An endangered parrot could cost up to 1,000 New South Wales timber industry workers their jobs because the federal government has ordered a shutdown to protect it.
According to reports, federal environment minister Peter Garrett’s department issued a stop-work order to the state government at the start of May.
It ordered it to cease all clear-felling of red gum in the Central Murray Darling region – timber used mainly for firewood and railway sleepers – due to concerns over the future of the green leek parrot.
Conservationists claim the flight patterns of the bird, which lives for up to 25 years, are being disrupted as it does not like flying over open spaces.
The state government is seeking an urgent meeting with prime minister Kevin Rudd and Mr Garrett, claiming the intervention by the Commonwealth to declare the logging illegal would cause the immediate loss of at least 500 timber jobs and 360 indirectly related jobs.
