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"We don't log in Commonwealth national parks, and basically the states don't they have separate state forests which they now, in part as a result of us, have to harvest in an ecologically sustainable way," Senator Hill told Channel Ten.
Mr Tuckey last month alarmed green groups by arguing that logging in native forests was necessary to ensure their survival by promoting new growth. He accused some conservationists of "wanting to protect forests through benign neglect" rather than allowing selective logging for regenerative purposes.
But Senator Hill indicated that he did not support Mr Tuckey's thesis. "What I'm saying is that we basically have national parks to conserve environmental values," he said. 'They need to be properly managed, and in some instances that requires the construction of fire tracks and so forth, and no doubt there will be some effect on the natural assets.
"But primarily the park is there to conserve the natural values, and we as a government are obviously committed to that goal."
The Age was unable to contact Mr Tuckey yesterday. Senator Hill
denied the government was threatened by the new conservative green groups
like Liberals for Forests, which polled strongly in the Western Australian
state election this year and are now moving into Victoria.
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