Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown has hailed the World Heritage Listing of the subantarctic Macquarie and Heard Islands as a great win for conservationists and the Greens after a decade of effort.

"The islands are sensational, geographically as well as for the huge colonies of seals and millions of penguins. Had they been in the North Sea they would have been listed long ago," Senator Brown said today.

Macquarie Island is Tasmania's second World Heritage Area. The Greens sparked its nomination at state level when we won the balance of power in 1989. It's a great Greens victory. Our job now is to protect the sea fisheries, upon which the bird and mammal colonies depend, around the islands.

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