Prime Minister Tony Abbott 'captain's call' on forestry policy embarrassed Australia, Wilderness Society says
A major Federal Government forestry policy that was rejected by the United Nations World Heritage Committee last year was a captain's call by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a prominent conservation group says.
The Wilderness Society said documents obtained under Freedom of Information show Mr Abbott ignored advice from senior ministers when he pressed ahead with a number of election commitments.
Before the 2013 election, the then Federal Opposition pledged to revoke an extension of Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area so that 74,000 hectares of forest could be re-opened to logging.
The Wilderness Society said immediately after the election Environment Minister Greg Hunt and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce wrote to the new Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, seeking time to "examine the implications" of the commitments.
An excerpt of the document released by the Wilderness Society said:
In light of the complexity of the issues surrounding Tasmanian forestry, we have come to the view that it would be appropriate to have a six-month review of the Tasmanian forestry package that would enable us to consult more broadly with a wide range of stakeholders on our election commitments.
In July 2014, the Unesco committee took just 10 minutes to reject the Abbott Government's subsequent proposal for delisting.
Vica Bayley from the Wilderness Society said Mr Abbott's call on forestry had embarrassed Australia internationally.
"The delisting attempt was termed feeble by one of the member groups of the World Heritage Committee," he said.
The State Government has come to the Prime Minister's defence, saying he was only delivering on election promises.
Resources Minister Paul Harriss said Mr Abbott should not be criticised for repairing damage done to Tasmania's forestry industry by the previous federal and state Labor governments.
"While the United Nations rejected the Federal Government's proposal to reverse Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage boundary changes, the job destroying forest [peace] deal is dead, and good riddance to it," he said.
"The Prime Minister should be congratulated for sticking to a key election commitment, despite the pressure on him to renege from Green groups who refuse to accept the democratic outcome of the election."
PM listened to 'blind idealogues'
However, the Government said the document the conservationist group was quoting from was a draft that was never signed by any ministers nor passed on to the Prime Minister.
Further, Senator Colbeck said, the Wilderness Society has misinterpreted what had occurred.
"What the Government did was implement Government policy, quite simply," he said.
He said the document was written by advisors and rejected.
"The department advisors don't design Coalition policy, we design our policy and our intention was to implement our policy and that's what we did," he said.
A spokesman for Mr Joyce agreed the letter quoted by The Wilderness Society was a draft that was effectively rejected by the minister.
"The letter that was drafted was never sent to the Prime Minister and in no way reflects the view of either Minister Hunt or Joyce about how to progress its 2013 election commitment," he said.
Greens Senator Christine Milne said the fact the advice had been rejected was disastrous for the country.
"He listened to his blind ideologues, like (Employment Minister) Eric Abetz, Richard Colbeck and Paul Harriss, over the advice of the Environment and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Departments," she said.
"Tony Abbott went with them against the best advice of the Departments, humiliating Australia on the global stage."
