Tas: Rudd, Howard 'climate change outcasts': Brown

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2007
Tas: Rudd, Howard 'climate change outcasts': Brown

HOBART, April 2 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd will
remain climate change outcasts until forestry burning in Tasmania is stopped, says Federal
Greens leader Bob Brown.

Speaking in Hobart today, Senator Brown said that as in Indonesia, the logging and
burning of forests in Tasmania was a major cause of greenhouse gas pollution.

The logging industry would firebomb dozens of clearfelled coupes in Tasmania while
the ALP national conference sits in Sydney later this month, he said.

Tasmania logs an average 35,000 hectares of forests annually - around half are clearfelled
and then burned to clear waste timber before replanting.

"Kevin Rudd should end this unnecessary and economically ruinous policy of clearfell
logging and burning which the prime minister endorsed through his regional forest agreements,"

he said.

Senator Brown also took a swipe at forestry union boss Michael O'Connor, saying he
was ready to torpedo Labor again on its draft forestry policy.

"The CFMEU's (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) forestry division, red-flag
waving backers of John Howard at the last federal election, now demands Rudd backs the
Howard line too - or else," Senator Brown said.

"This is Michael O'Connor, a logging extremist, telling both national leaders to ignore
the most irresponsible and needless component of Australia's most infamous greenhouse
gas profile-burning native forests."

"O'Connor has a proven capacity to clearfell and burn national Labor's right to protect
Australia's great carbon-absorbing forests and their rare wildlife.

Federal opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett says the ALP will maintain the
Howard government's Community Forest Agreement in Tasmania, protect jobs and also require
that forests of high conservation value are further protected.

Mr O'Connor, the national secretary of the CFMEU's forestry division, wants a guarantee
that Labor will not extend protection from logging to more old-growth forests.

The Tasmanian community forest agreement protects one million hectares of old-growth forest.

Mr O'Connor says the clause, that leaves open the prospect of locking up more forests,
contradicts the current agreement.

AAP grc/dk/it/de

KEYWORD: FORESTRY BROWN

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