Former Greens leader Bob Brown says that Anthony Albanese does not see a Tasmanian forest or beach he wouldn’t log or leave littered with rotting salmon.

“I did go and see Albanese about the public money his discredited Tasmanian colleague Paul Lennon was putting into the Three Capes Walk, at the behest of private enterprise, from the sale of Tasmania’s third Bass Strait ferry. Albo, like Lennon, cannot see a remnant of Tasmanian wilderness without wondering which corporate backer might use public money to turn it from a natural ecosystem or National Park into private enterprise profiteering.”

“The then-wilder Three Capes were in a National Park and always accessible to the public. But Albanese and Lennon were for private interests taking it over and so it was.”

“I also went to Albanese to advocate high-speed rail for Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane but he was just as visionless on that.”

“I enjoy hearing about people coming away from natural wonders like the Franklin River, Cradle Mountain and the Three Capes feeling refreshed and grateful for nature but where does Albanese draw the line on protecting wilderness? The answer is: nowhere. His approval of broad-scale logging of koala habitat in NSW and Swift Parrot forests and the Takayna World Heritage-value rainforest of Tasmania shows a Labor Party in lockstep with the Dutton coalition, where nature is endlessly exploited for money.

If Albanese would like a debate, rather than sniping, on nature, I’d gladly take him on anywhere, any time,” Brown said.