Over a thousand Tasmanians have gathered on Parliament Lawns in Hobart as part of a nationwide protest calling for an end to native forest logging once and for all.
The Sunday rally, organised by the Bob Brown Foundation, was one of several held across capital cities, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
The foundation’s campaign manager Jenny Weber said that native forest logging has “destroyed large tracts” of Tasmania’s globally significant forests and must end immediately.
“Right now, habitat for the critically endangered Swift parrot is being logged while the parrots have returned to breed, the only place on earth they breed,” Weber said.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie told a cheering Hobart crowd that the world will be “burning” before people realise it if action is not taken.
“I tell you what, if my colleagues don’t act and mark my words, I’ll do what I can to force them to act,” he said.
“But if they don’t act, then before we know it, our most precious forests will be degraded and gone. And before we know it, the extinction crisis will have continued unchecked.”
Greens Senator Nick McKim said there are “any number of reasons” to save the state’s forests.
“The beautiful creatures that make them their home, the swift parrot that is being logged into extinction, the Masked owl, whose homes are being destroyed … giant freshwater crayfish, the quolls,” he said.
“Make no mistake, the time to end native forest logging is right now.”
The rally is the foundation’s third nationwide action in the lead-up to the 2025 federal election.
