Environment Minister responds to your petition

This week we set a target of reaching 50,000 signatures on our Native Forests Charter before we presented it to Environment Minister, Tony Burke. While I was sitting in the reception at Mr. Burke's office waiting to go in the petition was at 48,500. But volunteers in the GetUp office sent Twitter and Facebook messages to GetUp members, who in turn asked their friends to join the campaign. Within minutes we hit our target of 50,000 Australians right in the middle of the presentation of your petition to the Minister!


Together, GetUp members and our partner organisations have been working to save our native forests since we began campaigning against the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar valley three years ago. It's an effort that has taken us from local rallies in Launceston to the board rooms of national and international banking giants like ANZ and Nordea. Our efforts have backed up a 30 year campaign that locals in Tasmania have been fighting.

When on Wednesday your voice was heard in Parliament House by Environment Minister, Tony Burke, the Australian Native Forests Charter that you signed was immediately transformed from a piece of paper into a political force. It elicited an immediate response from the Minister on behalf of the Australian Government:

"The Australian Native Forests Charter presented to me by GetUp demonstrates the commitment of Australians to protecting our unique and beautiful native forests. The agreement reached recently in Tasmania between environmentalists, industry and unions shows that we can move beyond the fights of the past few decades towards a cooperative solution for a sustainable plantation based forestry industry in Tasmania. In the spirit of cooperation showed by both sides, I expect that the Australian Government will be able to work closely with the Tasmanian Government to find a way to start the shift towards protecting our precious native forests."
- Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

While this statement alone does not secure the financial backing needed from the Commonwealth to turn the promise of the Charter into reality, it is very encouraging.

We will have to do more to secure Commonwealth funding for the permanent protection of native forests, but we could be just weeks away from ending a 30 year battle. Our challenge in this moment is to build a national movement for the protection of Tasmania's precious forests. That's why telling your friends and family how they can join the campaign is so important:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/MovementBuilding

The Charter really began picking up steam once GetUp members started telling their friends, families and colleagues about the campaign. Your emails, Facebook messages and Tweets put us over the top of our 50,000 target. That's because there is no more trusted source than someone you know and respect.

It shows that your power as a GetUp member is not just in taking action, but in inspiring others to take action. If you have not already done so, click here to tell everyone you know about this campaign and help us keep building this movement.

Thank you for being part of this,

Simon Sheikh - National Director, for the GetUp Team