Australia: Gov forestry yet again caught logging in direct contravention of species protection
Tasmanian Greens today welcomed Threatened Species Minister David Llewellyn’s commitment to Parliament to look into the reasons why Forestry Tasmania has logged a coupe on South Bruny Island in direct contravention of expert advice from the Threatened Species Section that the coupe should be preserved from logging as potential breeding habitat for the Swift Parrot.
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Greens Environment spokesperson Cassy O’Connor MP said it has emerged
that Forestry Tasmania chose to ignore the expert advice from the
Threatened Species Section and log the coupe regardless, and she has
queried whether Minister Llewellyn was aware of the situation, and
whether he could justify why the logging occurred despite his own
Department’s expert advice.
Ms O’Connor also called on Minister Llewellyn to reveal how many other forest coupes have been approved for logging in direct contravention of expert advice from the Threatened Species Section.
“The Swift Parrot has been pushed to the brink under the watch of Minister David Llewellyn, and we now know one reason why this is so – Forestry Tasmania receive expert advice from the Minister’s own Department and then proceeds to log the threatened species’ habitat that they have been advised to reserve,” said Ms O’Connor. “The Minister has said he will look into this issue, but he also appeared to be unaware that it had occurred under his watch. If he did know at the time, then why did he allow the logging to proceed? If he did not know, then why not, and what is he going to do about remedying the situation?”
“The breath-taking arrogance of Forestry Tasmania in ignoring expert advice is unlikely to be an isolated incident, and the Greens are also calling on the Minister for Threatening Species to reveal just how many other forest coupes have been logged in direct contravention of expert advice from the Threatened Species Section,” said Ms O’Connor.
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