Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Right now, Forestry Tasmania is destroying native forest in coupe KD022C, part of the Kermandie Divide in south-east Tasmania. This is a disgraceful act of wanton destruction. The Kermandie Divide is known as a stronghold for swift parrots, being a key and recurrent nesting area for that species. The swiftie is a beautiful little bird that is listed as critically endangered by both the Australian government and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The latest expert advice is that there are fewer than 750 swift parrots left. That's just a handful compared to the vast flocks of the past. It is being logged into extinction by the Tasmanian Liberal government with the enthusiastic support of the federal Labor government.

The Bob Brown Foundation has run a citizen science project in coupe KD022C, which recorded a swift parrot in the coupe on 26 September, just before logging commenced. Since then, swift parrots have been recorded more than 20 times inside the boundary of that coupe while it is being actively logged by Forestry Tasmania. It is beyond disgraceful that Forestry Tasmania is knowingly destroying swift parrot habitat while there are birds in that coupe. I give a shout-out to the brave activists who right now are defending Tasmania's native forests in that coupe, particularly the three people that have been arrested inside that coupe while defending swift parrots and their habitat. Those forest defenders are the true heroes of our time. History will thank them, just as history will rightly condemn the politicians who are enabling the ongoing destruction of Tasmania's native forests. End native forest logging and end it now.