The Australian Conservation Foundation today called on the Palaszczuk Government to break with the destructive legacy of the previous LNP government by protecting the habitat of the threatened Yellow-bellied glider in north Queensland.
“The former Newman Government sought to take over Commonwealth environmental assessment and approval powers, while simultaneously undermining protection of the Yellow-bellied glider by allowing logging in its forest habitat,” said Andrew Picone, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Northern Australia Project Campaigner in Cairns.
“Stripping away protection for key forest reserves across the state puts at risk many rare and threatened species.
“From Kuranda to Mackay, the cassowary, yellow-bellied glider, Eungella honeyeater, spot-tailed quoll and glossy black-cockatoo are just some of the species at risk from the LNP’s logging agenda.
“In many instances it has been left up to community groups to collect the baseline data and monitor threatened species populations.
“Despite being recognised as threatened under Commonwealth and Queensland law, the northern subspecies of the Yellow-bellied glider has lost most of its habitat to past clearing, logging and fire.
“The Government should maintain or re-instate the Tumoulin and Mount Baldy and Gilby Forest Reserves and restart the process to make these reserves into national parks.
“To protect north Queensland’s threatened Yellow-bellied glider, the Queensland Government must maintain the protection afforded to the species by the Bligh Government in 2010 and bring an end to the rollback started by the LNP.
“The actions of the former Newman Government are a telling demonstration of why states cannot be trusted with our national environment laws,” said Picone.
