The Gillard and Giddings governments should move to extend the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area to include forests in the Tarkine, Styx, Weld, upper Florentine and Great Western Tiers, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"The report by Professor Jonathan West and his team of experts has backed what the Greens have been saying for 20 years - that Tasmania's giant eucalypts and rainforests are of World Heritage value," Senator Bob Brown said.

"The report says that this could be our 'last chance' to protect the heritage values of these forests.

Today’s announcement from Anthony Albanese for a $20 million package to assist Tasmanian exporters is no substitute for amending the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme so that Tasmanian exporters are treated equally with their mainland counterparts, Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown said today.

“The $20 million barely covers the losses by Tasmanian exporters in the last year because they are excluded from freight equalisation.

“Mr Albanese should immediately commit to freight equalisation for Tasmanian exporters from July 1," Senator Brown said.

Tasmania's birds are in the greatest danger of extinction according to a new a paper from researchers at the Universities of Queensland and Charles Darwin and Birdlife International.

"The researchers took the international 'red list' of all birds that were in danger of extinction and applied it to Australia," Senator Brown said.

The Greens Leaders have responded to Premier Lara Giddings’ call for them to show leadership by requesting she meet to discuss options for Tasmania to manage its forests for future business and job creation.  

“The Premier will lead well if she gets off the failed logging trajectory onto promising alternatives,” Senator Brown said at a press conference with Senator Milne and Mr McKim.  

Greens Leader Bob Brown says the Tasmanian forests agreement, to be finalised in a fortnight, would be fixed by the promised 572,000ha of national parks being established forthwith. 

“These forests have been studied and mapped for decades. There have been scientific assessments of their world heritage values since the early 1990s. The only possible glitch is with clearfelled, burnt and degraded areas and Forestry Tasmania knows where all these are.