Inquiry into Auditor-General's Reports on Tasmanian Forestry Grants Programs - National Audit Office

"The signing of the new Intergovernmental Agreement on Forestry and the accompanying funding package reveals that what started out as a process to exit native forest logging in Tasmania has ended with yet another massive federal government assistance package to prop up the industry," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said today.

Blog by Australian Greens forests spokesperson Lee Rhiannon
Tasmanian’s forests are still not safe from logging. The new Tasmanian Forests Agreement does not provide the protection needed to safeguard these unique and precious forest habitats.

A worrying aspect of this Agreement is that it includes an attempt to silence the community. The final decision on the permanent reservation of forests is contingent upon reports from an unelected special council on the behaviour of conservationists involved in protests or market place action.

Dear friend,

From our beginning, the Greens have stood with the community to protect Australia's precious forests.

Yesterday the Tasmanian Parliament passed legislation that was supposed to protect some of our most important iconic wilderness areas.

Tragically, the legislation fails to end the long-term threats to Tasmanian native forests by delaying conservation outcomes until 2014 and beyond.

In Tasmania today the Prime Minister called for conservationists to be silenced in the follow up to the Tasmanian Parliament vote to support the gutted Tasmanian forest deal.

"One of my fundamental objections to what the Tasmanian Upper House had done was that they had moved to silence the community by making the permanent reservation of forests contingent upon reports from an unelected special council on the behaviour of conservationists in protest action or in the market place," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

The Australian Greens have condemned a series of death threats made against Tarkine wilderness campaigner Scott Jordan and his family on social media yesterday.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said, “Tasmania has a proud history of robust political debate and protest, and there is no place for violent threats against anyone, let alone their family.

 “I call upon Paul Howes and the AWU to publicly reject this kind of behaviour and clearly state the need for restraint ahead of his pro-Tarkine mining rally at Tullah later this month.

Today the Tasmanian Legislative Council drove a bulldozer through key clauses of the Tasmanian forest peace deal, the Australian Greens said today.

 "Australians will be shocked to learn that the forest peace deal achieved after years of negotiation has just been gutted in total defiance of the intergovernmental agreement (IGA)," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne has welcomed today's move by the Tarkine National Coalition to lodge a case in the Federal Court seeking a judicial review of Minister Burke's decision to grant environmental approval for the Shree Minerals proposed mine in the Tarkine.

"We support the Tarkine National Coalition's (TNC) concerns that Minister Burke has erred in law, and back its decision to challenge the approval of the mine because of the impacts on the Tasmanian devil, a Commonwealth listed endangered species," Christine Milne said.

The Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne, uses Question Time in the Senate to ask the Minister representing the Prime Minister about his remarkable claim the previous evening that Australia has "too much locked up forest".

The Senate has today agreed to inquire into the audit reports of both the Tasmanian community forest agreement and the exit forest grants.

The Labor Government supported the Greens, however the Coalition voted against it.

"I am not surprised that Senator Colbeck and Abetz don't want to know about whether this is corruption or incompetence or both" Greens leader Senator Christine Milne said today.