Federal Forestry Minister Eric Abetz has criticised Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe over comments he made about logging in Tasmania. Thorpe was filmed visiting the Blue Tiers rain forest in the state's north-east as part of a documentary on climate change. He described an area which had been clear felled and burned for replanting as "quite confronting". Senator Abetz told the Senate that "confronting" processes were necessary if people wanted to have paper and wooden furniture. "I would invite him to take a look at the next steak that he eats - I assume he is a meat eater - and then go to the very beginning, look at a peaceful cow in a pasture and then follow it through the process chain to the abattoir," he said. "I am sure he would similarly say it is 'very confronting'."