http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/16185797/burke-defends-record-after-g...

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has defended Labor's conservation record after the Greens walked away from their formal alliance with the party.

Greens Leader C on a shared national agenda.

In her speech to the National Press Club, Senator Milne criticised Labor's relationship with miners and also fired another broadside at Mr Burke.

She described his decision to reject a proposal to list Tasmania's Tarkine wilderness on the National Heritage register as "pathetic".

Mr Burke has told Lateline the move is a "political call" from a party that has not been focused on the environment for a long time.

"I think what we've seen is a political manoeuvre from Christine Milne that a lot of Greens supporters will be pretty disappointed about," he told Lateline.

"She's decided to turn her sights and her language against Labor to try to get stuck into us.

"And to also to do it at a time when ... there's never been a time in Australia's history where so much of our country has been going into conservation.

"It's a decision that she's taken for her own political reasons, but I think there'll be lots of people shaking their heads about it."

Mr Burke says Labor and the Greens have different perspectives when it comes to the environment.

"When I look at an environmental decision, I look at whether it's good or bad depending on what you're actually protecting," he said.

"For the Greens, they seem to look at whether it's good or bad depending on how many jobs you're destroying.

"So while the marine national parks are world-leading and around the rest of the world are recognised as such, from the Greens perspective they would have liked for me to put them in different locations so that more fishing jobs got knocked out.

"It's a different approach."

Mr Burke says although Senator Milne has criticised his decision on the Tarkine, a lot is being done to protect other areas of Tasmania.

"The Greens only want to talk about the Tarkine," he said.

"They don't want to talk about the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement, which is half a million hectares, including the most precious parts of the Tarkine, all of which is now under a package up and available and possible for conservation.

"Now, that's the big issue, but they don't want to go there because they'd rather just focus on where we're knocking over jobs, and that's not the way Labor's ever approached this."

After the 2010 election, the then-Greens leader Bob Brown signed an agreement with Prime Minister Julia Gillard which helped Labor remain in office.

But the relationship between the two parties has been strained by a string of policy disagreements, most recently the push by the Greens to overhaul the mining tax following revelations it raised just $126 million in its first six months.

While Senator Milne's announcement will add to the air of instability that often surrounds the minority Government, her decision to guarantee confidence and to continue passing budget bills means the current parliament will continue until the election, due on September 14.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Julia Gillard released a one-line statement in response to Senator Milne's speech.

"This is a matter for Christine Milne and the Greens. We will always be the party that puts jobs, growth and work first," it said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie made a similar decision to end his formal relationship with the Government early last year, over a disagreement with Labor over plans to impose new restrictions on poker machines.