THE Tarkine wilderness area in Tasmania’s far North-West has been given shock emergency heritage protection.
Federal Environment Mminister Peter Garrett announced this morning he had decided to exercise his emergency powers under national environmental law to include the Tarkine in the National Heritage List.
The surprise move will make it much harder for the $23 million tourist road proposed by the Bartlett Government through the Tarkine to win approval from the Commonwealth Government.
It also means the Federal Government has accepted the expansivev 430,000 hectares of land claimed by the Tarkine National Coalition to define the Tarkine region as its natural boundaries.
The State Government and Forestry Tasmania have argued this area is much too large and includes land that has already been extensively logged and, in some cases, converted to plantations.
But Mr Garrett made it clear that his announcement did not mean the contentious Tarkine road could not proceed.
It also does not mean that current logging operations, approved under the 2005 Regional Forestry Agreement, must stop.
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