Following a three day visit to NSW’s South East forests Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said the trip was a great success with considerable evidence gathered on why ending logging of native forests should be a key focus in the coming federal election.
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“The evidence is overwhelming that it is time to end logging in our native forests and we will be working hard to inject this as a key environmental issue in the coming federal election campaign,” Senator Rhiannon said.
Senators Rhiannon and Janet Rice visited Nullica State Forest, South East Forests National Park and Glenbog State Forest between Sunday October 4 and Tuesday October 6.
Senator Rhiannon said NSW native forests like Nullica and Glenbog have been left vulnerable because of the serious weaknesses in the regional forest agreements (RFA) that cover the management of these areas.
“At Nullica State Forest we saw spotted tail quoll habitat legally destroyed under the local RFA despite the fact that this quoll is listed under the Environmental Protection, Biodiversity and Conservation Act as an endangered species,” senator Rhiannon said.
“However, as the local RFA is exempt from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act there is no protection for this unique marsupial in this area.”
Senator Rhiannon also witnessed widespread destruction of the habitat and burrows of bare-nosed wombats in the Glenbog State Forest, and expressed her concerns during a visit to the Jarake Wildlife Sanctuary near Nimmitabel.
“Ray and Marie Wynan's work at the Jarake Wildlife Sanctuary has saved many wombats and their actions have forced State Forests to change some of their destructive logging practices,” Senator Rhiannon said.
“Now we need to end all native forest logging to protect the wombats and all native forests.”
The Greens warmly congratulated Ray and Marie Wynan on their continued efforts to protect these amazing animals, and called for the “economic and environmental vandalism” of native forest logging to end.
“The Greens are calling on state and federal governments to support sustainable, secure, well-paid jobs in plantation, tourism and other industries beneficial to the region,” Senator Rhiannon said.
“That would be a win-win for the people and environment of south eastern NSW.”
