The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 November 2020:
NSW's koala wars have taken another twist with Nationals leader John Barilaro forced to intervene to reverse unsanctioned changes to a bill introduced by one of his senior colleagues that threatened to detonate divisions within the Coalition government.
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has been accused of inserting changes to the Local Land Services Amendment Bill 2020 beyond those agreed by cabinet, multiple sources have told the Herald. Those additions expanded the "allowables" for land-clearing, which would have removed virtually all planning oversight.
Key Liberals, including Planning Minister Rob Stokes, only detected the additions buried within the legislation after it had passed the lower house with Coalition support.
Mr Marshall then refused to budge, prompting the Liberals to demand Deputy Premier Mr Barilaro to broker a deal to remove unapproved provisions and restore key protection when the bill goes to the upper house......
"Trust, in terms of negotiations, is everything," Cate Faehrmann, the Greens environment spokeswoman who led a cross-party inquiry in the collapsing numbers of koalas that found them to be on track for extinction in the wild in NSW before 2050.....
The moves within the Coalition to secure passage of the bill, though, may turn out to be futile, with upper house Liberal MP Catherine Cusack sticking to her plans to block it and push it into an open-ended committee inquiry.
"You may have heard, as I have, the government is likely to move amendments to the bill to improve it," Ms Cusack told her upper house colleagues in a communication obtained by the Herald. "However, this does not alter my opposition to it.
"I have many objections to the bill but I am particularly offended by the way it has landed like a spacecraft from Mars and rendered irrelevant decades of work and investment within an agreed framework.
"It reflects my belief that the opportunity to expose these ideas to some sunlight is the very best course we could take given the issues are not going away even if the bill is defeated."……. [my yellow highlighting]
And there may be more revelations to come.
NSW Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 68, 17 November 2020:
25. Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment: Report No. 3 entitled “Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales”, dated June 2020: resumption of the adjourned debate (4 August 2020) of the
question on the motion of Ms Faehrmann: That the House take note of the report—Ms Faehrmann speaking. (15 minutes)
757. Mr Searle to move— That, under standing order 52, there be laid upon the table of the House within 7 days of the date of passing of this resolution the following documents, in electronic format if possible, in the possession, custody or control of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces or the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment relating to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2019:
(a) all documents relating to the development of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2019,
(b) all correspondence between the Office of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and any National Party Member of Parliament in relation to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2019, and
(c) any legal or other advice regarding the scope or validity of this order of the House created as a result of this order of the House. (Notice given 16 September 2020—expires Notice Paper No. 74) [my yellow highlighting]
