NSW Upper House Inquiry into Allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region: Findings of the Inquiry & its recommendations have been published and it appears that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet may have been mistaken in his assertion that there was nothing to find

 

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment

Report 18

March 2023

Allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region

Ordered to be printed 2 March 2023 according to Standing Order 238

At 4:17:38pm a 63.4MB, 478 page report was created in PDF form as Report no 18 - PC 7 - Hills Shire Council inquiry.pdf and subsequently published on the Parliament of New South Wales website at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2908#tab-reportsandgovernmentresponses

The full report between Pages 170 to 477 contains  documentation supporting allegations of impropriety – some of it internal documents & correspondence generated by Liberals NSW (the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia), various state party members and/or NSW Liberal Party members of parliament. Included are various members of the Perrottet family. It makes for interesting reading.

Six witnesses who declined to attend the parliamentary inquiry are: NSW Liberal Party member Christian Ellis, The Hills Shire Cr. Virginia Ellis, NSW Liberal Party member Charles Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party member Jean-Claude Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party member & lobbyist Dylan Whitelaw and, property developer Jean Nassif.

Below is set out the text of the Committee Chair’s foreword to the report, the six official findings of the Inquiry and the eight formal recommendations.

Chair’s foreword

This has been an extraordinary inquiry – not so much for the information that has come to light – but for the gaping hole in evidence left by key witnesses who have gone to great lengths to avoid scrutiny.

The allegations that sparked this inquiry were made by an elected member of Parliament who is also a member of the Liberal Party. They were serious allegations of collusion between members of the Liberal party and a developer to replace elected members of The Hills Shire Council with new councillors who would be more amenable to that developer's interests. Revelations about branch-stacking activities in The Hills area that emerged in this inquiry are a related and additional source of concern. When branch stacking activities are linked to collusion with developers, they are not merely a distortion of democratic processes, they could amount to serious corruption.

The only way this committee could shed some light on these allegations is for those involved to come forward and give their account. Their co-ordinated, deliberate and serious efforts to evade scrutiny inevitably leave the perception that there is something to hide.

The lack of cooperation from key witnesses in this inquiry means that serious allegations of corruption by members of the Liberal Party in the Hills Shire have gone unanswered. Some have tried to justify their absence by questioning the integrity of this committee. The contempt shown for our role as an Upper House committee raises serious questions about the operation of the Liberal Party in NSW, and whether those seeking political power at local or state government level understand the principles of transparency and accountability that are central to a healthy democracy.

This inquiry has raised questions that are too serious to leave unanswered simply because this Parliament has run its course. For this reason, the committee has recommended that a new inquiry into these matters be established in the next Parliament. Essential to that will be the involvement of Christian Ellis, Charles Perrottet, Jean-Claude Perrottet and Jean Nassif.

The committee has also recommended that the influence of property developers and others in political, legal and democratic processes in the Hills Shire region be referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. This is based on the evidence received from one individual in this inquiry, who gave a frank account of how some members of the Liberal Party sought a donation from him to unseat a sitting federal member.

Faced with the non-cooperation of key witnesses, this committee has taken some unusual, and in some cases unprecedented, procedural steps. The use of private process servers in the effort to serve a summons to key witnesses was one of these. While many attempts were made to serve key witnesses with a summons to attend and give evidence, albeit unsuccessfully, the committee considered it was an appropriate course of action, owing mainly to the clear lack of co-operation and difficulty experienced when liaising with witnesses. We thank the process servers for assisting the committee in what can only be described as extraordinary circumstances.

To address these difficulties better in the future, the committee has recommended that the Legislative Council refer an inquiry into the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 to the Privileges Committee, with a view to identifying amendments to ensure it is fit for purpose and modernised, including in relation to the summonsing of witnesses.

Finally, I would like to comment on the unauthorised disclosure of parts of the Chair's draft report. The disclosure was revealed on the day this report was tabled, literally hours before the expiration of the Legislative Assembly, which meant that the committee was unable to take the steps usually followed by committees to investigate and address such disclosures.

Unauthorised disclosure of committee information, such as a draft report, threatens the integrity of the  committee system by reducing trust amongst members, as well as between the Parliament and the public. Such disclosures also demonstrate disrespect for the secretariat who make every effort to protect the confidentiality of committee proceedings. I urge the person responsible for this breach of the standing orders to reflect on the seriousness of their actions.

On behalf of the committee I sincerely thank those witnesses who did come forward and give evidence

– even reluctantly – to this inquiry. Each witness had something important to contribute, and has shed some light on the issues in question. I also thank my fellow committee members, and acknowledge that this has not been an easy inquiry by any measure, especially given all the pressures associated with the end of a parliamentary term. Finally, I thank the secretariat for their extraordinary hard work and professionalism, and all of the other parliamentary staff who have assisted to support the important work of this committee.

Ms Sue Higginson MLC

Committee Chair

Findings

Finding 1       21

That, based on evidence to the committee, a meeting took place at which Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet asked a businessman to contribute $50,000 to an operation to unseat Alex Hawke, federal member for Mitchell.

Finding 2       21

That the finding of this committee about a request for $50,000, combined with the behaviour of witnesses called to this inquiry, add weight to the allegations by Government MP Ray Williams in the parliament that 'Jean Nassif of Toplace met with Christian Ellis and other senior members of the Liberal Party, who were paid significant funds in order to arrange to put new councillors on The Hills Shire Council who would be supportive of future Toplace development applications'.

Finding 3       22

That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in serious and deliberate attempts to evade service: Christian Ellis, Virginia Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet.

Finding 4       22

That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in serious and deliberate attempts to avoid giving evidence to the inquiry, noting they were out of the jurisdiction: Charles Perrottet and Jean Nassif.

Finding 5       22

That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in deliberate attempts to avoid giving evidence to the inquiry: Jeff Egan, Jeremy Greenwood and Dylan Whitelaw.

Finding 6       23

That a New South Wales parliamentary committee has never been faced with such serious, deliberate and co-ordinated attempts by witnesses to evade service of a summons.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1       20

That the Legislative Council establish a new inquiry into allegations of impropriety against agents of The Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region in the 58th Parliament, referring all evidence from this inquiry to the relevant committee.

Recommendation 2       21

That any future inquiry should call Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet to give evidence on the matters referred to in Finding 1.

Recommendation 3       21

That any future inquiry should call Christian Ellis, Charles Perrottet and Jean Nassif to give evidence on the matters referred to in Finding 2.

Recommendation 4       21

That Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment refer the influence of property

developers and others in legal, political and democratic processes in The Hills Shire region to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, along with this report and committee transcripts of evidence.

Recommendation 5       23

That, at the beginning of the 58th Parliament, the NSW Legislative Council:

 refer an inquiry into the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 to the Privileges Committee, with a view to identifying amendments to ensure it is fit for purpose and modernised, including in relation to the summonsing of witnesses; and

 send a message to the NSW Legislative Assembly requesting that that House refer the same inquiry to its Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics.

Recommendation 6       24

That Legislative Council committees consider the use of professional process servers to serve a summons on a witness in extraordinary circumstances where the witness has demonstrated that they are not co-operating with the committee, and that this matter be considered by any future inquiry by the Privileges Committee into the operation of the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 (as referred to in Recommendation 5).

Recommendation 7       24

That the NSW Legislative Council refer the matter of anonymously authored documents being tabled under parliamentary privilege to the Privileges Committee for inquiry and report.

Recommendation 8       24

That the Minister for Local Government undertake an investigation into The Hills Shire Council and consider what steps should be taken, including whether the Council should be put into administration. 

A little background.....

https://youtu.be/6DMSQLDMXvk

And the news just keeps getting worse for the NSW Perrottet Government five weeks out from the 25 March 2023 state election

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2023:

The NSW government is in disarray just five weeks from the state election as one of Premier Dominic Perrottet’s most senior ministers and closest confidants was forced to quit cabinet after it emerged he owned shares in the tolling company that controls most of Sydney’s motorways.

The premier was also forced to reveal on Friday that one of his parliamentary secretaries had stood down amid a scandal involving intimate photos he shared.

Finance minister and leader of the government in the Legislative Council Damien Tudehope quit just hours after he confirmed he held shares in Transurban, which owns the majority of tolling concessions across Sydney, including WestConnex, NorthConnex and the M2.

Perrottet sought legal advice on Friday afternoon over whether Tudehope “knowingly breached” any disclosure rules under the ministerial code of conduct.

In a statement late on Friday, Perrottet confirmed the advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet had “cleared Damien” however Tudehope had decided to resign from cabinet…..

Upper House MLC Peter Poulos resigned on Friday from his secretary role amid internal anger after an admission he shared explicit images of Hawkesbury MP Robyn Preston in the lead-up to a bitter preselection battle. Poulos has apologised to Preston, who modelled as a Penthouse “pet” in the 1980s.

In a major embarrassment for Perrottet, Tudehope on Friday confirmed he held shares in tolling giant Transurban, which owns the majority of tolling concessions across Sydney, including the WestConnex motorway, NorthConnex and the M2.

Tudehope said he had unknowingly held the shares in a family superannuation fund, but insisted he gave a “printout of the assets” contained within that fund to both Perrottet and former premier Gladys Berejiklian.

He said the Transurban shares were sold overnight, and conceded they had risen in value considerably since he was appointed minister in 2019. Tudehope said he would donate to charity any profit he made, which he expected to be about $6000.

Tudehope said he did not recuse himself from cabinet over discussions involving Transurban because he did not know he owned the shares as the superannuation fund was managed by a fund manager…..

[my yellow highlighting]

Financial Review, 17 February 2023:

Transurban recently reported record half-year earnings of $1.66 billion, boosted by some $835 million in tolls collected from Sydney drivers over the course of the past six months.

Mr Tudehope was a cabinet minister during the Berejiklian government’s decision to sell the WestConnex toll road to Transurban for $11 billion in 2021. More recently, he took part in a number of cabinet decisions to provide toll relief to NSW drivers.

Earlier, he denied being “involved in any discussions relating to WestConnex” and claimed he “was not on the relevant committee or relevant cabinet meetings”.

“The first thing is whether there was a significant impact, and whether I knowingly breached the code of conduct, and I have to say, I didn’t know that I held those shares at the time that I participated in policy decisions relating to Transurban,” he said.

It should be noted that Liberal MLC Damian Francis Tudehope has been a Member of the Legislative Council since 23 March 2019 having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly from 28 March 2015 to 1 March 2019.

He had been NSW Minister for Finance as well as Minister for Employee Relations since 21 December 2021, having been appointed to both ministries by Premier Perrottet. 

On 21 December he also became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council and Vice-President of the Executive Council.

Damian Tudehope is reported as resigning as NSW Minister for Finance, Minister for Employee Relations and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council on Friday 17 February 2023. Presumably he also resigned from the Executive Council.

Tudehope had previously been finance & small business minister during the Berejiklian Government years from 2 April 2019 to 21 December 2021.

Before entering parliament he practiced as a solicitor.

Interestingly, Damian Tudehope had been Chair of the Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 3 June 2015 to 22 February 2019 and, a Member of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics from 29 March 2017 to 22 February 2019. Committee terms which should have seen him well acquainted with the ins and outs of of issues such as pecuniary interests and conflicts of interest.

According to ABC News on 17 February 2023; ...like Mr Perrottet, [Damien Tudehope] has links to the the Catholic Church's conservative Opus Dei organisation. 

It appears the families may know each other well. The Linkedin entry of the premier’s younger brother Jean-Claude Perrottet shows that he was an Electoral Officer for Damian Tudehope MP from March 2018 to March and 2019 and Policy Advisor for Damian Tudehope MLC Minister for Finance and Small Business.

The “family superannuation fund” to which Mr. Tudehope was referring is possibly a self-managed superannuation fund titled Claiyear Pty Limited ATF The Tudehope Superannuation Fund (est.1998) or perhaps even Imtaga Pty Limited ATF Tudehope Family Trust (est.1985), as set out in his Disclosures By Members Of The Legislative Council form dated 31 March 2021. Although the latter registered company was missing from his disclosure of pecuniary interest form signed on 20 September 2022.

ASX Graph of Transurban Group (TCL) Share Price & Dividends issued 14 March 1996 to 17 February 2023

https://www2.asx.com.au/markets/company/tcl

This graph shows 20 dividend issues to shareholders over a 10 year period. Not a shareholding one would normally expect to be overlooked in the investment portfolio of any politician.

As a member of the NSW Upper House Damian Tudehope  does not stand for re-election until his term of service expires at the end of the 58th Parliament (05 Mar 2027).

It is not outside the bounds of possibility that if the Perrottet Government is re-elected on 25 March 2023, Damian Tudehope will be restored by Premier Perrottet to a Cabinet-level ministry or ministries and a place on the Executive Council. 

In fact as recently as last Saturday, Premier Perrottet left the door open to reinstating Tudehope after 25 May; "Mr Perrottet, who described Mr Tudehope as a man of "the highest integrity and honesty", was quizzed on Saturday about whether he would consider making him a minister again post March 25. "I'll make those decisions in due course," the Premier told reporters."

The last time Damian Tudehope did Dominic Perrottet a favour — by vacating his Lower House seat in order for Perrottet to contest the 2019 election in a preferred safe seat — he was amply rewarded. I have a strong suspicion that both men understand that he will be similarly favoured this time around.

UPDATE

In an effort to walk back just one of the Premier's errors of judgement the NSW Liberal Party has acted.....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 2023:

"This afternoon, the State Director, in consultation with the State President, exercised campaign powers to suspend Peter Poulos from the NSW Division for a period of 6 months," a spokesperson for the Liberal Party said in a statement.

This in no way stops Poulos standing as a nominal Independent at the 25 March state election. Nor does preclude him changing from Independent MLC back to Liberal MLC in 2024 should he be re-elected in 33 days time.

BACKGROUND

North Coast Voices

Friday, 17 February 2023

And the rolling political disasters continue to arrive on NSW Premier Perrottet's doorstep

Only 39 days remaining until the NSW state election and Liberal MP for Epping & Premier Dominic Perrottet's troubles are multiplying.

 

Perrottet's first problem of the month....

Audit Office of New South Wales, Bushfire recovery grants: Environment Industry Compliance Internal controls and governance Management and administration Service delivery, 2 February 2023, excerpts from report highlights.

What the report is about

The Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) program was created after the 2019–20 bushfires, and commits $541.8 million to bushfire affected areas in New South Wales. It is co-funded by the Commonwealth and NSW governments.

This audit assessed how effectively the Department of Regional NSW (the department) and Resilience NSW administered rounds one and two of the BLER program….

What we found

The Department of Regional NSW did not effectively administer the Fast-Tracked stream of the BLER.

The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency.

At the request of the Deputy Premier's office, a $1 million threshold was applied, below which projects were not approved for funding….

This threshold resulted in a number of shortlisted projects in areas highly impacted by the bushfires being excluded, including all shortlisted projects located in Labor Party-held electorates….. [my yellow highlighting]

The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 February 2023:

The Perrottet government has handed the corruption watchdog a copy of a scathing investigation which found an intervention by the office of the then-deputy premier John Barilaro diverted funding for a $100 million bushfire recovery program away from Labor-held electorates.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet provided the report exposing serious transparency failures to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday morning, sidestepping NSW Labor leader Chris Minns who had earlier threatened to do the same.

A damning report by the auditor-general released on Thursday revealed that instead of following guidelines, the office of the then-NSW Nationals leader devised their own rules to fast-track money to areas hit by the 2019 Black Summer catastrophe – a switch that meant 96 per cent of projects funded were in Coalition-held seats.

Minns issued the former deputy premier a 24-hour ultimatum to explain the reasons behind the 2021 decision or have the matter referred to ICAC by Labor. The Labor leader’s office was drafting a letter to the ICAC on Friday afternoon…..

Perrottet's latest political headache....

IMAGE: ABC News, 11 February 2023

Jean-Claude Perrottet and Charles Perrottet (pictured) were called to appear before NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment inquiry into "Allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region".

Allegations of impropriety centre around a June 2022 statement made under parliamentary privilege by another Liberal MLA, Ray Williams, that senior members of the party & state executive received payment from a property developer to facilitate the selection of Liberal candidates at the December 2022 local government election who if elected would hold a favourable view of his development applications.

 

However, along with senior office holder in NSW Liberal Party and lobbyist Christian Ellis, Councillor Virginia Ellis (Lib) and property developer Jean Nassif, the Perrottet brothers (both NSW Liberal Party members) have failed to indicate attendance at the inquiry or acknowledge official summons.

While former The Hills Shire councillor Alan Haselden (Lib) appears to have walked back his previously expressed concerns.

Chair of Portfolio Committee No. 7 stated in an official 11 February media release: "This appears to be a calculated and coordinated attempt to avoid scrutiny by the NSW Parliament. The committee is extremely concerned by this behaviour and calls on these individuals to cooperate with the inquiry."

As the Inquiry is due to report to the NSW Parliament no later than 2 March 2023, just 23 days before the state election, in my opinion there is a strong suspicion that any failure of these persons to give evidence would possibly be part of a deliberate effort to forestall that report to Parliament.

Not a good look for the Premier.

Show Us The Money, Perrottet!

 

Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us. Try to fool us a third time, then your vote count drops on Saturday 25 March 2023.

Clarence Valley Independent, 1 February 2023, excerpt:

The unveiling of the master plan for the $264 million redevelopment of Grafton Base Hospital (GBH) has been described by Des Harvey of the Grafton Base Hospital Community Committee (GBHCC) as a miniscule step forward.

“The Minister and others might think it’s a major step, but in our opinion, there is still no funding other than just a mention of funding,” he said.

“There is a promise of $263.8 million, but that has been around for too many years.

“We’ve also had a promise that construction will commence before March 2023, and we know that’s not going to happen.

“We’re still talking about planning.

“In my opinion, and that of many people I speak to in the community, the planning really was completed back in 2015, and that’s the reason that the government was able to come up with a figure of $263.8 million, so they knew specifically how many nails, screws and alike were involved in the job…..

 “But as far as I can see, there is no money in the budget for it, and until there is money in the budget, nothing happens,” he recalled.

Perrottet Coalition Government riding roughshod over local government in the Northern Rivers region - yet again

 

ABC News, 15 December 2022:

Byron Bay attracts tourists from across the world, but short-term holiday rentals have been blamed for exacerbating the housing crisis.(ABC News: Bridget Judd)

The Byron Shire Council has been blindsided by an 11th-hour decision by the NSW government which will stall controversial plans for a 90-day cap on short-term holiday letting in parts of the shire.

The state government announced yesterday it had instructed the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) to hold a public hearing on the issue.

The Byron Shire Council today voted in support of the policy after working on the proposal and consultation for three years.

However, the change will now need to be approved by the state government once it receives advice from the IPC.

Mayor Michael Lyon said it was a disappointing change of direction.

"In June we were told we were trusted with the ability to run a fair consultation," he said.

"That's the way it should be. Local government is the closest to its community and it should be trusted to make decisions which affect it."

The council hoped a 90-day cap would alleviate the area's housing crisis by encouraging property investors to place their vacant properties back in the long-term rental market.

Cr Lyon said he would try to remain positive and trust the IPC to look carefully at the very complex issue.

"This is a desperately needed reform for our community," he said.

"We've put our best step forward and just have to trust that the right decision will be made by that IPC."

'Sorry, game over'

Greens Ballina MP Tamara Smith made a scathing criticism of the state government's decision to intervene at the last minute.

"It is an absolute disrespect to our community after all we've gone through with the floods and the acute housing crisis," she said.

Ms Smith said the state government had caved to pressure from international corporations at the expense of local government and communities.

"Council has jumped through every hoop that the planning department has said they had to go through," she said.

"We're about to find out the result … and the minister has said, 'sorry, game over'."…..

Read the full article here.

Has Kyogle Council in Northern NSW become a creature of the timber industry?

In 2018 the NSW Dept. of Primary Industries produced a report that examined the NSW planning and regulatory instruments that interact with private native forestry (PNF) using the entire NSW north coast region as a case study -  from Gosford local government area to the NSW-Qld border - to which was added Tenterfield, Glen Innes Severn, Guyra, Armidale Dumaresq, Uralla, Walcha and Tamworth LGAs for good measure.

The report found planning constraints and exclusions applied to 734,992 ha, which equated to 25.6% of the total area of private native forest on the NSW north coast. In effect, these areas are acting as large-scale informal conservation reserves. With a total of 689,300 ha of that land requiring dual consent from the NSW Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and local councils before private forestry agreements could be applied to this land.

The report noted that: Private native forestry is prohibited by council LEPs on a further 6.5%3 (174,560 ha) of private native forest land. The balance of the private native forest estate (68.5%) has zoning that permits forestry without council consent.

It also found that: The Private Native Forestry Code of Practice for Northern NSW prohibits forest operations within any area identified as core koala habitat within the meaning of State Environment Planning Policy (SEPP) 44—Koala Habitat Protection (SEPP 44). Koalas are known to be present in low densities across all of the North coast’s 34 council areas. It identified SEPP 44 as an impediment with the potential to significantly reduce the availability of private timber resources.

The Berejiklian and Perrottet Coalition Governments, along with the NSW National Party and timber industry lobbyists, appear to have spent the years since 2018 attempting to dismantle protections on any and all land in private hands which has what is considered harvestable native timber stands. In this aim the state government has frequently been successful.

In 2022 they had an unexpected measure of success in the Kyogle local government area, which covers 3,589 square km and has a resident population of est. 9,359 people [ABS Census 2021].

Kyogle Koalas IMAGE: “KOALA COUNTRY” leaflet, September 2017

ABC News, 15 November 2022:

On the day the NSW government was forced into an embarrassing backdown over proposed changes to private native forestry approvals, a council on the state's north coast has voted to give up the powers at the centre of the controversy.

Kyogle Council voted to scrap the dual approval process for native forestry on private land, leaving approvals entirely in the hands of Local Land Services (LLS).

"We've got a history in Kyogle of a strong timber industry, and the fact that it is still functioning today is a testament to generations past and present and how well they're managing their land," Mayor Kylie Thomas said.

"Why would we get in the way of that?"…...

The meeting heard there were 133 private native forestry (PNF) plans in place across the Kyogle Shire which have been approved by the LLS but have not been put forward to the council.

A staff report said the council would struggle to approve any PNF plans, because it could not approve proposals that would have an adverse effect on the environment.

It argued that scrapping the dual-approval process would help address the regulatory stalemate.

The council's vote came on the same day the state government announced it would not proceed with contentious private native forestry legislation.

Under the current law, landholders need approval from both their local council and a state authority (LLS).

The bill would have removed the requirement to go to council, but it was abandoned after concerns were raised about its impact on koala habitat.

The Nationals member for Tweed, Geoff Provest, threatened to cross the floor on the issue.

"In my whole political life, I've never crossed the floor, so to speak, or voted against a government policy," he said.

"In this case I have a strong belief and I think I've got the support of my wider community that this is not good legislation."…….

Read the full article here. 

BACKGROUND

To those who worked behind the scenes, those who emailed, tweeted, agitated - I thank you for this and for 🐨
I note the battle to stop the Bill is won but the Minister continues to champion the policy so it is a reprieve not yet a win. But we getting there! https://t.co/3QHwYQDzJa

— Catherine Cusack (@katieqs) November 14, 2022

In its 14 November 2022 ordinary monthly meeting business paper Kyogle Council asserted that the local government area has the third highest amount of private native forest on the North Coast of NSW with approximately 160,000 hectares. It further stated that: As of 2022, Council records indicate that there are 146 current approved PNF plans in the Kyogle local government area covering 382 parcels of land. Local Land Services advises that over half of all forest under freehold title is subject to an approved PNF. A further 84 PNF plans covering 279 parcels of land have historically been approved, however, it is likely these approvals have expired.

Council officers have discussed the above issue with the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) with a view to finding a solution which ensures that duplication in regulatory processes is removed while ensuring that state and local government interests are protected.

DPE and Council officers agree that the best way forward is to amend the Kyogle LEP to make PNF permitted without consent on land zoned RU1 – Primary Production. This would enable any land owner who obtains an approved PNF Plan from LLS after the proposed amendment to the LEP takes effect, to proceed with PNF without obtaining development consent from Council. The cost to Council of implementing the withdrawal from the dual consent process is optimistically set by staff at $25,000.

IndyNR.com, 1 September 2022:

Logging at a property near the Border Ranges National Park was first noticed by a Kyogle Environment Group member on their way to the park.

Kyogle Council general manager Graham Kennett said the council received a complaint about the logging of native forest at a site along Forest Rd on July 25.

“Council officers inspected the site that day and immediately reported the matter to the Environmental Protection Authority and Local Land Services, who are the two state government agencies responsible for the regulation and approval of private native forests,” Mr Kennett said.

“Council also issued an emergency stop works order the following day.”

The property on Forest Rd is a short drive from the national park and 30km north of Kyogle.

The Kyogle Environment Group contacted Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin, Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders, State MP Janelle Saffin and MLC Sue Higginson as well as the EPA.

KEG secretary Sue Page received a letter about the logging from the EPA’s Carmen Dwyer.

The letter said the EPA had conducted two inspections at the property and identified alleged non-compliance issues.

“These matters are now subject to a formal investigation,” Ms Dwyer said.

Logging laws require landholders and contractors to comply with the Private Native Forestry Code of Practice.

“The EPA is currently investigating compliance issues at the property. Forestry operations have been suspended at the site following separate regulatory action instituted by Kyogle Council,” an EPA spokesperson said.

Neither council nor the EPA could give further details until the investigation is complete…….