AUSTRALIA: Fed: Government votes with Greens to protect forests
Copyright 2001 AAP NEWSFEED
August 9, 2001
CANBERRA, Aug 9 AAP - The government today took the rare step of siding with Greens Senator Bob Brown to pass a motion condemning logging of old growth forests where there exists a plantation alternative.
An elated Senator Brown gave a thumbs up to Environment Minister Robert Hill who did not indicate whether the government had intended to support Senator Brown, or had made a mistake.
Nor did he seek to recommit the motion so a new vote could be taken.
"The government's position is that it continues to support the Regional Forest Agreements (RFA)that have been negotiated across Australia," he said.
"They have been a very reasonable attempt to find a balance between the needs of forestry communities and to maintain in the national interest an adequate conservation reserve."
Senator Hill said the government had also backed plantation forests with the hope that they could eventually meet all national needs for pulp and timber.
"The government's position is that we support the RFAs. We support a strong conservation reserve system," he said.
"We support the harvesting of native forests that are not within that conservation reserve, provided that harvesting is on an ecologically sustainable basis."
Prime Minister John Howard has been strongly attacked by environmentalists over the government stance on logging of native forests and he is routinely pelted with woodchips by anti-logging demonstrators.
Senator Brown said today's vote was an appalling indictment of Labor which was out of step with public feeling on logging.
"It will pay for this at the federal election because this is going to be a federal election issue," he said.
"The Labor Party and Mr Beazley are more chainsaw driven when it comes to our native forest industries, even when there are good alternatives, than the Howard government."
Labor Senator Kerry O'Brien said Labor believed that old growth and high conservation forests should not be logged if they had been protected under appropriate measures such as regional forest agreements.
"But this purported tradeoff between planation and old growth forests is not appropriate and we are amazed that the government would support it," he said.
"I congratulate Senator Brown. He has achieved somewhat of a coup in having the government and One Nation support his motion."