of the adaptive management framework that operates under the forest practices system which has been a revised threatened species recommendation for protection of Eucalyptus brookeriana in the Eastern Tiers area.
That was a species that has been identified as being a foraging resource or a potential foraging resource. It certainly is for swift parrot.
The adaptive management system within the forest practices system has worked effectively to put in place management prescriptions in the threatened fauna adviser, which is the management tool that we use to develop forest practices plans and to develop the management recommendations for specific species to provide for retention and protection of that habitat type in that particular area. That adds to the potential foraging resource in the future that the birds may use should they be in that vicinity.
That is an active live example of adaptative management that has been implemented very recently in relation to swift parrot management. That is what we consistently do within the forest practices system as new information becomes available.
Ms O'CONNOR - I will point out that in relation, for example, to coupe SHO45E, it took conservationists identifying breeding swift parrots for FT to make a decision not to continue logging.
Mr ELLIS - We welcome any information that comes from the public, from our contractors or comes from STT businesses around flora and fauna that are in these coupes, including if we may not have been aware of them. Surveys in the Tasmanian bush can be difficult to undertake. It is important that we get it right. It is something the Government and STT are committed to.
Was there a specific coupe that you asked about, Ms O'Connor?
Ms O'CONNOR - Yes, I did. We have already talked about that coupe previously. I am making the point that the logging was continuing in an area where breeding swift parrots had been identified.
Mr ELLIS - I will pass over to the STT team.
Ms O'CONNOR - No surprise you can't get FSC.
Mr ELLIS - We welcome any information that comes in from the public in relation to any flora and fauna in these locations.
Ms WEEDING - We welcome input from members of the public in relation to natural values that may occur within our operation areas. We put in place management prescriptions in our forest practices plans to cover those circumstances where those come up.
In relation to that particular coupe, no known nesting swift parrots has been identified. What we have is presence of the birds in and around that coupe. They were identified to us by some environmental people out undertaking surveys. We followed up with our own surveys to verify those sightings.
In response to that, we ceased our felling activities for a temporary period as required under the Forest Practices Plan and moved the contractor away to another area of the coupe.
Ms O'CONNOR - How temporary? So, you go back and log those habitat trees later? Is that right, Mr Whiteley?
Ms WEEDING - It is temporary to enable a verification of those sightings. Then we will undertake a habitat assessment to determine whether those trees are actually being used by the birds, in which case we will put in place management prescriptions for those. That has happened in this coupe. We have a specific area of potential nesting trees that we have excluded from harvesting activities in relation to potential for birds to nest in those areas.
Ms O'CONNOR - I misunderstood Mr Whiteley's response before. The understanding was that the logging had ceased in that coupe.
Ms WEEDING - It has at this point in time.
Ms O'CONNOR - How long for?
Ms WEEDING - Until such time as we choose to go back. We will undertake our assessments on site, determine where the habitat is and where the birds are. We will continue our monitoring, which is what we have been doing over the past weeks. Then we will go back and complete the harvesting within that operation area.
Ms O'CONNOR - This year?
Ms WEEDING - I would anticipate so.
Ms O'CONNOR - You will go back and log the habitat this year?
Ms WEEDING - No, we will go back and harvest the coupe this year.
Ms O'CONNOR - Which has swift parrot habitat in it.
Ms WEEDING - Which we will assess and remove from our operation area.
Ms O'CONNOR - Thank you, Acting Chair. I just point out that in fact that legislation was knocked over by Tasmania's upper House. If you want to go into the FPPF lands, we'll see you in the trenches. Minister, I'm interested in -
Mr ELLIS - You don't actually have any members in the upper House, Ms O'Connor.
Ms O'CONNOR - Not yet, but I'm talking about the trenches.
I am interested in coupe KD045E, which is at Mt Tongatabu in the Southern Forests. There was a story on ABC News about organic apple farmer Neil Fuller. This goes to the stakeholder relations process that FT runs. Mr Fuller was told by the state's public forestry company that they were unlikely to log the native forest alongside his property. He didn't hear anything else until 4 o'clock on the afternoon before the loggers arrived with chainsaws. Through you, minister, perhaps Mr Whiteley can tell us why there is such a shocking failure of stakeholder management and respect for nearby landholders.
Mr ELLIS - Thanks, Ms O'Connor. STT consults broadly, widely and regularly with stakeholders and neighbours. It is an important part of what they do. The three-year plan that is made available regularly speaks to providing open and accessible information in that sense. I will pass over to the STT team to update you further on the operational side.
Mr WHITELEY - Broadly, we run a process. We publish a three-year plan, we put up a map showing where our operations are and we seek stakeholder input from various directly and indirectly affected or interested parties. That is how we would seek to go about these processes. Obviously we are always looking to improve that process if there is some deficiency in there. In the case of this specific one, Suzette has some more details.
Ms O'CONNOR - Perhaps Ms Weeding could address that fact that it is our understanding that that coupe is within the Southern Forests swift parrot important breeding area and yet it is being logged.
Ms WEEDING - Yes, that is correct. In terms of your specific query about Mr Fuller, we have undertaken quite extensive consultation with him. Contrary to the indication in that article - and we have email evidence to support that - what was said to that particular neighbour was that we were not undertaking harvesting in October of that year, not that we were not undertaking harvesting completely. That is a misrepresentation of what was actually communicated to that neighbour at that point in time.
In terms of this particular coupe, we are currently undertaking harvesting within this area. Notice of intent was sent to neighbours ahead of harvesting.
Ms O'CONNOR - The afternoon before the logging started.
Ms WEEDING - No, that is the forest practices plan. The forest practices plan was provided as per standard process to interested stakeholders ahead of harvesting commencing. A notice of intent is required under the Forest Practices Act 30 days prior to commencement of activities and that was sent to the neighbouring landowner ahead of that activity.
The coupe in question does occur within the swift parrot important breeding area, that is correct. We have undertaken a detailed assessment, as I mentioned earlier, around evaluation of habitat within that coupe and it excluded quite significant areas of mature trees and mature habitat from harvesting activities. It is an aggregated retention coupe, so there will be retention that occurs within the harvest area itself and certainly there is significant retention in the landscape.
It is a 19-hectare coupe so it is a fairly small area that is being harvested of approximately 388 hectares, which is available for end production forest in that area. It is a fairly small portion which we have undertaken detailed assessment of to exclude habitat.
Ms O'CONNOR - Thank you, Ms Weeding. It is interesting that you state - and I have no reason to disbelieve you - that Mr Fuller knew well that logging was likely to proceed, because he said to the ABC:
We contacted STT several times asking for answers and they weren't forthcoming with replies. We didn't receive any replies at all until chainsaws were already operating in the coupe.
Mr ELLIS - Perhaps it might assist the committee - isn't Mr Fuller a member of other organisations that may be of interest?
Ms O'CONNOR - Is that relevant? Are you making a decision to discriminate against someone on the basis of their association with something?
Mr ELLIS - Perhaps, Ms O'Connor, it might -
Ms O'CONNOR - He is an organic farmer. Are you sneering at organic farming now?
Mr ELLIS - No, I am simply making the point that people can be organic farmers and also members of certain organisations that are committed to ending native forestry in Tasmania.
Ms O'CONNOR - Wow, what a slur. So the fact that he's a landowner next to a coupe is irrelevant to you because you want to slur him because he may or may not be a member of some organisation.
Mr ELLIS - No, Ms O'Connor, it is important to note that STT consulted widely, including much of the consultation that the STT team has provided to you just now. You're asking a question on why there is a discrepancy between the documented work of STT and one particular individual's reflections on that.
Ms O'CONNOR - An organic farmer who also makes a contribution to the state's economy.
Mr ELLIS - We are very grateful for people looking to feed the world. That is really important. We are really grateful for people who want to provide the timber and fibres that we need for our homes and a plastic-free future. If it doesn't assist the committee, perhaps we just move on.
Ms O'CONNOR - Through you minister, a citizen science survey of this coupe, led by Forestry Watch, which has Dr Jen Sanger, a very respected scientist among them, found that the coup constituted:
High quality habitat, as there are 10 trees per hectare greater than one metre of diameter at breast height, and an additional 10 trees per hectare recorded with nesting hollows. It is worth noting there are 30 trees per hectare greater than 95 centimetres diameter at breast height.
The coupe was found to have high quality habitat, with 40 trees per hectare greater than 70 centimetres diameter at breast height.
This coupe clearly has swift parrot foraging and breeding habitat within it, yet under this adaptive management framework it will be logged too.
Do you understand, minister, the scepticisms among people who see the species being driven to extinction and are fed a line about adaptive management that leads to the loss of their foraging and breeding trees?
Mr ELLIS - Ms O'Connor, I think the team from STT largely provided answers to your operational questions. We reject your assertions. STT continues to manage well flora and fauna found on PTPZ land, noting, as I did before, that more than 50 per cent of the state is locked up in reserves. -
Ms O'CONNOR - It's not locked up.
Mr ELLIS - Regardless of whether you approve or not of the nomenclature, it is really important to note that so much of our island is reserved -
Ms O'CONNOR - Not our old forests. They are not.
Mr ELLIS - You are completely wrong there.
Ms O'CONNOR - You want to get into the protected land. You want to get into the future potential production reserve forests.
Mr ELLIS - If you mean the wood bank.
Ms O'CONNOR - That is not a wood bank. It's a carbon bank, you troglodyte.
ACTING CHAIR - Order, please. Leader of the Greens, can I remind you not to use this sort of language in here. It is inappropriate. It does not make a point any stronger.
Mr ELLIS - No, exactly. Thank you for that, Acting Chair. I thank you for your retraction on that.
Ms O'CONNOR - I did not retract it.
Mr ELLIS - Perhaps I might invite you to retract it, Ms O'Connor, because I take personal offence.
ACTING CHAIR - Ms O'Connor, could you please retract that word?
Ms O'CONNOR - Because you have asked, Acting Chair, I will.
Mr ELLIS - Thank you, Acting Chair. We want to manage native flora and fauna, including the swift parrot, well in Tasmania on parks land, formal and informal reserves that make up 50 per cent of our island, on PTPZ land that's operated by STT and every other land tenure, because it is really important. We know we need to protect this animal and provide ways in which we can adaptively manage it across the landscape.
Ms O'CONNOR - You are logging its habitat. You are not going to protect it.
Mr ELLIS - I will throw this to STT if there is any further operational -
Ms O'CONNOR - On your watch, the fastest parrot in the world is driven towards extinction.
Mr ELLIS - Thanks Ms O'Connor. I will pass it over to STT if they have anything to add in an operational sense.
Ms WEEDING - I am happy to supplement. We have received the information from Forestry Watch and it was taken into account as part of our detailed planning processes in relation to this operational area. As I mentioned earlier, we undertake a detailed assessment of habitat and we take into account all of the information we have available to us.
We also call upon external experts as required to undertake further assessments in conjunction with us, whether they be within the Forest Practices Authority or separate to those. In relation to this particular coupe, it is a small 19-hectare aggregate retention harvesting operation to be regenerated back to native forest. The operation is being designed to exclude most mature trees from the harvest area.