Love the Tarkine!
Writing / emailing a letter to relevant politicians is the most effective way of influencing a decision (online petitions are not taken as seriously as they once were).
We encourrage you to write to the politicians below.
Here is a comma-delineated list of their email addresses (copy and paste):
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
(Note that the prime minister and leader of the opposition do not publish email addresses, you'll have to use their online contact pages.)
Below is a letter written by American wildlife biologist Lori L. Paul, presenting the Tarkine's significance from a global persepctive. You are welcome to take arguments from her text.
Prime Minister, Julia Gillard
email: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
or snail mail: The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Prime Minister, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Tony Burke
PO BOX 6022 Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: (02) 6277 7640 Fax: (02) 6273 4120
Email: [email protected]
Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott
Parliament House, RG109, Canberra ACT 2600
Ph: (02) 6277 4022 Fax: (02) 6277 8562
Email: http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/ContactTony.aspx
Opposition Environment Spokesperson, Greg Hunt
PO BOX 6022 Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Ph: (02) 6277 2276, Fax: (02) 6277 8446
Email: [email protected]
Greens Leader, Christine Milne
Tasmania office:
GPO Box 896, Hobart TAS 7001
Ph: 03 6224 8899 | Fax: 03 6224 7599 | Freecall: 1300 133 251 (Tasmania only)
Canberra Office:
Senate suite SG-112, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT, 2600
Ph: 02 6277 3170| Fax: 02 6277 3185
contact : http://christine-milne.greensmps.org.au/contact
email : [email protected]
website :
christinemilne.org.au
In addition, Tasmanian MPs:
Sid Sidebottom (BRADDON – the local member)
2/32 Wilmot Street, Burnie 7320,
Tasmania, Australia
PO Box 908, Burnie, TAS 7320
Ph: 1300 135 547 (Toll Free)
Ph: 03 6431 1333
email : [email protected]
Julie Collins (FRANKLIN)
18 Ross Avenue, Rosny Park, TAS, 7018
PO Box 38, Rosny Park, TAS, 7018
tel:
(03) 6244 1222 | Fax:
(03) 6244 1211
email : [email protected]
Dick Adams (LYONS)
53b Main Road, Perth, TAS 7300
Tel: (03) 6398 1115, fax?: (03) 6398 1120
email : [email protected]
Andrew Wilkie (DENISON)
Hobart office 188 Collins St Hobart 7000
Tel:
(03) 6234 5255
email :
[email protected]
Geoff Lyons (BASS)
100 St John Street,
Launceston, TAS, 7250
PO Box 5035,
Launceston, TAS, 7250
Telephone:
(03) 6334 7033
Fax:
(03) 6334 7055
contact :
http://aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Contact_Senator_or_Member?MPID=M38
Similarly, Tasmanian Senators:
Stephen Parry
Tel: (03) 6334 1755
Toll Free: 1300 760 788 (Tas Only)
email : [email protected]
Richard Colbeck
5-7 Best Street, Devonport Tasmania 7310
PO Box 603, Devonport Tasmania 7310
Tel : 03 6424 5960 or 1300 134 495 | fax: 03 6423 5244
email : [email protected]
As a wildlife biologist in the United States, I urge you to stop mining leases and clear-cut logging in the Tarkine Wilderness of Tasmania before additional damage occurs to this global treasure.
It has come to my attention that Australia is about to renege on prior commitments, most recently expressed in 2007, to extend protection to the entire Tarkine region of Tasmania as a World Heritage Site and National Park encompassing 443,000 hectares (per recommendation by the Australian Heritage Council). In 2007 the Australian Senate unanimously moved to acknowledge the World Heritage significance of the Tarkine Wilderness. Unfortunately, since that time, efforts to implement full protection have unraveled to the extent that destructive mineral exploration is in progress and extensive open pit mining threatens the Tarkine.
Australia is poised on the brink of selling out the Tarkine, which encompasses ancient temperate rainforest (one of the largest remaining tracts of pristine rainforest in the world), aboriginal lands, undeveloped coastline, and rare wildlife... to permit toxic open pit iron and mineral mining.
Historically, the Tarkine was one of the last strongholds of the Tasmanian Tiger. That magnificent marsupial predator is now extinct; however, the Tarkine still provides refuge for the now-endangered Tasmanian Devil. The Tarkine's Devil population is thus far free of the contagious facial tumor cancer that is wiping out Devils elsewhere. This alone makes the Tarkine worth saving in its entirety.
The Tarkine also provides critical habitat for numerous birds, including migratory species, marsupials, amphibians and reptiles. The amazing Tayatea / Giant Freshwater Crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi), listed as endangered by the IUCN, lives in the Tarkine's streams where it can grow to a meter in length and live to be 40 years old. The Tarkine supports a spectrum of diverse flora, from tiny colorful fungi to tall old-growth trees. The northernmost Tasmanian Huon Pines (Lagarostrobos franklinii) can be found in the Tarkine It is possible that many more endemic species exist in the ancient Tarkine that have not yet been identified.
It is shameful for Australia to endanger what it acknowledges should be a World Heritage Site and National Park by allowing open pit mining, clear-cut logging (including illegal removal of old-growth Huon Pines), associated road construction (such as the now-infamous "Road to Nowhere" that gives access to exploitive activities and vehicles), and range cattle operations.
The beauty and abundance of rare species in the Tarkine are an attraction for visitors from around the world.
I hope to visit the Tarkine Wilderness with my family someday soon, assuming Australia reverses the approval for open pit mines recently granted by the Environmental Protection Authority . Millions of tourist dollars are at risk along with the flora and fauna, coastline and caves of the magnificent Tarkine region. Blight, scar, poison and log one of the few remaining temperate rainforests on Earth, and visitors will go elsewhere. Once gone, the Tarkine can never be restored.
The world is watching. Please take immediate steps to prevent further damage to the Tarkine. Do not approve mining permits. Stop building roads through the rainforest. End logging and cattle grazing across the entire area. Approve the Australian Heritage Council's recommendation to make the Tarkine a World Heritage Site and Tasmanian National Park.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.
Respectfully,