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| Brett Duroux IMAGE: Facebook |
Brett Duroux, Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia (IPA). Chairperson at Gugiyn Balun Aboriginal Corporation since November 2021 and works at Grafton Ngerrie Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Clarence Valley Independent, 19 January 2022:
A proud Yaegl, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr man, Mr Duroux said in representing the IPA at the federal election, he is campaigning for his local community to give them a strong voice and leadership, to promote respect for the land, encourage unity and equality and advocate the policies of his party in parliament….
While he had never previously considered entering politics, he is looking forward to a lot of legwork during the next few months and spending time meeting and speaking with members of the Clarence Valley community.
“What interests me is talking to people about their concerns and getting answers for them, and helping my community in any way I can,” he said.
“I believe in positive change for our community.
“I also want to focus on strengthening the relationships between Land Councils and traditional owners and encourage them to work together.”
Mr Duroux said he is looking forward to campaigning in the lead up to the federal election and is welcoming community consultation.
Coast Community News, 24 November 2021:
….last week Brett Duroux, the IPA’s candidate for the Page electorate on the mid north coast, visited the area to see the cultural site firsthand.
He said he wanted to learn more about NSW Forestry Corporation’s Harvest and Haul Plan which could potentially impact the site.
“Forestry’s plans are concerning as the cultural site is not identified as such on the harvest maps that they operate under, and instead are noted as being an ‘other significant area/non harvest area (OSF)’ with no buffer required for logging,” he said.
“The plans state that trails and roads can be used for haulage and snigging if they traverse through the exclusion area.
“This is extremely alarming considering a cultural site is at stake and the rock platform the site is located on has already been damaged in the past by heavy machinery tracks.”
He said Ourimbah State Forest provided habitat for many native species including the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo, Large Owl and Forest Bats.
“The OSF is also a known koala habitat, despite Forestry’s plans stating otherwise….
The Forestry Corporation’s Harvesting and Haul plan covers an area of over 370ha of which 108.4ha is deemed “harvestable”.
The expected yield is 3,900 cubic metres, of which 1,000 will be sawlogs, 150 cubic metres will be poles, with the remaining 2,750 cubic metres being pulp, firewood and low-quality salvage…..
Duroux said more than three billion animals, more than one billion of them in NSW, were estimated to have been killed or displaced in recent bushfires, including some rare or threatened animal, plant and insect species, with the complete loss of some species believed to be permanent.
“In NSW alone, more than half of the native forests were burned in the 2019/20 bushfires, with one billion native animals killed or displaced… and yet, the NSW Government continues to desecrate our native forest and cultural sites, to harvest pulp and firewood for an industry that runs at significant financial loss.
“In 2019/20 the profit from native forest logging was $28 a hectare, equating to less than 20 cents for each mature tree logged.
“The Government provided $136M in grants over the past 10 years to this unprofitable industry, equating to a huge loss for NSW, both financially and environmentally.”
Duroux said he believed Central Coast Council had colluded on the plans despite its ongoing public relations campaign applauding the Coast’s Aboriginal heritage and OSF, winning awards for being an Adventure Tourism destination.
He said that the Indigenous Party supported Camp Ourimbah, a small contingent of very dedicated environmental caretakers, who take peaceful direct action to stop native forest logging…..
Duroux said the Indigenous Party of Australia would be writing to local politicians and State ministers, including Environment Minister, Matt Kean, demanding an end to the unprofitable, damaging practice of logging in native forests, including Ourimbah State Forest.
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