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

In late 2022, one of Tasmania's most ardent and admirable forest defenders, Dr Lisa Searle, was tree-sitting in coupe SH045A at Snow Hill, in Tasmania's Eastern Tiers. Her tree-sit was part of the Bob Brown Foundation's peaceful defence of Tasmania's forests. While there, Dr Searle witnessed two swift parrots—a beautiful, critically endangered little parrot—land in the tree she was sitting in.

On 8 November 2022, Dr Searle vacated her tree-sit at the request of police. Shortly after that, the tree Dr Searle had been sitting in—a magnificent ancient eucalypt—was deliberately cut down. This destruction was not only spiteful but illegal. It was illegal because there is indisputable evidence that Forestry Tasmania officers were informed of the presence of swift parrots prior to the destruction of this tree. This tree was owed protection under the Forest Practices Code, under the relevant forest practices plan and, therefore, under Tasmanian law. But it was the peaceful forest defenders, including Dr Bob Brown, who were arrested in that coupe and not the people who cut down that tree in direct contravention of Tasmanian law. This needs to be investigated by Tasmania Police.

The Labor Party and the Liberal Party, here in Canberra and down in Tasmania, are colluding to destroy magnificent carbon-rich forests that are home to spectacular and unique species. Those are crimes against nature and climate. It is time to end native forest logging.