Blog by Australian Greens forests spokesperson Lee Rhiannon
Tasmanian’s forests are still not safe from logging. The new Tasmanian Forests Agreement does not provide the protection needed to safeguard these unique and precious forest habitats.

A worrying aspect of this Agreement is that it includes an attempt to silence the community. The final decision on the permanent reservation of forests is contingent upon reports from an unelected special council on the behaviour of conservationists involved in protests or market place action.

Dear friend,

From our beginning, the Greens have stood with the community to protect Australia's precious forests.

Yesterday the Tasmanian Parliament passed legislation that was supposed to protect some of our most important iconic wilderness areas.

Tragically, the legislation fails to end the long-term threats to Tasmanian native forests by delaying conservation outcomes until 2014 and beyond.

In Tasmania today the Prime Minister called for conservationists to be silenced in the follow up to the Tasmanian Parliament vote to support the gutted Tasmanian forest deal.

"One of my fundamental objections to what the Tasmanian Upper House had done was that they had moved to silence the community by making the permanent reservation of forests contingent upon reports from an unelected special council on the behaviour of conservationists in protest action or in the market place," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

Today the Tasmanian Legislative Council drove a bulldozer through key clauses of the Tasmanian forest peace deal, the Australian Greens said today.

 "Australians will be shocked to learn that the forest peace deal achieved after years of negotiation has just been gutted in total defiance of the intergovernmental agreement (IGA)," Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne has welcomed today's move by the Tarkine National Coalition to lodge a case in the Federal Court seeking a judicial review of Minister Burke's decision to grant environmental approval for the Shree Minerals proposed mine in the Tarkine.

"We support the Tarkine National Coalition's (TNC) concerns that Minister Burke has erred in law, and back its decision to challenge the approval of the mine because of the impacts on the Tasmanian devil, a Commonwealth listed endangered species," Christine Milne said.

The Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne, uses Question Time in the Senate to ask the Minister representing the Prime Minister about his remarkable claim the previous evening that Australia has "too much locked up forest".

The Senate has today agreed to inquire into the audit reports of both the Tasmanian community forest agreement and the exit forest grants.

The Labor Government supported the Greens, however the Coalition voted against it.

"I am not surprised that Senator Colbeck and Abetz don't want to know about whether this is corruption or incompetence or both" Greens leader Senator Christine Milne said today.

Christine Milne asked Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Joe Ludwig, whether he has referred to the Australian Federal Police the National Audit Office's assessment that millions of dollars in funding was misused in the Voluntary Exit Grants Program for forestry contractors.

Subjects: Greens Antarctic and marine research funding launch, rorts in forest contractor grants

CHRISTINE MILNE: We are here today to launch the Australian Greens' policy on support for Antarctic science and a big injection into the future prosperity, not only of Tasmania but in terms of global science, a major injection into a better understanding of the role of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans in the global climate system.

The scandals continue with the release today of the Australian National Audit Office's report on the administration of the Tasmanian Forest Intergovernmental Agreement Contractors Voluntary Exit Grants Program.

"The big question is, as it was with the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, is the Federal or State government corrupt or incompetent when overseeing these grants programs?" Senator Christine Milne said today, announcing she will move for a Senate inquiry immediately.