Iemma's threatened species dilemma

Bob Brown win - fork in the road for Iemma.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006

The Wielangta court decision has major implications for forests in NSW, as well as demonstrating the fact that no one in mainstream Australian politics can hold a candle to Bob Brown when it comes to standing up for our environment, according to NSW Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.

"The NSW Government can no longer pay lip service to protecting threatened species and conserving biodiversity," Mr Cohen said.

"This decision does nothing more than state the fact that the Tasmanian and Federal governments must stand by their own Regional Forest Agreement, which clearly detailed that certain threatened species must be protected.

"Morris Iemma must make it clear that the NSW Government accepts that Justice Marshall has basically said nothing more than that governments are bound to enforce their own legislation and their own agreements. It is not legal to log in areas where it will endanger threatened species. He must stand firm against the inevitable self serving backlash from the forestry industry.

"The NSW Government’s response will tell us a lot about how genuine their environmental credentials are.

"Like every other government across the country, they are now on notice that rampant indiscriminate destruction of our forests is not acceptable. Conservation groups will now be forensically examining all RFA’s in NSW where threatened species are believed to be at risk.

"Bob Brown single-handedly took on Forestry Tasmania and the Tasmanian and Federal governments, and won. He was prepared to take enormous personal risk for his beliefs. He is Australia’s true Green warrior, and on behalf of the NSW Greens I salute him for his courage, perseverance and passion," concluded Mr Cohen.