Australia’s conservative Liberal-National Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared that too many of Australia’s forests are “locked up” and vowed to set up a new advisory council to support the timber industry.
Speaking at a timber industry dinner in the national capital, Canberra, last night, Mr Abbott also recommitted to repealing part of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area made under a forest peace deal in the island state.
His comments have prompted anger from conservationists with the Australian Greens Party labelling him the “dig it up, cut it down Prime Minister”.
Under the Tasmanian peace deal, 170,000 hectares of forest was added to the World Heritage area.
The government has formally asked the World Heritage Commission to delist 74,000 hectares; a position Mr Abbott reaffirmed last night.
Indications are that the UNESCO body is unlikely to grant the Australian government’s application.
“We don’t support, as a Government and as a Coalition, further lock-ups of our forests. We just don’t support it,” Mr Abbott said.
“We have quite enough national parks. We have quite enough locked up forests already. In fact, in an important respect, we have too much locked up forest.
“Why should we lock up as some sort of World Heritage sanctuary country that has been logged, degraded or planted for timber?
“Getting that 74,000 hectares out of World Heritage Listing, it’s still going to leave half of Tasmania protected forever, but that will be an important sign to you, to Tasmanians, to the world, that we support the timber industry.”
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When I look out tonight at an audience of people who work with timber, who work in forests, I don’t see people who are environmental vandals; I see people who are the ultimate conservationists,” he said.
ABC News reports while appointments to the new Forestry Advisory Council are still being finalised, Institute of Foresters national director Rob De Fegely has been named as co-chair.
Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne told ABC News the Prime Minister’s words sent a clear message to the world “that Australia does not value its world heritage areas or its national parks”.
“People are going to be pretty upset that Tony Abbott is mounting this massive assault on the environment,” she said.
Any move to repeal the World Heritage classification on Tasmanian forests would ultimately prove destructive to the state’s logging industry, she added.
Senator Milne said the recent peace deal with Tasmania’s conservation movement had given loggers “some chance of a future in the plantations”, but that Mr Abbott had threatened to “send Tasmania back to decades of conflict”.
“What he’ll actually do is destroy the forest industry, not to mention Tasmania’s clean, green and clever brand which is our main asset and that comes from our World Heritage area,” she said.
ABC News reports Tasmania’s Deputy Premier, Bryan Green, said Mr Abbott’s approach to the issue was a step backwards for the timber industry, and a return to the logging war between activists and timber workers.
He told ABC Radio the best way forward is through the treaty struck by environmentalists and the industry, the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement (TFA).
“We want to continue to diversify the economy, we want to grow the forest industry based on the TFA as it’s established.”
The Wilderness Society’s Vica Bayley said Mr Abbott’s comments were an attack on the agreement’s signatories.
“It’s incredibly concerning because of the negative consequences this will have on Tasmania,” he said.
“This will have a massive negative impact on markets for Tasmanian timber products and put a black mark over Tasmania’s brand as a clean green fantastic place.”
