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

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

Brown Mountain in East Gippsland, Victoria, is a natural treasure with 600-year-old trees (carbon dated) and at least five threatened species, including the long-footed potoroo, the spot-tailed quoll, the Orbost spiny crayfish, the sooty owl and the large brown tree frog,

(ii)

the long-footed potoroo and the spot-tailed quoll are federally-listed as endangered and the forests are covered by the East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement which commits Victoria to ‘ecologically sustainable’ forest management including biodiversity conservation, and

(iii)

Environment East Gippsland has been granted an injunction restraining VicForests from logging two forest areas at Brown Mountain;

(b)

calls on the Victorian Government to meet its ecological obligations to protect threatened wildlife by halting logging at Brown Mountain; and

(c)

calls on the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Mr Burke) and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (Mr Garrett) to ensure that the Victorian Government fulfils its ecological obligations and to inform the Senate, no later than 26 October 2009, of the steps they are taking to do so.

Question put.