The Australian Greens say the Tasmanian government cannot be trusted to properly assess the environmental impacts of development in national parks and World Heritage areas, for which it has today opened expressions of interest.

"Unfortunately in Tasmania we have a government with the mentality that if you can't dig it up or cut it down then you should put a resort on it. That's a very bad idea," said Greens Leader Christine Milne.

"The Greens want Tasmania to benefit from a strong tourism industry, so the Hodgman government has to get real.

If the Tourism Industry Council really cares about World Heritage areas it should come out against the Abbott government’s attempts to delist and log them, Australian Greens senators said today.

“It’s a bit rich for the Tourism Industry Council to be appealing to Bob Brown to help it sell tourism in World Heritage Areas while the Abbott government is trying to destroy them,” Greens Leader Christine Milne said.

The Australian Greens have pledged a $100 million boost for tourism marketing as the old parties threaten to destroy our tourism jewels and the half a million jobs that rely on them.

"Our natural attractions are Australia's biggest tourism drawcards," Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said.

"They define us in the international mind. Every year thousands of people visit places like the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and Uluru and come to see unique animals like the koala, leadbeater's possum and Tasmanian devil.

Christine Milne joined a panel on ABC Saturday Extra to outline the Greens' vision for Tasmania's clean green and clever economic future.

Tasmania has so many advantages that the Greens have worked hard to develop, from the innovation economy with scientific research hubs and the NBN, through tourism and ecosystem services with wilderness protection, creativity and the arts, growing healthy food & much more.

The Government and other naysayers say it can't be done. The Greens say it must be done, so it will be done.

Christine Milne spoke today at the National Press Club in Canberra, televised nationally on ABC1, setting out the Greens' vision for a safe climate and setting that against what the Government is proposing with the CPRS.

You can read the speech here and please use this as an open thread to discuss the issues it raises!

Thank you for your warm welcome. I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land.

Gandhi once said, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."

We have reached a point in human history where 'what we do' on this planet imperils our survival. Now is the moment to re-imagine and reconsider 'what we are capable of doing'.

The Greens today reiterated that emissions targets of 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels are the starting point for any negotiations on the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation.

“Unless the world, including Australia, adopts such targets, the risk of catastrophic climate change will be too great,” said Greens spokesperson on Climate Change, Senator Christine Milne.

“Without such emissions targets, Australia risks losing the Great Barrier Reef, the Snowies and the Murray-Darling Basin.

Prime Minister Rudd's attempt to green-wash his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme with a 25% conditional target has been exposed as disingenuous by China's top negotiator, Su Wei, Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne said today.

 I rise today to comment on this urgency motion and note that it is really an opportunity for senators to make a pitch in the Queensland election. It was not written that way, but we have had a clear example that that is what this is about.