Bob Brown Foundation and Grassroots Action Network Tasmania have today united in a forest protest and immobilised the logging machines that are destroying a giant tree filled forest. For the second day, 20 people are in the forests protesting, two people are locked onto logging machines.
On the eve of ALP National Conference, where an end to native forest logging will be discussed, former Labor Environment Action Network – Tasmania President and Tasmanian Labor member Ali Alishah visited the logging area yesterday and has urged Labor to end to native forest logging.
“Our protest is a rescue mission, to stand between the machines and the giant centuries old trees and prevent the devastating attack on this ancient forest. There is no excuse to log the monster-sized trees in this forest, but there is an urgent need to end native forest destruction in this climate and biodiversity crises,” Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation Campaigns Manager said.
“This forest holds some of the last of the old growth giants left in the lower Florentine. There are trees in this forest that are taller than 85m, and are older than colonist history in ‘australia’. There aren’t words to describe the complexity of this diverse habitat, or to describe the powerful beauty this place holds. There mesmerising old growth rainforest holds intrinsic value that simply cant be translated into monetary terms,” said Poppy Davy, spokesperson for Grassroots Action Network Tasmania.
“Native forest logging is Tasmania’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. To continue this obsolete practice is to spit on the graves of our future generations. It does not matter who you are, who you stand with, or who you work for. The effects of the climate catastrophe will hit us all the same. Ignoring this fact and sweeping the issue under the rug won’t change that. Action will,” Poppy Davy said.
Former Labor Environment Action Network – Tasmania President and Tasmanian Labor member Ali Alishah, who accompanied conservationists on Tuesday, said,
“There is no rational economic, administrative or cultural defence for what is happening in the Lower Florentine,” Ali Alishah said.
“At a time when we are tasked with fighting the climate crisis, building economic resilience, driving fairness in governance, and seeking justice for those who endure and those who are to come, Labor can’t stand by and watch while Forestry Tasmania persist in turning irreplaceable carbon-rich ecosystems into burnt clearfells,” Ali Alishah said.
“I urge all Labor parliamentarians to come and see how business is being conducted, and to be honest with people: there is no future in logging native forests,” Ali Alishah said