Lidia Thorpe

The Victorian Greens have pledged to protect more than 355,000ha of old-growth forest from logging in an attempt to wedge Labor and woo undecided voters ahead of a by-election in inner-Melbourne’s Northcote. The state Greens will submit a bill next week proposing to zone off land near Kinglake to create the Great Forest National Park. The plan protects much of Victoria’s old-growth forests and logging zones depleted during the Black Saturday bushfires. … Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the plan represented a clear distinction between Greens candidate Lidia Thorpe and Labor at a time when Labor had emulated Greens policies.