The Senate has rejected the Abbott government’s moves to reduce Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area in a Greens’ motion passed today.
“Mr Abbott wants to log the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, forcing an ‘In Danger’ listing that would undermine Tasmania’s brand of clean, green and clever and destroy jobs in tourism, food and accommodation,” Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said.
“There is no future in logging high-conservation value forests. The markets will simply not accept products and Forestry Tasmania will never secure FSC certification.
“It seems the Abbott government and Tasmanian Liberals are intent on opening up the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area for logging and silencing dissent with draconian mandatory prison sentences for forest protest.
“Rear vision politics and last century policy is what they stand for. Tasmania deserves better.
“Our Wilderness World Heritage is a great asset to the state and too precious to lose for the sake of political opportunism.”
The motion passed by the Senate today is as follows:
*66 Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Milne): That the Senate—
(a) condemns the Abbott Government for actively considering modifying the boundaries of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area to exclude high conservation value forests; and
(b) calls on the Abbott Government to rule out submitting a proposal to modify the boundaries to the area to the World Heritage Committee by February 2014 for the June meeting of the committee
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne
