Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—That is a complete cop-out. It just says that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts is not prepared to meet international standards. This is the minister who said that he had more powers than I was asking about to stop deliberate action. Let us be straight about this. The minister says he has a recovery plan in place. Effectively, that is not true. The recovery plan in place is a 2003-06 recovery plan and he has failed to put a new one in place over the last three years. As if that was not culpable enough, he is now standing aside and allowing the logging of a prime nesting site of the swift parrot in south-east Tasmania, namely, the 10,000-hectare Wielangta Forest, described in a Federal Court procedure by scientists who know this as one of the richest nesting sites for the swift parrot that the scientists know of. These birds are headed for extinction, because no nesting sites means no birds, yet Mr Garrett is permitting the destruction of these nesting sites. That is irresponsible, unforgivable and, if this bird goes to extinction, his name will be written across the headstone of a magnificent creature that we should be looking after.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Bob Brown’s) be agreed to.