Ms O'CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENVIRONMENT, Ms ARCHER
You are quoted in today's media rightly celebrating a slow recovery of the endangered Tasmanian devil on the Tasman and Forestier peninsulas. Do you agree that your colleague, Mr Barnett's plan to allow logging of high conservation value forests on the Tasman Peninsula from 1 July 2020 is a threat to the devil? Have you talked with the Minister for Resources about the threat habitat destruction poses to this iconic species? Will you ensure devil habitat on the peninsulas is not logged in order to continue the devil's recovery?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Denison for her question and her concern for threatened species. As environment minister, I too have concern for all of our threatened species, our known threatened species and those that are endangered.
In relation to forestry issues, I am not aware of the precise example that you give in relation to what is essentially a Resources portfolio matter. I regularly engage with my colleague, the Minister for Resources, Mr Barnett, on a number of issues involving threatened species and achieving the right balance in sustainable practice in our forestry industry and not endangering our threatened species. I will continue to engage with my colleague in relation to that and many other issues concerning our threatened species, in particular, in relation to the Tasmanian devil.
If you are referring to the article and the good news in relation to Tasmanian devils that we have seen this week and the recovery we have seen in that regard, this Government welcomes that because we have put a significant amount of funding into saving the Tasmanian devil. We continue to be committed to that process, as has been seen in the current Budget with the further injection of funds into the save the devil program. There is no greater supporter of the Tasmanian devil and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program than this Government and, as I have said, I will continue to engage with my colleague as well.