Transcript of media conference with Tasmanian Greens MPs Cassy O’Connor and Rosalie Woodruff, Elizabeth Pier, 2 May 2022.
Cassy O’Connor
This is legislation that seeks to retrospectively validate decades of illegal logging. And while resources Minister Guy Barnett has known it’s been illegal for some months now, he’s allowed logging to continue (inaudible) and to put aside other business for this odious logging bill. It’s a very sad state to the new Premier’s first day in Parliament. We have an opportunity here for a reset on logging and on climate. We know that the logging of forests is a massive contributor to global heating. We know young people and everyday people want it to stop. And yet we’re going to deal with a piece of legislation that’s supposed to be urgent tomorrow that seeks to lock in native forest logging.
Journalist – Laura Beavis
Is it something that the government could had dealt with earlier, or [inaudible].
Cassy O’Connor
Well, the problem tomorrow is that we’d like to ask questions about how it can be that Minister Barnett has allowed illegal logging to continue but because the Liberals chose to prorogue parliament, there is no question time tomorrow. So there’s no opportunity for the Greens to ask questions about this nasty bill, because there’ll be pomp and ceremony, and then we are expecting to go straight into debate on this logging legislation.
Journalist – Laura Beavis
Rosalie, today new rules have come into force regarding close contacts and isolation. The Greens have not been enthusiastic about these rule changes when they were announced. What are you expecting will be the results?
Rosalie Woodruff
Well, that’s because the Greens follow the science and we listen to the independent epidemiologists. The Omicron virus hasn’t changed, it’s still just as infectious. It’s still potentially just as damaging, and it still has a risk of serious long term complications for some people. That’s why we stick with what the epidemiologists are saying we need, which is to reduce the spread of infections in the community. There is no logic. There is no sense behind the Liberals removing what last week was required to reduce infections, and this week, they’re taking it away. So it’s no sense. It’s going to increase the spread of infections in the community. And I note that just last night, we’ve had another two people recorded, who sadly died from the Omicron virus. That’s 54 Tasmanians who’ve lost their lives, and we have to do everything we can to avoid people losing their lives in the future.
Journalist – Laura Beavis
The government has – in relation to the deaths – has pointed to the fact that usually, hospitalisations or deaths come sometime after a peak in cases. So does that seem reasonable or plausible, considering the pattern that we’ve seen?
Rosalie Woodruff
Well, it’s a cruel denial of the fact that the Omicron virus is the same virus that’s just as infectious and that people who are infected are just as likely to pass it on to someone who’s been in close contact. There is no sense in removing this close contact situation that we’ve had so far. If people who are close contacts are not required to stay away from other people, the risk of infection goes up. Surely, coming into winter, and more than ever, when vaccine effectiveness is waning in the population, surely the government would want to do everything it can to prevent the spread of infections in the community. This removal of the close contact will increase the spread.
Tasmanian Times
Infections per capita in Australia are now the highest in the world. In Tasmania, we’d only had 200 or so up until December. Do you think we’ve squandered an advantage in Tasmania to learn from what has happened in other parts of the world?
Rosalie Woodruff
Well, the Tasmanian Liberals have squandered so many opportunities that were sitting there for us. We had a plan and now it’s been abandoned. Instead, what we’ve got it seems to be a situation we’ve designed to let the infection spread as fast as possible in the community. There is a way to reduce the spread of infections and that is wearing masks at indoor settings, especially wearing masks in high risk environments. We know that this is a highly contagious virus, there is a new variant that has also been identified around the world and also in Australia I understand. So why wouldn’t we coming into winter do everything we can to reduce the spread of infection in the community?
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 2 May 2022
ATTEMPT TO COVER UP TASMANIA’S ILLEGAL LOGGING
The Tasmanian Government’s continued destruction of native forests, including the appalling air pollution last week from post-logging burns, will continue to face protests as they attempt to cover-up their illegal logging that has been wiping out huge tracts of wildlife-rich carbon storehouses for decades.
“This is new Liberal Premier Rockliff showing he has no brain of his own when it comes to Tasmania’s forests, wildlife and wilderness. No change from Gutwein or Hodgman. No new idea. No consultation. Dancing on the corporate lobbyists’ strings. It will simply lead to bigger peaceful defence efforts by environmental protectors,” Bob Brown said.
“Tasmania’s government has been forced to admit that native forest logging in Tasmania has been illegal since the mid-1980s. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of ancient forests and their wildlife have been bulldozed and burnt under this corrupt system. Logging of Tasmania’s wildlife-filled forests without proper authorisation is a crime. The minister is proposing to backdate laws to cover up criminal behaviour by Forestry Tasmania,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Jenny Weber said.
