Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor) Photo: Nick TalbotIt is the responsibility of the Tasmanian government to ensure the survival of the endangered Swift parrot, federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says.

A report prepared for the Australian Greens recommends the brightly coloured parrot be reclassified as critically endangered, as logging threatens its only known nesting habitat in southeast Tasmania.

Greens leader Bob Brown has urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to personally intervene in saving the parrot, saying it could be extinct within decades if action isn't taken.

Mr Garrett says protection of the parrot's habitat is in the hands of the Tasmanian government, under the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) Act.

"Under the RFA Act, it is the responsibility of the Tasmanian government to ensure that those management prescriptions that have been identified as necessary are undertaken and it's our expectation that that would be the case," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

"The EPBC (Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) Act does not apply, and hasn't for some time, to override or to provide ... any necessary or additional actions over the RFA.

"Now that's always been the case."

Mr Garrett said he was aware that Senator Brown didn't agree with the legislative structure.

"But the fact of the matter is that we will work collaboratively with the Tasmanian government.

"I have certainly let my counterpart know, in Tasmania, about this issue."

Changing the classification of the Swift parrot to critically endangered involved a comprehensive, scientific process, Mr Garrett said.

"If it is absolutely the case that a Swift parrot has reached or is likely to reach that status and the threatened species committee provides advice to that level, then we'll always take note of that."

But Tasmania's forest management agencies needed to assess the forests, before considering any reclassification, he said.

The Swift parrot, which is about 25cm long, breeds in the summer and spring and migrates in the autumn and winter months to southeastern Australia from the east of South Australia to southeast Queensland.

It is bright green with red around the bill, throat and forehead. The red on its throat is edged with yellow and its crown is blue-purple.