Tasmanian Government to log more Swift Parrot habitat

Documents reveal Tasmanian Government intends to log more Swift Parrot habitat

TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA: Documents revealed by BirdLife Australia through a Right To Information request show the Tasmanian Government has proposed opening up an additional 39,000 hectares of native forest for logging, including habitat for the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot and Endangered Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle and Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher.

The Tasmanian Government initially opposed releasing the documents requested over twelve months ago, but the information has now been released after BirdLife Australia assisted by the Environmental Defenders Office, persisted with an appeal.

Logging of breeding habitat in Tasmania is one of the biggest threats to the Swift Parrot. As few as 500 birds remain in the wild, and monitoring of the species shows the population continues to decline, with extinction a possibility within ten years.

BirdLife Australia is calling again for an end to logging in Swift Parrot habitat.

“The plans revealed in these documents are highly concerning,” said BirdLife Australia National Public Affairs Adviser Sean Dooley.

“They show active plans to log huge areas of threatened species habitat, plans that the Tasmanian Government sought to prevent becoming public.

“We are watching the extinction of the Swift Parrot in real time, and the Tasmanian Government is knowingly seeking to expand the biggest threat to this incredible bird.”

“This underscores the desperate need to reform the laws that allow this kind of destruction.”

— BirdLife Australia National Public Affairs Adviser Sean Dooley.

BirdLife Australia Media Enquiries: Please contact James Johnson on 0423 659 324 or at media@birdlife.org.au