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

You will note that the minister just said that the government has in place a range of programs. But they do not protect biodiversity in this country. Let me cite, for example, the swift parrot, which is down to 1,000 breeding pairs. The numbers have fallen since 2003. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, who is obliged to have a management plan for the recovery of the fastest parrot on earth, which is currently finishing its breeding season in Tasmania, has done nothing at all about upgrading the 2006 program and has, in fact, been party to defunding programs which were to assess and help the recovery of the swift parrot.

If you look at a whole range of species which are threatened, listed or otherwise, from the koala to the bettong to the giant Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, there has been a failure by the government to adequately protect the habitat of these iconic Australian creatures—and this is the year of biodiversity protection.