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Prime Minister Howard and Premier Lennon, despite lodging an appeal, rushed to change the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) on 23 February 2007.
The 1997 RFA said that the State "agrees to protect" federally listed
threatened species through the comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) reserve system or by applying relevant management prescriptions (old cl 68).
The 2007 RFA says that the Commonwealth and State governments "agree that the CAR Reserve system....and management strategies and prescriptions...protect rare and threatened flora and fauna species and Forest Communities" (new cl 68).
Compare this with Justice Marshall's finding:
Para 282. "It is unlikely the State can, by management prescriptions,
protect the eagle. As to the beetle and the parrot, the State must urge Forestry Tasmania to take a far more protective stance in respect of these species by relevant management prescriptions before it can be said it will protect them. On the evidence before the Court, given Forestry Tasmania's satisfaction with current arrangements, I consider that protection by management prescriptions in the future is unlikely."
Wielangta remains protected, despite the changes to the RFA, until Forestry Tasmania's appeal is determined.
A summary of the main changes to the Tasmanian RFA is here
The full text of the RFA variation is at
http://www.daffa.gov.au/rfa/regions/tasmania/rfa
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