The decision of the United Nations to prohibit limited special species harvesting in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is very disappointing. However, it would be grossly irresponsible for any Government to defy such a ruling, and we will abide by it.
The truth is, once the area had been made World Heritage by Labor and the Greens, it was always going to be extremely difficult to secure timber from within it.
The full history of this matter should not be forgotten; we have taken every action possible to try and ensure continued supply of timber for our very important special species sector.
In Opposition, we fought tooth and nail against the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, which locked up an additional 500,000 hectares of production forest into reserve, just so Labor could keep the Greens happy. Of this more than 100,000 hectares was placed into World Heritage by Labor and the Greens and despite attempts to have the decision reversed the UN would not.
Once elected, we were able to successfully remove around 400,000 hectares from future reserve and place in into the Future Potential Production Forest (FPPF) zone, available for harvesting from 2020.
It’s also very important to note that under the Forest Deal, special species harvesting was allowed in the TWWHA through the so-called “Taylor Amendment”, supported by Labor and the Greens. So any suggestion from the Greens that they’ve always opposed this should be seen for the Green hypocrisy that it is.
I have spoken today with representatives of the special species timber sector about the decision, and I’ll be having more to say about actions we will take to support them tomorrow.
Peter Gutwein, Minister for Forestry
