Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister for the environment. Minister, regrettably the Tasmanian government is pursuing legislation to allow logging in 356,000 hectares of protected forests. These forests contain large areas of habitat that are critical to the survival of nationally listed threatened species—wildlife that the minister is responsible for protecting. Can the minister outline what steps he is taking to prevent damage to this habitat, including to the critically endangered swift parrots and giant freshwater lobsters? Can the minister update the House on the Tasmanian government's response to the freshwater lobster recovery plan, which proposes to permanently reserve 30,000 hectares of the publicly owned reserves that are now proposed for logging by the Tasmanian government?

See this speech in context