Bob Brown Foundation is not surprised by the revelations today in The Guardian that the Regional Forest Agreements are at risk of being legally invalid.
“The Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement was rolled over last year and the death warrant was signed on thousands of hectares of wild forests in Tasmania. This RFA, and any that will be rolled over in other states of Australia, is based on 20-year-old environmental and scientific assessments.
“That makes them a farce. We know this old science is driving species to the brink of extinction, for example the critically endangered Swift Parrot. Despite pleas by scientists working to prevent the Swift Parrot’s rapid spiral towards extinction – they have called for logging not to occur in the parrot’s habitat – logging of their habitat continues in Tasmania’s southern forests,” Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said today.
“The Regional Forest Agreements shut out the locals, tourism bodies and environmental groups. It is a disgrace that the only people who agreed to keep logging native forests without scientific and environmental assessments were the Ministers for Forests, along with leaders Turnbull and Hodgman. Even John Howard and Paul Keating didn’t do this 20 years ago: whilst the public wasn’t happy with the results of the RFA then, at least the people were consulted.”
“The rare and endangered wildlife of Australia suffers the most. Australia is one of the worst countries in the world for wildlife extinction. Worse still, the logging of native forests is exempt from national environmental laws, on the understanding that the states will be responsible for legal protection of the environment. Tasmania has comprehensively failed on this front, with the Swift Parrot and world’s largest freshwater crayfish being prime examples of species having their habitats consistently lost to logging.”
“Despite the RFA, Tarkine rainforests are being logged right now. All over Tasmania there are areas of logged wastelands scheduled to be burnt in the coming month in species-eliminating forestry fires.”
“We will be studying the legality of the RFA rollover in Tasmania that shut out the public. Bob Brown won the Wielangta case that challenged the Regional Forest Agreements but the politicians changed the rules. Unique native forests and endangered species continue to be comprehensively failed by governments who are meant to protect them,” Ms Weber said.
Jenny Weber Campaign Manager, Bob Brown Foundation
