The NSW Minns Government gave big property developers & land speculators an incredible Christmas present on 20 December 2024 which they get to unwrap today, 8 January 2025

 

Both Houses of the NSW Parliament effectively went into end of year recess on 22 November 2024, with only five days of supplementary budget estimates hearings remaining between 2 to 6 December 2025 before the chamber doors closed until 11 February 2025 when both Houses begin the 2025 parliamentary calendar year.

The NSW Minns Labor Government waited until Friday 20 December 2024 to announce on its Inside State Government website that it had formally established the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA).

The three-person HDA decision makers were revealed to be senior public servants the Secretary of the Premier’s Department Simon Draper, the Secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Kiersten Fishburn and the Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure NSW, Tom Gellibrand. Although the HDA is nominally responsible to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, these decision makers have been handed what appears to be almost unfettered power to accede to property developers' board and shareholder desire for corporate & personal enrichment commencing from today, Thursday 8 January 2025, when developers can begin to submit Expression of Interest to the HDA for major housing developments above approximately $60 million in Greater Sydney and $30 million in regional NSW.

The HDA intends to meet monthly to consider proposals against the EOI criteria and make recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces on whether to declare these proposals as State Significant Development.

The HDA has been created to give property developers a way to bypass local government councils & regional planning panels, as is clearly stated in the state government's media release:

Proponents can still choose to follow the existing regionally significant development pathway assessed by councils and determined by planning panels, but the establishment of the HDA and the new SSD pathway will give them another option for major residential developments.

On 20 December the Dept. of Planning also published the Housing Delivery Authority SSD criteria, which stated in part that the HDA will apply flexibility in their evaluation of proposals against the criteria with preference being given to projects which meet the criteria and could commence construction quickly.

What could possibly go wrong?

Local Government NSW (LGNSW), media release, 20 December 2024:

New year, new rules: government sides with developers over local voices

Today's confirmation of eligibility criteria for the State Government’s new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) has generously presented developers with the freedom to exceed development standards by up to 20 per cent, giving greater opportunities for profit-driven land banking, and no mandated requirement to meaningfully provide affordable housing. [my yellow highlighting]

Local Government NSW (LGNSW) – the peak body for NSW councils – says the HDA will further weaken the role of community-led strategic planning while doing nothing to address real barriers to housing delivery such as land banking, skills and labour shortages and soaring costs of materials and labour.

LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said today's announcement would be viewed by developers as an early Christmas present.

“Far from the season of giving, these planning changes will leave local communities empty-handed while big developers celebrate,” Cr Turley said.

“Until now, details of the HDA have been limited, but the NSW Government has confirmed today that it's basically handing the keys to planning rules over to developers, while local communities will be sidelined in decisions about what happens in their towns and suburbs.

“The new three-person HDA will be receiving EOIs from large developers and recommending these bypass councils and instead progress through state assessment and Ministerial determination."

Cr Turley said that while councils across the state supported efforts to accelerate housing delivery, they opposed the move to establish this new planning body and state-assessed planning pathway.

“This is not only because of the concern about bypassing local councils, but fundamentally, but also because it opens the planning system to more ad hoc proposals, disregarding local strategic plans and risks adding more uncertainty to the planning system,” Cr Turley said.

“The NSW Government is continually shifting the planning goalposts for communities and developers. Developers now know that if they continue to delay construction on already approved sites, they only have to wait for the next rule change when they’ll be able to generate even greater profits.

“Councils acknowledge the need for new and more diverse housing in well-located areas across NSW, but maintaining strategic, evidence-based planning and doing this in a collaborative way, is critical.

“Unfortunately for the NSW community, there is no requirement that developers who receive approval under this pathway must actually deliver the promised dwellings – just that they must demonstrate a capability to do so.

“There is nothing in the planning system to compel them to build. This toothless aspiration opens the planning system to more land banking by developers in search of even greater profits.

“And despite this new planning pathway allowing proposals to exceed development standards by up to 20 per cent there is no clear mandate for a meaningful contribution to affordable housing, nor that any affordable housing will remain in perpetuity.

“Rather than the vague requirement for a ‘positive commitment to affordable housing’, the requirements should clearly mandate what is required at the outset, to allow developers to factor this into their EOI for this pathway."

Cr Turley called for Minister Scully to consider targeted collaboration, rather than blanket policy that bypasses councils.

“When first announced last month, councils resolved to condemn this new spot-rezoning and State approval pathway, which will deliver windfall gains for developers while removing safeguards that protect communities from inappropriate overdevelopment,” Cr Turley said.

“Rather than layering another blanket, statewide policy on the planning system, efforts to improve approval pathways for housing would be more effective if they focused attention and support where it is needed to overcome specific issues and to reach jointly agreed planning outcomes with councils for their communities.

“Any accelerated process must not compromise infrastructure provision, build quality, environmental considerations, public safety, liveability and other planning outcomes.”

NOTE

LGNSW, media release, 23 December 2924, excerpt:

Cr Turley is an elected member of Broken Hill City Council which, at its November meeting, resolved to resign from LGNSW – the peak body for local government across the state.

Despite being democratically elected by members as President in December 2021 and again in November 2023, Cr Turley is no longer eligible to hold office as her council no longer forms part of the membership of the peak body.

In accordance with the Rules for LGNSW, the remaining 11 months of her term will now be served by the current Vice-President (Rural/Regional) , who is Mayor Phyllis Miller from Forbes Shire Council. Mayor Miller will serve until the next scheduled general election due to take place at the LGNSW Annual Conference in November 2025.

Scott Morrison & his fellow Robodebt cronies have one less place left to hide with the FOI release of Cabinet papers being posted on the Internet last week

 

On 7 June 2024 The Guardian ran the following article:

The federal court has ruled against a decision blocking access to early robodebt documents drafted under the former Coalition government, as part of one man’s long-running fight to shed light on the scheme’s origins.

Justices Geoffrey Kennett, Anna Katzmann and Shaun McElwaine ruled that a December 2022 decision made by the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) to keep some robodebt documents exempt, including draft costings and new policy proposals, should be set aside due to procedural unfairness and because the AAT had incorrectly agreed with the cabinet confidentiality exemptions Services Australia applied.

The documents could add more details to the public record about what the former prime minister Scott Morrison – who was then responsible for the social services portfolio – and other senior ministers, including Christian Porter, Alan Tudge and Marise Payne, were privy to in the scheme’s initial stages.

The man seeking the key robodebt documents, IT expert Justin Warren, first made the freedom of information request to the then Department of Human Services, now named Services Australia, in January 2017. The department identified 13 documents, totalling 287 pages, but refused him access on the basis they were cabinet documents and related to the agency’s investigation methods.

The original FOI application was submitted on 14 January 2024 and Services Australia dug in.

What started as formal consideration by the Australian Information Commissioner (2018-2023) morphed into Administrative Appeals Tribunal rulings (2022-23) and ended before the full bench of the Australian Federal Court Warren v Chief Executive Officer, Services Australia [2024] FCAFC 73, where the decision of the Tribunal having been set aside, the matter was remitted to the Tribunal for rehearing and determination according to law.

On 25 October 2024 political activist Asher Wolf posted a 26 page copy of FOI documents received by Justin Warren at the end of that seven-year & five month battle of wills.

These can be found, read and downloaded at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d21K_oEaGbaNNWlfsuY2_t5X8wViG8CD/view

Ms. Wolf reminded us that during the term of the Turnbull & Morrison federal governments that "The government estimated $763 million in net savings from Robodebt over four years. It ended up *costing* $3 billion dollars"

Scott John Morrison, that disgraced former federal minister for social services, treasurer and later Australian prime minister, first sanctioned by Parliament, then effectively sacked by the national electorate before being subpoenaed to appear before the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, has lost another hiding place with the release of these Cabinet papers.

Coalition parties & aged care industry unhappy with federal government proposal to make care providers criminally responsible for abuse and neglect of vulnerable older Australians in their care

 

In 2018 the Morrison Government established the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

The Royal Commission's Final Report was delivered to the Federal on 1 March 2021. The Summary contained in Volume 1 of the report stated in part;

Over the course of 2019, we heard from many people about substandard care—those who experienced it, family members or loved ones who witnessed it or heard about it, aged care workers, service providers, peak bodies, advocates and experts. We heard about substandard care during hearings and community forums. We also were informed about it in public submissions. Substandard care and abuse pervades the Australian aged care system.

The accounts of substandard care were always sad and confronting. They were no doubt difficult to tell, and very difficult to hear and read. We acknowledge the courage people have shown in sharing their experiences with us. Their contributions have been essential to our inquiry and we are grateful.....

The abuse of older people in residential care is far from uncommon. In 2019–20, residential aged care services reported 5718 allegations of assault under the mandatory reporting requirements of the Aged Care Act. A study conducted by consultancy firm KPMG for the Australian Department of Health estimated that, in the same year, a further 27,000 to 39,000 alleged assaults occurred that were exempt from mandatory reporting because they were resident-on-resident incidents. In our inquiry, we heard of physical and sexual abuse that occurred at the hands of staff members, and of situations in which residential aged care providers did not protect residents from abuse by other residents. This is a disgrace and should be a source of national shame. Older people receiving aged care should be safe and free from abuse at all times......

Commissioner Briggs attached 148 specific recommendations to her final report and it is unclear exactly how many have been acted on to date, apart from the initial response found in the Aged Care and other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Act 2021 and the subsequent Albanese Government's Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022.

So it should come probably come as no surprise that disturbing media reports were still surfacing in 2023.

May 2023 - a NSW police officer deliberately tasered a 92 year-old woman on a walking frame at the nursing home of which she was a resident. She died of her injuries.

July 2023 - an 89 year-old woman was allegedly bashed to death inside a Sydney nursing home room by a fellow dementia patient with his walking frame. She died of her injuries.

Nov 2023 - A woman in her 90s died in hospital after allegedly being sexually assaulted by an intruder in a nursing home on the New South Wales Central Coast.

Dec 2023 - A woman in her 70s was sexually assaulted in her room at an aged care facility on NSW north coast.

By 13 February 2024 The Guardian was reporting:

More than 1,000 cases of neglect are being reported in residential aged care homes each month, prompting a warning from the sector’s regulator.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) has flagged “a concerning spike” in neglect cases over the past 12 months and raised concerns about inadequate care standards.

So it was a relief when on 3 April 2024 the Albanese Government announced in a media release that it will:

• Introduce criminal penalties – including jail time - for dodgy aged care providers who seriously and repeatedly facilitate or cover up abuse and neglect of older Australians, and who deliberately breach the general duty of care they owe to their residents.

• Introduce a new duty of care, owed by providers, to recipients of aged care services, including a compensation regime when the duty is breached. This will create a path for class actions against dodgy providers.

• Create a new aged care complaints commissioner, to ensure complaints against providers are properly and thoroughly dealt with.

• Introduce new civil penalties for aged care providers who punish aged care workers, residents and families in retaliation for complaints.

• Give stronger investigative powers to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, including powers to enter and remain in an aged care facility at any time to ensure the safety of residents, as well as full access to documents and records.

• Introduce measures to ensure the 215 minutes of care and nursing that Labor has pledged per resident per day is actually spent on care and clinical support - not on marketing, administration, maintenance or other activities that are not direct care.

• Require providers to publicly report on the expenditure of residents’ and taxpayers’ money – including a breakdown of money spent on caring, nursing, food, maintenance, cleaning, administration, and profits....

These measures implement and build on the Royal Commission recommendation to establish a General Duty of Care for aged care – which will set minimum standards to protect residents and workers....

However, it seems that the Albanese Government's plans to reform the dysfunctional aged care system have met with political headwinds.....

The Saturday Paper, 13 July 2024, "Criminal penalties proposed for aged care bosses", excerpt:

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) – instigated after the royal commission to track and reduce the frequency of major incidents, including unreasonable use of force, neglect, psychological and emotional abuse, unlawful or inappropriate sexual conduct, stealing or financial coercion, inappropriate use of restrictive practices and unexpected death – came into force in April 2021 in residential settings. In December 2022 it was added for home care. This scheme, which asks providers to self-report serious incidents, has shown concerning levels of delusion and dishonesty among providers.

In the most recent SIRS figures, providers self-assessed that of the 2257 incidents of unlawful or inappropriate sexual contact in Australian nursing homes from April 2022 to March 2023, 95 per cent of residents affected had experienced no or only minor psychological impacts. Put another way, providers reported that only 5 per cent of aged-care residents who experienced serious and unlawful sexual contact or conduct have had major psychological impacts afterwards.

In the same report, providers self-assessed that of the 28,890 incidents of unreasonable use of force in the same year, 98 per cent of residents had no or minor psychological impact and 92 per cent had no or only minor physical impact. In the scheme’s first six months of operation, 75 per cent of the nation’s home-care providers had not reported a single serious incident of any kind to the aged-care regulator.

These figures reveal a sector that is still fundamentally in denial about its own performance and the effects of abuse and neglect on older Australians in its care.

Now, as the federal government attempts to muster bipartisan support for its new act, the aged-care lobby is circling its wagons again, this time to fiercely oppose the government’s proposed imposition of a statutory duty of care on aged-care providers and responsible persons that could result in civil and criminal penalties, including potential jail time in especially egregious cases.....

Nonetheless, providers, peak bodies, the Australian Institute for Company Directors and shadow minister for aged care Anne Ruston have all come out swinging at the proposed introduction of criminal penalties. 

They claim the penalties will lead to vast increases in insurances for directors, are unnecessarily punitive and will discourage good people from working in the aged-care sector. This is a bit like arguing we shouldn’t have child-abuse laws or require police checks to work with children as that might stop good people from opening kindergartens.

The extraordinary optics of arguing against criminal penalties – even in cases where there is no reasonable excuse for failures of care that have led to death or serious injury – seems to be lost on providers and the federal opposition.

Assistant Minister for Social Services, Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence & Labor MP for Richmond Justine Elliot announces 26 Safe Places will be provided in Tweed Shire

 

Assistant Minister for Social Services Assistant, Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence & Labor MP for Richmond Justine Elliot has announced that the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program will provide 26 Tweed Safe Places in Tweed Shire.

This emergency accommodation for women is part of the Albanese Labor Government commitment of $100 million over five years up to 2026-27 to continue the Safe Places program through the Safe Places Inclusion Round begun in 2023.

This initiative is part of the Government’s investment in women’s safety and the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.

More emergency accommodation and support for women and childrenexperiencing family and domestic violence

9 July 2024

Joint with:

The Hon Amanda Rishworth MP

Minister for Social Services

Member for Kingston

The Hon Justine Elliot MP

Assistant Minister for Social Services

Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence

Member for Richmond

The Albanese Labor Government is committed to improving accessibility and availability of emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence.

Under the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Inclusion Round, 19 new projects will be funded to deliver around 720 new safe places across Australia over the next three years, as a result of successful grant applications.

The Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program provides a capital investment to fund the building, renovation or purchase of emergency accommodation to support women and children in circumstances, where staying safely at home is not possible.

Around 4200 women and children are currently supported each year by Safe Places sites with temporary housing, and also case management and additional supports while accessing the services.

The Safe Places Inclusion Round supports the Government’s program of reform to improve women’s safety under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.

Any women and children experiencing violence, regardless of background, will be able to access the new emergency accommodation. However, the projects will have a focus on improving inclusion and access for First Nations women and children, women and children from CALD backgrounds and women and children with disability.

This will be achieved through dwelling design and/or other specialised, accessible and culturally safe supports. The grant round also prioritised projects in locations with high unmet demand to help ensure victim-survivors can access emergency accommodation where and when they need it.

Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth said ensuring women and children have safe, secure emergency accommodation to turn to is vital when experiencing family and domestic violence.

“Family and domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness and housing uncertainty for women and children across Australia, and we know there is an increased demand for emergency accommodation,” Minister Rishworth said.

“We are funding the delivery of around 720 new safe places, which will bring the total number of emergency accommodation places delivered under the Safe Places Program across Australia to around 1500 once projects are completed.

“The new projects will have a focus on improving inclusion and access to support for First Nations women and children, women and children with disability, and women and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, who we know can face unique challenges and barriers to accessing support when experiencing violence.”

Projects will be funded in each state and territory and were selected for funding through an open competitive grant round. All projects are expected to be complete and delivering services by June 2027.

Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Justine Elliot said it was important anyone experiencing or fleeing domestic violence had a safe place to go.

“Anyone experiencing family or domestic violence should have access to a safe place, where they can connect with specialised services and supports that effectively meet their needs,” Assistant Minister Elliot said.

“Along with states and territories we are committed to ending violence against women and children in one generation through our investments under the National Plan and this investment will help to progress this goal.”

For more information on the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program visit the Department of Social Services website.

If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, chat online via www.1800RESPECT.org.au, or text 0458 737 732.

Feeling worried or no good? No shame, no judgement, safe place to yarn. Speak to a 13YARN Crisis Supporter, call 13 92 76. This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you are concerned about your behaviour or use of violence, you can contact the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491 or visit www.ntv.org.au.

NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos has written to 128 councils urging those who use ticketless parking fines to address shortcoming in their approach. Requests councils to provide an on the spot, written notification to drivers

 

9 News, 11 March 2024

ECHO, 11 March 2024:

The days of receiving ticketless council parking fines in NSW are to end thanks to new directions from the Labor state government.

Half of all fines processed by Revenue NSW are reportedly council parking fines, with 48 councils issuing ticketless fines including the Tweed, Ballina and Lismore local government areas (LGAs).

Some councils have abandoned the use of on-the-spot paper fines altogether.

The former coalition state government introduced the ticketless scheme as a trial in May 2020 before expanding it to more councils in December 2020.

Local governments included in the scheme can lodge parking infringements directly with Revenue NSW, along with photographic evidence, rather than by leaving a ticket on the offending car.

Drivers are in most cases unaware they’ve received a fine until it arrives by mail or the Service NSW app.

NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos says the scheme has eroded trust in the state’s parking fine system.

Minister pushes for photographic evidence in parking fines

The minister on Sunday issued a media release saying she’d written to all 128 councils across the state asking them to return to the practice of issuing on-the-spot written notifications, such as small pre-printed cards left on the windscreen.

While leaving a note isn’t mandatory under state regulations, the minister says drivers who know they’ve been booked may want to collect evidence such as photos and details of where they parked in case they want to seek a review.

‘This note does not necessarily need to form part of the infringement notice but at a minimum it should inform the driver they will soon receive an infringement notice via post or the Service NSW app,’ Ms Houssos wrote in her letter, included in Sunday’s media release.

The minister also requested councils using ticketless fines to review processes to make sure photographic evidence is captured and sent to Revenue NSW.

Lismore council issues nearly $130K in ticketless parking fines

Concerns were also raised about the timeliness of notifications to drivers, with some people said to have received multiple ticketless fines before being told.

The scheme is further accused of having a reduced impact in terms of immediate parking offence deterrence and driver behaviour influence.

On the Northern Rivers, the Lismore City Council is recorded as issuing the most ticketless parking fines in 2023 at 898, followed by the Ballina Shire Council at 473 and the Tweed Shire Council at two.

Ticketless fines in the Lismore LGA were valued at more than $127,000.

The local figures paled in comparison to some metropolitan councils, where fines in the tens of thousands were recorded.

The North Sydney Council issued 52,251 ticketless fines, for example.

The Byron Shire Council wasn’t included in the list.....

NSW Government, Minister for Finance, 10 March 2024 media release at:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/ticketless-parking-fines-must-meet-community-expectations

Less than a year into its first term in office is the NSW Minns Labor Government shaping up to be just another environmental vandal?

In late December 2023 two matters were obvious. Firstly, even a cursory look at Forestry Corporation of NSW's collection of penalty notices, warnings and secondly adverse judgments indicated the list was growing longer [see Background] and secondly, its corporate business losses remained a drain on the NSW state treasury with annual financial statement showing est. $15 million loss on native hardwood timber operations in 2022-23, following est. $9 million loss in 2021-22 and est. &19.1 million loss in 2020-21 [based on Forestry NSW annual reports].

Something had to give and the NSW Government has obviously decided it wasn't going to be the logging practices of Forestry NSW.

I rather suspect (bearing in mind Coastal IFOA conditions can only be amended jointly by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Agriculture) that both the Premier and the timber industry may have decided that the current Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW was the politician to target - 2023 being her first time in any ministerial position and her previous five shadow portfolios since May 2019 having nothing to do with either agriculture or forestry and little to do with regional NSW.

In the second half of 2023 this minister was directly involved in nine meeting concerning "forestry matters".

• MEETING NUMBER ONE 20.07.23: Minister Moriaty & Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, University of Melbourne Business School, Australian Workers’ Union, CFMEU Manufacturing Division, Treasurer Mookhey, [Environment] Minister Sharpe re "Forestry matters".

After that in no particular occurrence order, meeting parties were:

• Minister Moriaty & CFMEU;

• Minister Moriaty & ForestWorks;

• Minister Moriaty & Australian Forest Products Association;

• Minister Moriaty & M&M Timbers, Greensill Bros, Mark Banasiak MLC [Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party];

• Minister Moriaty & Australian Forest Products Association, The Pentarch Group;

• Minister Moriaty & E Fitzpatrick & T Lions, Fitzpatrick and Co, Client – Timber NSW;

• Minister Moriaty & Pentarch Group, Dr Michael Holland MP [ALP]

• Minister Moriaty & South Coast Timbers, Dr Michael Holland MP [ALP].

Whereas the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage's meeting schedule for the same period shows a more limited interest in forestry issues and one suspects that she may have passed the buck after that 20 July 2023 meeting.

• MEETING NUMBER ONE 20.07.2023: Joint meeting Minister Sharpe & Moriarty, Mookhey with Australian Climate & Biodiversity Foundation, Uni Melb Business School, AWU, CFMEU re "Forestry industry reform".

• Minister Sharpe & North East Forest Alliance re Forestry & GKNP;

• Minister Sharpe & Hurford Group - re Private Forestry.

This ministerial sharing arrangement appears to indicate the city-centric Minns Labor Government is holding fast to the fallacies surrounding its native timber industry as Forestry Corporation NSW losses mount and the timber industry lobby groups become a persistent earworm.

It is noted that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the NSW Government Planning and Environment Cluster sitting in the portfolio of the Minister for Environment and Heritage, did not have a seat at the table during any of these meetings and yet it appears to have been the vehicle used to introduce further reductions in levels of protection for native wildlife in state forests.

Sadly, the following media releases demonstrate why and how, what native hardwood forests remain within state forests are about to become the government-endorsed playground of an out-of-control Forestry Corporation NSW.

NSW EPA, media release, 2 February 2024:

New protections for endangered southern greater gliders

02 February 2024

Endangered Southern Greater Gliders across the east coast of NSW will be better protected under NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) amendments to forestry rules that will protect more hollow-bearing trees in operations where gliders are present.

From 9 February, changes to the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA) protocols will come into effect, requiring Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) to meet new protection requirements for southern greater gliders.

EPA Chief Executive Officer, Tony Chappel said the change was a significant step-forward in the long-term protection of gliders as well as other native animals reliant on hollow-bearing trees such as possums, owls and parrots.

“This change means that instead of depending on unreliable point in time surveys to find the habitat of the gliders, we will assume the species is present and conserve their habitat,” Mr Chappel said.

“This ensures the critical habitats of some of our most endangered and much-loved native animals are protected.

“We have reviewed extensive research, sought expert views and believe this change strikes the right balance, resulting in significant ecological and regulatory improvement to the current arrangements.

“We have also consulted FCNSW to ensure any potential timber supply impacts are known and managed.

“If non-compliances with these new conditions are found, the EPA will not hesitate to take appropriate regulatory action to ensure greater gliders are being protected in forestry operations.”

The changes can be found on the EPA website here

The new CIFOA requirements include:

• A 50-metre exclusion zone around known recorded locations of greater glider dens.

• Protection of extra greater glider trees in addition to existing hollow bearing and giant tree requirements:

*Six trees per hectare greater than 80cm in diameter in high greater glider density areas, in addition to the eight hollow bearing trees currently required to be protected.

*Four trees per hectare greater than 50cm in diameter in lower density areas, in addition to the eight hollow bearing trees currently required to be protected.

*The retention of additional hollows and future hollow-bearing trees in areas where greater gliders are less likely to occur.

• Greater glider trees must prioritise hollows (especially ones with evidence of use) where they exist.

• Undertaking of a monitoring program to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of these new rules for greater gliders.

A new map that shows where these different greater glider areas occur.

World Wildlife Fund Australia, news release, 2 February 2024:

Conservation groups outraged; scientists not consulted

The NSW Environment Protection Authority will no longer require Forestry Corp to search for and identify the den trees of endangered greater gliders before logging operations.

Instead Forestry Corp will be required to protect just six extra trees per hectare, greater than 80cm, in addition to the existing requirement to protect eight hollow-bearing trees.

“I’m shocked, this is a huge step backwards. Decisions like this will hurtle this species much more rapidly towards extinction. The EPA executive is abdicating its responsibility to protect threatened species,” said Dr Kita Ashman, Threatened Species & Climate Adaptation Ecologist, WWF Australia.

The issue of greater glider den trees came to a head when Forestry Corp bulldozed thousands of trees in Tallaganda State Forest, one of the last greater glider strongholds.

Last August the EPA launched an investigation saying it had no confidence Forestry Corp had properly searched for den trees and protected them with 50 metre exclusion zones, as the government-owned corporation was required to do.

Now the EPA has removed the requirement that Forestry Corp search for den trees.

“Eminent greater glider scientists were not consulted about these changes. We need a fundamental shift in how forests are managed if greater gliders are to survive. The EPA needs to take leadership and improve forestry rules to better protect greater gliders and all threatened species,” said Wilderness Australia Operations Manager Andrew Wong.

“Known greater glider den trees will still be protected with exclusion zones. But who’s going to identify them if there’s no requirement for Forestry Corp to do it. That job will be left to citizen scientists but it’s unclear whether they’ll be legally able to access logging areas before they’re bulldozed. This is a complete mess,” said South East Forest Rescue Coordinator Scott Daines.

[my yellow highlighting]

NSW EPA, media release, 9 February 2024:

Forestry protocol

09 February 2024

The commencement of the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA) protocol and the site-specific biodiversity condition for greater gliders will be postponed by a week.

Last week, we announced changes to the protocol which will have an important role in protecting hollow bearing trees.

We have been consulting with stakeholders and considering their feedback to ensure we find the most appropriate way to address concerns while achieving long-term protections for this endangered species.

Existing requirements remain in force during this period and we will not hesitate to take regulatory action, including stop work orders, where we think there will be non-compliance.

Until the protocol and site-specific biodiversity conditions are finalised, we will treat all glider habitat forests as high risk.

We want to thank all stakeholders for working with us as we refine these changes.

BACKGROUND

A brief look at the history of Forestry NSW warnings, penalties.........

NSW Environmental Protection Agency (NSWEPA), media release, 22 December 2023:

Forestry Corporation ordered to pay $104,000

22 December 2023

Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) is required to pay more than $100,000 after illegally felling hollow bearing trees in Mogo State Forest on the South Coast in March 2020.

The sentence was handed down after FCNSW challenged one of three $15,000 penalty infringement notices issued by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), for breaching site-specific operating conditions following the damaging 2019/20 black summer bushfires.

Under these conditions, FCNSW was required to permanently retain all hollow-bearing trees to prevent the loss of habitat for hollow-dependent species.

Following the challenge, FCNSW was found guilty of the offence under the Forestry Act 2012 in Bega Local Court in November 2023. The Magistrate was satisfied all four trees had visible hollows before they were cut down.

The sentence was delivered in Batemans Bay Local Court yesterday, convicting FCNSW and ordering them to pay a fine of $20,000 and $84,340 to the EPA as legal costs.

EPA Executive Director of Regulatory Operations Jason Gordon welcomed the sentence and said the court’s decision supports the EPA’s position that the visibility of tree hollows must be assessed broadly, and requires scrutiny from several different angles.

“All hollow-bearing trees, living or dead, are important because they provide vital habitat for endangered and native species,” Mr Gordon said.

“They can take decades to naturally form and provide a necessary refuge for animals from the weather and predators, as well as safe sites for roosting and breeding.

“Any decrease in the availability and variety of tree hollows can lead to a significant loss of species diversity and abundance.

“This outcome is a great result for the EPA and signifies the care needed when conducting forestry operations to comply with conditions and ensure homes for our wildlife are protected.”

In sentencing, the Magistrate said there’s no reason for a casual approach to environmental protection and the community views environmental offences as extremely serious.

The Magistrate required FCNSW to publicise the offence and the orders made against it in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bay Post/ Moruya Examiner which would send a clear message of deterrence.

A partial list of Forestry Corporation NSW ( FCNSW) penalty notices and prosecutions July 2018 to June 2022:

Jun 2022 — EPA fines FCNSW — $15,000 for allegedly failing to comply with post-fire conditions South Brooman State Forest.

Jun 2022 — EPA prosecutes FCNSW for alleged breaches of post-fire conditions at Yambulla State Forest, near Eden after the 2019/20 bushfires.

Jun 2022 — EPA prosecutes FCNSW — $135,600 + 150,000 in legal costs — fines and costs totalling $285,600 have been levelled against FCNSW after the Land and Environment Court found tree felling in exclusion zones had done “actual harm” to koala habitat — Wild Cattle Creek State Forest on Dorrigo Plateau.

Apr 2022 — EPA penalty infrigement notice to FCNSW — $45,000 — felling hollow bearing trees across three areas — Mogo State Forest  

Feb 2021 — EPA penalty infrigement notice to FCNSW — $15,000 — failed to mark a riparian exclusion zone boundary, contrary to the requirements of the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval held by FCNSW — Olney State Forest  

Feb 2021 — EPA issued two penalty notices and one official caution to FCNSW —  $30,000 —  inspections of the area following a harvesting operation identified 10 freshly cut mature trees within the hard and soft protection zones of a second order stream; a significant amount of debris pushed into a stream bed; and evidence of machine access, and earthworks caused by harvesting machinery within a protected zone — Ballengarra State Forest  

Mar 2021 — EPA two penalty notices three official cautions — $33,000 — notices: for allegedly not including the critically endangered Swift Parrot records in planning for operations, and cautions: an alleged failure by FCNSW to mark-up eucalypt feed trees, an essential source of food for the birds, prior to harvesting  — Boyne, Bodalla and Mogo state forests  

Apr 2020 — EPA penalty notice —  $31,100 —  three alleged offences —  state forests Tantawangalo (not marking an adequate number of trees for retention and not marking the boundary of an environmentally sensitive area as an exclusion zone, required to protect the habitat of the Powerful Owl) and Bago (not marking an adequate number of habitat trees that needed to be retained).

Apr 2019 — $16,500 — failed to implement the required protections for the rare threatened plant despite knowing of its location — Gibberagee State Forest

July 2018 — $30,000 — breaching their environment protection licence and causing water pollution — Gladstone State Forest