Wong ducks deforestation hypocrisy-Greens

The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, has ignored Australia's logging and burning of native forests as a critical contribution to global warming in her Sydney speech to loggers today, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The latest Australian National University research shows that such logging may produce up to 25 per cent of Australia's carbon pollution of the atmosphere. But Minister Wong, while outlining the Rudd government's overseas aid to stop logging in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, ducked Australia's need to stop logging here," Senator Brown said.

"In fact, Prime Minister Rudd has committed $100 million to Tasmanian transport infrastructure spending with Gunns' proposed pulp mill the beneficiary.

"Senator Wong's promise to the loggers to fund reforestation activities is crazy when she backs public funding of a pulp mill which entails deforestation of 200,000 hectares.

"Senator Wong advocates carbon sinks as "practical action" while also backing destruction of Australia's biggest carbon sinks - its native forests. This is bad economic, environmental and forest policy," Senator Brown said.

Further information: Ebony Bennett 0409 164 603