Parrot endangers 1000 jobs in Australia

A parrot is about to cost 1000 workers their jobs because the Federal Government in New South Wales has ordered a timber industry to be shut down to protect the bird.

The unprecedented government intervention will see the jobs cut within days.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett's department issued a stop-work order to the New South Wales Government 10 days ago, a move the industry claims could wipe out the entire town of Deniliquin in the state's south. The Opposition says the move is overkill and has branded Mr Garrett a "warbling twit".



"There are a lot of them out there," Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said of the parrots. "As one person put it to me this morning, you've got the warbling twit protecting the green leak parrot but sacrificing 1000 jobs."

The Environment Department ordered New South Wales 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 parrot.

Sometimes referred to as the green leek parrot, the social bird nests in the hollows of the red gums and is nationally listed as vulnerable.

With news video.