Showing posts with label Northern Rivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northern Rivers. Show all posts

Tuesday 1 December 2020

Berejiklian Government still refusing to meet with Murwillumbah community to discuss forced school closures

 

Office of NSW Labor Member for Lismore, 27 November 2020:


PRUE CAR MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION

JANELLE SAFFIN MP
STATE MEMBER FOR LISMORE
 
JUSTINE ELLIOT MP
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR RICHMOND


 
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, JOHN BARILARO, AND SARAH MITCHELL MUST COME OUT OF HIDING ON FORCED SCHOOL CLOSURES

 
The Liberals and Nationals have refused to front up to the Murwillumbah community and halt their forced school closures.


Gladys Berejiklian, John Barilaro and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell have been in witness protection since their bombshell announcement to force four Murwillumbah schools to close in favour of an American-style mega-school.    


Shadow Education Minister Prue Car, Lismore MP Janelle Saffin and Richmond MP Justine Elliot are holding a community forum today to hear the concerns of local families and teachers.


The Liberals’ and Nationals’ forced closures of Murwillumbah Public School, Murwillumbah East Public School and Wollumbin High School will see the end of beloved community schools, with the replacement being an American-style mega-school at Murwillumbah High School.
 
The forced closure of Murwillumbah East Public School breaks a key election promise the Liberals and Nationals made to upgrade the school.
 
Ms Car said, “These forced school closures were approved in secret, with no community consultation, and now the Premier and Minister refuse to speak to the community.”


The Liberals and Nationals are refusing to ask North Coast families the most important question: do they want school closures in exchange for an American-style mega-school? They’re not asking the question because they know the answer would be no.


Unfortunately, the Liberals and Nationals are forcing these closures anyway because the views of local communities couldn’t matter less to them,” Ms Car said.


Ms Saffin said, “So far, the Government has not provided the community with a good reason for the closure, especially the educational advantage for the children, which lead people to think that it is about selling off this prime real estate land.”


Given the NSW Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell was less than truthful with the Murwillumbah East Public School community about restoration following the 2017 flood damage, it is hard to have faith in what the Government wants to do.”


The Minister signed off on this schools closure in February this year. There must be more documents that talk about the plan for the prime real estate land where these three schools slated for closure are located.”


I demand all papers to be released, as our community deserve to know the truth about all of this,” Ms Saffin said.


Ms Elliot said, “This is a bad decision by a bad government. These secret school closures are a shameful act by the Liberals and Nationals – they’re selling out our children and selling out our community”

 

The North Coast Nationals MPs have been plotting for months to forcibly close four local schools, cram students into one location and sell the other school sites. Our community wants the NSW Government to scrap this bad decision.”


Thursday 26 November 2020

KOALA FACING EXTINCTION IN NSW: “I live on NSW North Coast, and our whole community is in uproar and distress.”

 

No trees, no me
IMAGE: Koala at Iluka in Clarence Valley, supplied


The Sydney Morning Herald, opinion piece, 22 November 2020:


Sorry, what, Premier?


Our farmers deserve certainty,” you and your Deputy Premier John Barilaro said in statement after one of your own, Catherine Cusack, crossed the floor on Thursday afternoon to thwart what would have been yet more devastating land-clearing legislation hastening the extinction of koalas.


And what, pray tell, do our koalas deserve, Premier? Who speaks up for them? Premier, as you know better than most, for 240 years since colonisation this continent has wiped out habitat after habitat, eco-system after eco-system, species after species. In recent years – even as the consequences of environmental devastation have been realised – the ongoing land-clearing has been justified on the reckoning that we just need a few more developments, a few more swathes of trees gone, another election or two won, and then we can stop. But we are getting near the end of the line. If it is not our generation that stops the endless clearing to protect the koalas and other species, which generation is it? If it is not a Premier with your smarts and former reputation for integrity that will stand up for what you know is right, then which one? For you know how bad this legislation is! When two-thirds of NSW koalas live on private property, you seriously want to defend legislation that allows owners to wipe them out at will? But you still backed down anyway to John Barilaro who refers to koalas as “tree rats” and put out a press release with him blathering about how the farmers deserve better.


The hero of the piece is Lib Catherine Cusack who crossed the floor to stop the legislation, and she makes the point to me that you and yours do the NSW farmers a serious disservice.


The claim that farmers want this,” she told me, “is overwhelmingly false. They love koalas and do not defend the minority cowboys and corporations. I really believe farmers share community values and wielding them as an excuse defames farmers. I live on NSW North Coast, and our whole community is in uproar and distress. The councils up here asked for greater power to protect habitat and the bill removes them.”


That bill is a disgrace, and you know it, Premier. This time Ms Cusack has stopped it, but it needs more Libs and Nats of integrity to also speak out and say what needs to be said, to support her – or at least kill it off in the back rooms. We are looking at you, Rob Stokes and Matt Kean for starters.


Tuesday 24 November 2020

Erosion continues along Byron Bay coastline in 2020

 

Byron Bay storm erosion 31 July 2020 from BluecoastConsultingEngineers on Vimeo.


Echo NetDaily, 18 November 2020:


The state government is set to install sand bags at Clarkes Beach to protect the Beach Byron Bay cafe and Whites Cottage from the coastal erosion that has decimated the popular strip.


But it says the bags are just a temporary measure to give the building owners time to ‘reconfigure’ their premises, and that the cafe owner has been told to prepare for ‘future retreat’.


Management strategies were discussed at an urgent meeting held last month by the various state and local agencies who have responsibility for the Clarkes Beach area, including Council, Crown Lands and the Environment Department.


Clarkes has been severely affected by erosion over the past 12 to 18 months, with tonnes of sand stripped away exposing a rock shelf beneath. The beach is littered with uprooted pandanus trees, and the eroded dune line is now within metres of the Beach Byron Bay cafe.


There has also been further exposure of Aboriginal middens……


Representatives from a number of the agencies also expressed their views about the causes of the erosion; most were generally in agreement. This included an expert from the NSW Environment Department’s Sciences Group, who said the erosion was owing to a general reduction in the frequency of southerly swells, which played an important role in bringing sand to Clarkes Beach and Main Beach.


At the same time, there was an increase in the frequency of east and/or north east swells – patterns that have the effect of taking sand away from the beaches.


The net result over time is that the shoreline is undergoing a long-term trend of landward recession…’ the expert reportedly told the meeting.


Shoreline recession will also be influenced by sea level rise. An erosion period is occurring at the moment with no way to estimate when it will end. History tells us that the shorelines will eventually accrete [gather more sand]; however, when this will occur there is no way to know’.

[my yellow highlighting]


The Guardian, 20 October 2020:


Australia’s famous Byron Bay beach has been closed to swimmers and surfers as authorities carry out emergency sandbagging to prevent further damaging erosion.


Escalating erosion at Main Beach and Clarkes Beach in the northern New South Wales town has left a drop of several metres from the top of crumbling dunes down to the beach.


Max Pendergast, a 77-year-old local who has lived and surfed at Byron Bay his whole life, told Guardian Australia he had never seen the beaches in a worse condition.


I’ve been through quite a few big cyclones, I’ve seen the sea come over the six-metre high dunes, but what’s happening now is an etching away of the beach,” he said.


It looks pretty ugly right now, because a lot of the beach is just gone. It’s very bad.”


Pendergast said he noticed the beach deteriorate significantly over the past six months, and said he was concerned that if erosion continued waves would threaten units and the road along the beachfront.


Not that long ago it was beautiful white sand all the way down to the water, but now it’s just rock, it really has eaten it away......



Monday 16 November 2020

Meet the wannabe Koala killers of the Clarence Valley


Clarence Valley's very own wannabe koala killers. From left to right: Clarence Valley Mayor Jim Simmons, Federal Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan, General Manager of Operations for Big River Group in Grafton Jason Blanch, Big River Group CEO Jim Bindon and  NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis. IMAGE: Clarence Valley Independent, 11.11.20











Clarence Valley Independent, 11 November 2020:


A major restructure of Big River Group’s operations will see 20 new jobs created in the Grafton area while up to 50 will disappear from the Riverina region.


One of the Clarence Valley’s largest timber companies, Big River Group currently has two main operating facilities located in Junction Hill and Wagga Wagga.


Unfortunately, following the Black Summer bushfires, the long term supply of logs for their operations in southern NSW was severely impacted and it became apparent there was insufficient log resources in the Tumut region to sustain the Wagga Wagga facility, leading to a decision to consolidate operations at Junction Hill, where a sustainable supply of hardwood and softwood logs exist to supply productions.


Big River Group has recently been successful in securing a $10 million grant, provided through the Bushfire Industry Recovery Package, co-funded by the NSW and Federal Governments and matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the business, to assist in consolidating its operations and enhance the Junction Hill site.


Big River Group CEO Jim Bindon and General Manager of Operations for Big River Group in Grafton Jason Blanch were joined by Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan, Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis and Clarence Valley Mayor Jim Simmons for the official announcement on November 4.....


Mr Hogan said the announcement was “a wonderful day for the Clarence Valley and our timber industry.”


We know the industry was devastated by the bushfires last year and this is all about creating jobs in our local region and it ensures the viability of the industry,” he said.


Along with the capacity to create 20 new jobs, Mr Hogan also said the $20 million project secures the jobs of the current 60 full time employees.


This is terrific,” added Mr Gulaptis.


It means more jobs in the Clarence Valley and Big River Group can continue on with the great work that they do.


Grafton is a timber town, Big River Group have been here for decades, they’re an integral part of our community and we want to see them here well into the future.”…..


The Wagga Wagga facility will cease operations in 2021.


Big River Group Pty Ltd (formerly known as Big River Timbers Pty Ltd) was registered as a company on 28 July 1920.  It original company profile indicates it was possibly a local family-owned business. 


It is now a subsidiary of Big River Industries Ltd, registered as a company on 18 December 2015 in Victoria. It became a public company in January 2017.


Among the current Big River Industries and Big River Group officeholders there is only one who resides in the Clarence Valley.


What the Big River Industries tells its shareholders


"Big River operates Plywood and value adding factories at both Wagga Wagga and Grafton in NSW, areas amongst the most severely impacted regions of the devasting [sic] bushfires experienced over the 2019/20 summer period. Both areas saw significant losses of forest estates as part of these fire events. This has fundamentally changed the resource supply availability to the business, requiring a change to the Company’s manufacturing asset configuration. 


Whilst the Northern NSW log resource at Grafton, that the Company accesses under supply agreements with Forest Corporation of NSW (FCNSW), will recover or can be compensated from other forest compartments within the region." 


In ASX releases Big River Industries Limited admits to revenue of $249 million (up 14%) in 2019-20 and an after tax profit of $4,444,257. It also states an expectation in its last annual report that it will expand in the future.


In the aforementioned quote Big River Industries - which in this state sources some or most of its timber from the state-owned  Forestry Corporation of Australia - is admitting that forests in the Clarence Valley were "severely impacted" by the 2019-2020 bushfire season.


In fact at least half the forest canopy overall was partially or fully affected in New South Wales fire grounds according a NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment report.


Further Big River Industries hints it expects to take advantage of the additional biodiverse forests areas that were opened up by the Berejiklian Coalition Government for the benefit of its Forestry Corporation.


You know, those native tree stands, which coincide with forested land already identified as habitat suitable for or currently containing North Coast koala populations.


Big River Industries may only have two plywood production sites however one of these is at Grafton.


The principal plywood it makes includes timber from native hardwood trees and, the Clarence Valley contains the bulk of native hardwood timber trees remaining in North East New South Wales. These trees are frequently found in predictive koala habitat on Crown and private land.


According to its 2020 annual report Big River Industries has active business interests in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, West Australia and New Zealand.


Although its assets are widespread, the apparent greed of its board of directors and shareholders means that it will not even allow the Clarence Valley two years grace before it starts buying up timber freshly felled in sensitive, biodiverse habitats likely sited outside of state forests. 


Want to tell Big River how unimpressed you are with their actions? 


Here are some contact details: 

Jim Bindon (CEO and Managing Director) Ph: (02) 6644 0903 

e: jbindon@bigrivergroup.com.au 


Or directors Malcolm Jackman (Member of Anacasia Capital Business Advisory Council), Martin Kaplan (investment director of international private equity firm Anacasia Capital), Vicky Papachristos (professional company director) and Brendan York (Chief Financial Officer & Secretary, Enro Group Ltd a international company) c/- 61 Trenayr Road, Junction Hill NSW 2460 Phone: (02) 6644 0900 Fax: (02) 6643 3328 Postal: PO Box 281 Grafton 2460


Then of course there are the wannbe kola killers hiding within international and domestic financial corporations and banks as well as self-managed superannuation funds which brought Big River . 


 

Top 20 Shareholders as of 30 June 2019


The question some valley residents have been voicing recently is why NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis is enthusiastically supporting the Big River Group and, why on behalf of the timber industry he appears to be knowingly seeking the extinction of the koala in 

the Clarence Valley.


It seems to be a social and political relationship with another timber business which impels this politician.


The head of the Notaris family strongly disliked the idea that koala habitat 

should be protected from loggers and his family's sawmill. He even went so far as to publicly oppose a Labor candidate in the Clarence electorate and support the Nationals incumbent Chris Gulaptis during the 2015 

state election campaign because Labor had pledged to create the Great 

Koala National Park.


Chris Gulaptis read his friendship with Spiro Notaris into the NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard on 18 February 2016.


J. Notraris & Sons Pty Ltd is still operating a timber business specialising in hardwood in South Grafton today and, like most 

National Party politicians Gulaptis is more about helping out mates than acting in the public interest.





Lismore MP Janelle Saffin secures $1.14 million in extra bushfire support for Tenterfield and Kyogle businesses


Office of the NSW Labor Member for Lismore, media release,13 November 2020:


Janelle Saffin pays a visit to Kyogle RFS

LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin has reminded eligible small businesses in Tenterfield Shire and Kyogle Local Government Areas that they have one more month (until 15 December 2020) to apply for the $10,000 Bushfire Support Grant.



Ms Saffin said she was proud to have successfully lobbied for both LGAs to be included in the grant program, which had delivered $1.14 million in much-needed extra financial support to 114 local businesses in her electorate.



As of this week, 80 businesses from Tenterfield Shire had been approved for the $10,000 grant and 34 had been successful in securing the grant within Kyogle Council’s boundaries,” Ms Saffin said.



Service for Business (SfB) NSW tells me another nine applications are currently being assessed and that they welcome more applications from eligible businesses over the next month until the closing date of Tuesday, 15 December, 2020.



I want to commend SfB NSW staff on how they have supported eligible businesses on the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands, not only with this specific grant but on a range of COVID-19 assistance this year.



It is a shame that the NSW Government did not see fit to match its $45-million rescue package for NSW businesses impacted by the NSW-Victoria border closure because our local businesses south of the Queensland border have taken equally big hits while that closure was in force.



The NSW Government must ensure that it continues to provide support for small business as we head into 2021 because we still have a long and uncertain road to travel as we try to recover from this once-in-a-century pandemic.”



Ms Saffin said she was also supporting grant applications being lodged by communities in Drake and Woodenbong to establish bushfire evacuation centres, which, if successful, would build resilience in these bushfire-prone areas.



For more information about the NSW Government’s Small Business Bushfire Support Grant go to https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/campaign/business-support-bushfire-impacted-communities or if you’re not able to apply online, visit a Service NSW Centre.

 

Sunday 15 November 2020

NSW Forests War: State of Play November 2020


NSW Greens and a NSW Independent in the state parliament upper house placing the concerns of many ordinary people in regional New South Wales on the record.


Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 67—Thursday 12 November 2020, excerpt:


163. Remapping of old-growth and high-conservation-value public forests: resumption of the adjourned debate (8 August 2019) of the question on the motion of Mr Field:


(1) That this House notes that:


(a) the Government is planning to allow logging in thousands of hectares of old-growth and high-conservation-value public forests on the North Coast that have been off limits for decades,


(b) these forests are rare and important ecosystems which provide irreplaceable habitat for many threatened species, such as koalas, gliders, quolls, frogs and owls,


(c) they have been protected as part of the nationally agreed reserve system for decades and have been granted state significant heritage protection for their historical significance, including to Aboriginal people, aesthetic significance, research potential, rarity and valuable habitat,


(d) this process is being driven by a desire to access more timber, based on a Forestry Corporation calculation that new rules under the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (CIFOA) to protect koala habitat and threatened ecological communities could result in a small timber supply shortfall of up to 8,600 cubic metres per year,


(e) despite advice from the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) that this wood supply shortfall “represent[s] the worst case scenario and may never be realised”, the Premier requested the NRC consider remapping old growth forests and rainforests to meet this shortfall,


(f) a pilot study of 13 areas of state forest found that remapping could open up 78 per cent of protected old growth forest to logging, despite all sites having vitally important habitat,


(g) the Government has committed over $2 million to this remapping process, despite this cost far outweighing the $1.5 million value of buying back the contracts for the maximum claimed timber shortfall,


(h) the funding is being provided by the Government despite the NRC recommending that any remapping and rezoning should be paid for by Forestry Corporation as the beneficiary, and


(i) remapping on private land has already opened up over 29,000 hectares of previously protected old growth forests to logging in recent years.


(2) That this House agrees that remapping old growth forests:


(a) breaks the Government’s commitment to no erosion of environmental values under the new CIFOA,


(b) is based on timber supply impacts that are not verified and probably do not exist, and


(c) is a subsidy to logging which exceeds the value of the extra wood supply.


(3) That this House call on the Government to:


(a) end the remapping and rezoning of old-growth and rainforest on public and private land,


(b) ensure no areas of forest currently protected will be opened up to logging, and


(c) conserve native forests to protect biodiversity, store carbon and provide new tourism and recreational opportunities—Mrs Maclaren-Jones. (15 minutes)


Debate: 1 hour and 45 minutes remaining.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


749. Ms Faehrmann to move—


(1) That this House notes that:


(a) the National Party has threatened to blow up the government in the midst of bushfire recovery, the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis over the new Koala State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) that aims to strengthen protections for koala habitat,


(b) the new Koala SEPP will have little impact on the majority of farmers across the state as it is only triggered at the point of development consent, and


(c) since the 2011 state election the NSW National Party has had ministerial responsibility for water, agriculture and regional New South Wales which has resulted in:


(i) a dramatic increase in the clearing of native vegetation and threatened species habitat with the winding back of native vegetation laws,


(ii) increased logging of koala habitat after the 2019-2020 bushfire season which saw 24 per cent of koala habitat on public land severely impacted and up to 81 per cent of koala habitat burnt in some parts of the state,


(iii) the gross mismanagement of the Murray Darling Basin including selling out downstream communities on the Lower Darling by over-allocating water to their corporate irrigator donors turning a blind eye to ongoing water theft in the Northern Basin including and pushing the Barwon-Darling River system into hydrological drought three years early,


(iv) incompetent management of regional town water supplies that saw multiple regional centres coming close to day zero, in some cases having to rely on bottled water, over the summer of 2019-2020.


(2) That this House acknowledges that the NSW National Party cannot be trusted to manage our land, water and environment and calls on the Government to strip them of their portfolio responsibilities and end their coalition agreement.


(Notice given 15 September 2020—expires Notice Paper No. 73)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


BACKGROUND


The O’Farrell Coalition Government corporatized state-owned Forests NSW on 1 January 2013 and renamed the organisation Forestry Corporation of NSW. The company is headquartered at West Pennant Hills in metropolitan Sydney, New South Wales.


It is one of the largest forestry companies in Australia today and produces around 14 per cent of the timber harvested in Australia.


This corporation manages est. 2 million hectares of state forests, along with around 200,000 hectares of softwood plantations and 35,000 hectares of eucalypt plantations.


Est. 30,00 hectares of state forest are harvested for timber each year by more than 100 contractors who undertake harvesting and haulage and other aspects of its operations on behalf of the Forestry Corporation.


The combined take from state forests and plantations is around 50 million tonnes of timber annually.


Nominally all individuals and groups in the state are considered potential stakeholders in the Forestry Corporation of NSW. Except that all regional residents get for being stakeholders is an ongoing loss of both wildlife habitat and forest trees in the districts in which the Corporation operates.


The Corporation’s native timber harvesting is focussed on north east NSW and it is looking to forestry plans on private land and logging in currently protected forest areas to supply it with native timber into the future.


In October 2020 the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) commenced five prosecutions against Forestry Corporation of NSW in the Land and Environment Court for allegedly felling trees in protected areas in northern NSW, including trees in core koala habitat in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest.


This is not the first time the Forestry Corporation has been caught allegedly breaching the terms of its licence and I suspect it will not be the last.


Commercial logging is not the only issue of concern. So is land clearing generally.


According to the NSW Valuer-General’s Office, on 1 July 2019 there were 2,603,793 individual property lots in New South Wales.


Of these 238,842 are private properties zoned rural and classified as either non-urban, primary production, rural landscape or rural small holdings.


The NSW North Coast contains 56,095 or 23.4% of all these private rural property lots, the North-West contains 14,143 lots, Northern Tablelands 11,864, Murray 10,353, Hunter 15,950, Hunter Coast 6,357, Central West 20,688, Central Tablelands 18,972, Riverina 17,924, South Coast 18,974, South East Regional 20,164, Sydney Central 3, Sydney Coast South 11, and Sydney Coast North 1,208. 


Currently owners of those private rural properties which are situated near bushland in 10/50 Entitlement Clearing Areas have an almost unfettered right to clear trees within 10 metres of their house and farm sheds, as well as underlying vegetation under trees for a further 50 metres, as a bushfire protection measure.


However, in addition to this proven effective bushfire measure, now the Berejiklian Government is also progressing another amendment introduced to the Legislative Assembly on 10 November 2020 - this time an amendment to the Rural Fires Act 1979 titled Bushfires Legislation Amendment Bill 2020.


This amendment if passed will allow the owners of all 238,842 of these private rural properties in New South Wales to clear trees and vegetation within 25 metres of a property’s boundary with adjoining land and, lays down processes so that these landowners can ensure their immediate neighbours do the same - thus making the land clearance in effect 50 metres wide.


A specific measure that does not appear to be included in recommendations found in the Final Report of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry dated 31 July 2020.


A potential 50 metre open space on all four sides of up to 56,095 private rural properties on the NSW North Coast from the Mid-Coast to the Queensland border represents a significant tree cover and habitat loss.


Of course after 232 years of land clearing this degree of native vegetation clearing is no longer required on a great many properties because barely a tree stand survives in some districts.


This is an aerial view of a section of the Moree Plains showing its typical landscape in 2020:




According to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, by mid 2018 bulldozing of bushland nearly tripled around Moree and Collarenebri after safeguards which existed in Native Vegetation Act 2003 were repealed by the NSW Baird Coalition Government, with 5,246 ha of Koala habitat destroyed at a rate of 14 ha per day in 2017-18.


Moree has a history of opposition to any checks on the ability to clear land. In 2014 this sadly led to the killing of an Office of Environment and Heritage compliance officer and the later conviction of a prominent landowner for murder with a sentence of 35 years imprisonment.


The Guardian, 27 March 2020:


Land-clearing approvals in New South Wales have increased nearly 13-fold since the Coalition government relaxed laws in 2016, according to a secret report to the state cabinet by its Natural Resources Commission.


The report, marked “Cabinet in Confidence”, was commissioned by the government in January 2019 under an agreement between the Liberals and Nationals to review land clearing if applications exceeded 20,000ha a year. The commission handed it to the government in July, but released it only after the Independent MP Justin Field threatened legal action…..


The commission found more than 37,000ha were approved to be cleared last financial year, almost 13 times greater than the annual average rate across the decade to 2016-17. Approvals jumped more than 70% after the rules covering land clearing changed at the start of 2019, rising from 25,247ha in the final quarter of 2018 to 43,553ha in the first three months of the new year. 


The commission found the extent of the land clearing and what is described as “thinning for pasture expansion” was putting the state’s biodiversity at risk. The government had promised to protect between two and four times as much land as it cleared, but had failed to do that in the majority of the state. 


It also highlighted the lack of an effective monitoring and compliance regime to ensure laws were enforced. In a six-month stretch between August 2017 and January 2018 there was 7,100ha of unexplained land clearing. It was 60% of the clearing in that time.... 


The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said the report showed the National party was incompetent. Its chief executive, Chris Gambian, said it was a damning assessment of how the government had handled what was supposed to be a signature reform. 


“This report is alarming because land clearing is a key threat pushing most of the state’s threatened species towards extinction,” he said. 


“Koalas and other vulnerable species are being smashed from every direction, by bushfires, drought, logging and land clearing. Land clearing is one of the few threats we can tackle directly, but the National party is preventing this government from doing what is needed.” 


Gambian called on the government to release regulatory maps that were still not available two years after promised.....


Wednesday 4 November 2020

Round Two of the accelerated Fixing Local Roads program is now open and hopefully all Northern Rivers local councils from Clarence to the Tweed will be successful in their applications

 

From the Office of Labor MP for Lismore, media release, 3 November 2020:


Lismore MP Janelle Saffin is urging the four local councils in her Electorate of Lismore to put forward shovel-ready projects for Round 2 of the accelerated Fixing Local Roads program which opened yesterday (2 November 2020).



Ms Saffin she hoped Lismore City, Kyogle, Tenterfield and Tweed shires would secure their fair share of an additional $136.4 million in funding which would be injected into regional New South Wales to generate more jobs and stimulate local economies.


Local councils currently do the heavy lifting because they are responsible for maintaining over 85 per cent of the total 180,000-kilometre-long road network in New South Wales, including local roads (about 80 per cent of that network) and regional roads,” Ms Saffin said.



There is no doubt that we need better and safer roads right across the Electorate of Lismore and our local communities also need extra help to recover from the economic impacts of drought, bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.



Fixing Local Roads is a grant-based program, where local councils can apply for funding to repair, patch, maintain and seal priority local council roads.



Applications can be made for a 100 per cent contribution from the NSW Government for specific works but councils are encouraged to co-contribute with funds or in-kind contributions.



Applications for Round 2 of the Australian Government-NSW Government program remain open until Friday, 4 December 2020.



Shovel-ready projects will need to start this financial year and be delivered within two years, according the program’s updated guidelines.”



The Australian Government committed $191 million in June this year to build on the NSW Government’s $500-million program over five years.



Guidelines and a factsheet for Round 2 of the Fixing Local Roads Program can be found here www.rms.nsw.gov.au/fixinglocalroads



List of 93 eligible regional councils can be found at https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/business-industry/partners-and-suppliers/lgr/grant-programs/fixing-local-roads-eligibility-list.pdf.



Funding eligibility guidelines are at https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/business-industry/partners-and-suppliers/lgr/grant-programs/fixing-local-roads-program-guidelines.pdf.