Richard Colbeck: Green groups continue to mislead

Tasmania’s forests are not the green groups to claim or the forest industries to give away, they belong to the broader Tasmanian community, Senator Richard Colbeck, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, said.

Senator Colbeck said the Tasmanian community had clearly stated at the recent federal and state elections that they wanted a sensible balance between utilisation of our natural resources and conservation.

He said the Coalition is determined to ensure areas of genuine wilderness remain protected but doesn’t believe areas that fail to meet the criteria should be included as part of the TWWHA

“We are representing the broader Tasmanian community by seeking to remove areas from the TWWHA that don’t meet the criteria for World Heritage listing,” Senator Colbeck said.

“We believe this will provide benefits for the Tasmanian community, the industry and the environment.”

Senator Colbeck said today’s rally in Hobart demonstrated green groups continued their attempt to deceive the community about the wilderness values of the extension to the TWWHA.

“Green groups continue to misrepresent the extension to the TWWHA and present it as pristine, untouched, old growth forest when clearly it is not,” he said.

“The extension includes previously harvested forests, regrowth forests, roads and power lines which don’t meet the criteria for World Heritage listing.”

“It was the product of a bad political process that happened behind closed doors and locked out most of the Tasmanian community. It should never have occurred and that is why we are asking the World Heritage Committee to take these areas out.”
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Senator Richard Colbeck