Bob Brown says Peter Dutton is following the path of Donald Trump, who has just issued executive orders lifting environmental restrictions and opening up more US forests to destruction. “Dutton too has committed to cutting environmental protections as well as the forests.”

The US Wilderness Society says that Donald Trump has taken an axe to forest protections in the US, announcing two executive orders that aim to strip away foundational checks on destructive logging. Under the pretense of national security, the president’s orders aim to gut environmental safeguards and fast-track industrial clearcutting in some of the US’s most precious and climate-critical forests. This aggressive expansion will degrade irreplaceable forests like Alaska’s Tongass national forest – one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests. It will also increase carbon emissions and make communities more vulnerable to climate disasters.

Dutton on Brown today, in Tasmania:
“Tanya Plibersek with others like Bob Brown would close it (native forest logging) down overnight.”

Brown on Dutton today:
“So would 62% of Coalition voters* on the latest polls. Peter Dutton is aping Donald Trump’s wish to end all restrictions on the plunder of nature, against the feelings of his own voters. He is as in-tune with this electorate as a chainsaw in a rainforest.”

• There is majority support for ending native forest logging on public land across Australia from all major voting intentions, with highest level of support from Labor voters (79%), followed by Greens voters (76%), Coalition voters (62%), One Nation voters (61%) and Independent/Other voters (57%). Australia Institute: 9 April, 2024.