[Greens-Media] FW: Backflip on land clearing to create forest chaos

[Drummond, Sam (Sen J. Rice)]

From: Drummond, Sam (Sen J. Rice)
Sent: Thursday, 18 December 2014 1:01 PM
Subject: Backflip on land clearing to create forest chaos

MEDIA RELEASE

Backflip on land clearing to create forest chaos

The federal government's about-face on the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement's land clearing controls signals a new level of chaos for forest management, Greens senator Janet Rice said today.


"Both state and federal Liberal governments have secretly colluded to give the go-ahead for environmental destruction," said Senator Rice, who is the Greens spokesperson for forests.



"Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) were supposed to provide long-term certainty for conservation and the logging industry.



"Landholders have had ten years to prepare for the broad-scale clearing and conversion ban and millions of dollars have been spent helping them adjust.



"Without the broad-scale clearing ban we can wave goodbye to rare and threatened forest types found in dwindling pockets around the state.



"The Coalition's lifting of a land-clearing ban within the Tasmanian agreement shows it can't be trusted to honour its deals.



"RFAs have so far been a disaster for conservation, with many threatened and endangered animals sliding further into decline since the agreements were enacted.



"Australians want to see our forest heritage protected, not destroyed," said Senator Rice.