Former Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown voted against his own opinion on forest regeneration.
Senator Brown joined other Australian Greens to reject a motion from Coalition Forestry Spokesman Richard Colbeck who asked that the Senate recognise that logged Tasmanian forests have the potential to recover quickly and that rich biodiversity can exist in areas once logged.
“My motion was based very closely on the words of former Greens leader Bob Brown, as printed in a Tasmanian newspaper last month,” Senator Colbeck said.
“After decades of disagreeing with his views about forestry, I was delighted to read Senator Brown’s acknowledgement that harvested areas of forest had the potential to recover quickly and provide rich biodiversity.
“Senator Brown spoke the truth in his newspaper comments – harvested forests do have great potential to recover quickly and they can continue to be home to biologically diverse flora and fauna.
Such recovery is testament to the excellent management work carried out by Tasmania’s forest workers.
“Professional foresters also tell us that native forest management provides the values that environmentalist claim to aspire to.
“In addition, both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation recognise that sustainable management of forests, including a mix of conservation and timber harvest, is optimal for carbon reduction,” said Senator Colbeck.
