Chris Dobney
Nationals candidate for Page, Kevin Hogan, has backed away from comments he made on NBN television apparently supporting the logging of national parks.
The TV station covered his recent launch and interviewed Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce endorsing the idea, followed by this comment from Mr Hogan:
‘There are certainly parts of our forest network around our national parks that you don’t want them to go into and I don’t think there would be certain parts of our national parks that they would want to go into.’
But Mr Hogan told Echonetdaily last night, ‘the question related to logging in state forests,’ denying his comment should be taken as a support of logging in the parks.
‘The state government is in charge of national parks. Logging is banned from these parks and I fully support this,’ he said.
Meanwhile federal Greens candidate for Richmond, Dawn Walker, has called on her National Party opponent, Matthew Fraser, to state his position on the push to log local national parks.
‘It appears that the federal National Party is determined to open up national parks for logging. This means logging our local forests that are world renowned for their biodiversity and environmental significance. Not to mention the enjoyment that people get from these majestic forests,’ she said.
‘The national parks proposed for revocation include forests identified as qualifying for World Heritage Listing, areas of core koala habitat, and irreplaceable stands of old-growth forest,’ she added.
‘We need to know if a vote for an Abbott government is a vote for logging national parks. Matthew Fraser needs to be clear with the electorate on this issue.’
Echonetdaily contacted Mr Fraser yesterday but has yet to receive a response.
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