School children used as weapons in flying fox fight

This whole sorry saga could have been avoided if the Gulmarrad Public School staff member responsible for choosing articles to be submitted to The Daily Examiner had acted as a responsible educator.

One has to suspect that one or more adults having direct contact with these primary school children decided to use them as a vehicle to spread their own particular anti-flying fox bias. The level of misinformation in the short article in question defies any other explanation.

Children have a right to participate in community debate, but do not have an automatic right to always be protected from learning from their mistakes. Hopefully they will learn that one does not necessarily implicitly trust the views of another person simply because they are older in years or blindly accept the opinions of journalists because these have been published in print or online.

One has to also hope that those who learnt the most valuable lesson from this episode will be the parents and teachers of Clarence Valley school children, so that in the future they provide information supported by fact with regard to Australian native wildlife.

The Daily Examiner 23 May 2012:

Bat track success

I WRITE to thank the numerous people that assisted the Maclean High School Bat Tracking Project and contributed to providing a quality experience for the students.
The project aimed to engage local students of Maclean High School in wildlife research and forms part of their HSC Biology Course. It involved trapping and collaring flying-foxes to track their movements. Despite a few initial obstacles and very early starts, the students (and their parents) persevered and thoroughly enjoyed the field work component.
Everyone worked well as a team and learnt a lot - about each other, about bats and about the controversy of working with this particular group of animals.
The team caught a total of 63 flying-foxes at the Yamba colony and attached four satellite transmitters to adult males. Already we are getting great movement data from these tagged animals. One flying-fox (named "Wayne" by the students) is flying a huge 32km nightly to feed in coastal paperbark forest south of Sandon Village.
A lot of volunteer work by many people over many months made this project a success and I am truly grateful for all the hard work.
The project was supported by a handful of dedicated volunteers, parents of students, local businesses and community groups as well as both local and state governments. Thank you also to Deborah Novak for donating her time and expertise to produce great photos and videos of the project.
Lastly, it was a pleasure to work with these inquisitive, hard-working and bright students and I look forward to continuing to track the activities of the flying-foxes with them over the coming months. Such projects are extremely rewarding for so many people and I hope that similar wildlife project continue at local schools.
To see a small one-minute film go to http://vimeo.com/42398697.

BILLIE ROBERTS

Wildlife Biologist

Harwood

The Gulmarrad Gazette in The Daily Examiner 29 May 2012:

Bats, bats, bats

WHAT do you think about bats? We have been around most of the classrooms at Gulmarrad School to see what students think about the bats.
A high percentage of the children recommend that that the bats should be removed from Maclean.
It is a health hazard and not to mention the destruction of our rainforest.
The bats are a big health hazard because their poo is dropped all over the school grounds and all over the kids' lunches. This is terribly bad because it spreads horrible diseases including the Hendra virus. This disease can make people and students very sick and can even result in death.
Secondly the bats are destroying the rainforest and killing all the native animals and their native habitats. Bats are also destroying our beautiful trees and shredding their branches. If the bats do not go soon there might not be a rainforest left for your child and their children to enjoy.
Thirdly students are getting distracted in class because of all the noise the bats are making. Also when a loud sound is made the bats go crazy and circle around the school creating an even louder racket.
In conclusion, the students of Gulmarrad School strongly believe that the Maclean bats should be removed immediately. It is a giant health hazard for the students of Maclean High School and members of the wider community and we hope that when we go there next year they are gone forever and only a distant memory.
Think about your kid's health and education; it might be on the line.

Kalisha Mueller and Matilda Arndell

The Daily Examiner 2 June 2012:

Flying foxes faux pas

PERHAPS the Gulmarrad Gazette Newspapers in Education pages published by the Examiner on 29/5/2012 should be called Newspapers in Miseducation.
I refer to the piece entitled "Bats, bats, bats," which contains far more fiction than fact about flying foxes. If I were a teacher at Gulmarrad School, I would be ashamed to be exposing to the general public mine and my students total lack of knowledge about these animals. Presumably a teacher read this poor excuse for an article before sending it for publication, and chose not to take the opportunity to educate these misinformed students so that they could provide a factual, useful story, instead propagating lies and unnecessary worries about the situation at Maclean High School.
Just a couple of the falsehoods in the story are:
1. the bats' "poo...spreads horrible diseases such as the Hendra virus." It doesn't. Hendra simply cannot be contracted by humans from flying foxes.
2. "Bats are destroying the rainforest and killing all the native animals and their native habitats". They aren't. Humans have already destroyed almost all of the rainforest so that flying foxes are now concentrated in the remnants. Many rainforest trees would die out if it weren't for flying foxes pollinating them and dispersing their seeds, contributing significantly to rainforest ecology. And flying foxes are herbivores, causing the deaths of no native animals.
As for the statement that when a "loud sound is made the bats go crazy and circle around ... making an even louder racket": wouldn't this be an argument against the illegal noise used by residents, and illegal and legal noise made at times by the Maclean High School, to intentionally disturb the bats?
I understand that the Examiner editorship thinks that demonising bats sells more newspapers than presenting facts, let alone good news stories about them. A case in point is the article published recently about the vandalism by residents of equipment being used in the project involving Maclean High students in satellite tracking some flying foxes.
The Examiner seemed desperate to highlight the only negative aspect of the whole fascinating project, rather than take the opportunity to present a truly good news story, where students are learning some state-of-the-art scientific techniques, and thereby gaining insights into these animals that may lead to our managing bat-human interrelations better.
But I would seriously question the ethics of a newspaper publishing misinformation, albeit presented by teachers and students, in any context, without at least acknowledging that it is not factual.

Linda Wright

Lawrence NSW

ED'S NOTE: The Gulmarrad School has since arranged for an expert to visit the school to educate pupils further on flying foxes.

The Daily Examiner 6 June 2012:

Lay off the kids!

THE Newspapers in Education offered by the DEX is a wonderful and important opportunity for local school kids to share their opinions with our community.
This opportunity for a class of Gulmarrad kids has sadly resulted in a personal attack on their efforts, their teacher and their school.
While Linda Wright's (DEX, June 2) intention may have been to highlight misinformation presented by students in regard to Maclean's bat colony, such a personal attack on children as young as 10 and 11, hard working teachers, an entire school was inappropriate.
Regardless of "the context", what will the kids ultimately learn from this experience?
Simply, that if you make a mistake in your delivery, an adult in your community will personally attack and humiliate you, your teacher and your school for it.
Have you considered the kids whose first attempts at persuasive writing you described as "a poor excuse," and worse, to be "ashamed" of their efforts?
Your intention may have been to correct misinformation, your approach was heavy handed.
I feel for the parents of the children who wrote the article, who must now explain why an adult feels it is acceptable to defame a child's character, and school, for expressing a different opinion to their own - with or without facts. We are talking about kids here.
Furthermore, teachers at Gulmarrad are not in the habit of deliberately peddling untruths as you suggest.
I am offended that you have questioned the ability of a quality teacher, without knowing anything about the dedicated professional he is.
You speak of the Maclean High School Project. I attended the counting night as an interested community member (with my two excited Gulmarrad children in tow), so that they could understand more about our fascinating colony.
On return to school, my daughter's teacher invited her to share the same facts you list in your letter.
She was so proud of her involvement in the study, and that her knowledge was valued by her teacher and shared in her classroom. Unfortunately she is now upset and offended by your letter, because you claim she is bereft of the knowledge she learnt first hand from this experience.
Linda, your passion and knowledge could have been best shared, (and so greatly appreciated), in the classroom speaking with these kids, rather than publicly shaming not only them, but their entire school.
This would at least have given the class a chance to present all their knowledge on this controversial topic.
In future, please leave Gulmarrad kids out of your ongoing argument with the Examiner.

BELINDA CAMERON

Gulmarrad

Going batty over feral humans. Animalia......[3]

Going batty over feral humans

The bats of the Lower Clarence have recently held a meeting to discuss the problems feral humans (which are rumoured to be boat people) are causing in their community.

These boat people apparently arrived some time ago down south somewhere and have been spreading across the country causing problems with the locals wherever they have turned up.

Spokesman for the bats, Rufus, said: "We don't want any of these boat scum in our community. If you let even one of them into the community then it quickly becomes a ghetto.

"They put their boxes up everywhere, vandalism and the crime rate go through the roof, they start cutting down bat houses and harassing law abiding bats that are going about their daily business."

He then added: "After a hard nights work out in the forest pollinating the trees and trying to earn a living so that they can feed their children, they return home to get a good days rest only to find that they are continually harassed by the humans making loud noises and throwing things at them.

"And the racket coming from the place where they keep their young, which are apparently called schools, is quite unbelievable -screaming, screeching and yelling. It is almost impossible to get some sleep.

"Also, there is a foul stench coming from their camps. Some of this comes from the tin boxes they move about in, some from the mechanical contraptions that they push around the grass on weekends, and some from evil smelling burning weeds which they have in their mouths."

The bats have hired an environmental consultant, who after an extensive study of the problem has recommended that Maclean and Iluka be bulldozed and the trees left to reclaim the area and restore it to its former pristine condition.

However, some bats have said that this would only be a short-term solution and that the humans should be rounded up and sent back to where they originally came from -'The African Solution' the bats called it.

The Africans are understood to be resisting this idea, particularly the chimpanzees and the gorillas, who said that the human's behaviour was an embarrassment to the whole family and they did not want them back.

However, a group of red-neck extremist bats has called for the total eradication of the species, saying that the humans had arrived uninvited, were illegal immigrants, were an introduced feral pest that caused massive environmental destruction, and were obviously vermin by any definition of the word.

A vote was held which was attended by all the bats, plus other interested groups such as the marsupials, birds, fish, reptiles and the local vegetation, plus a few mammals.

The result of this vote, which was nearly unanimous, was that eradication was the best solution. Dogs and cats were undecided and wanted more time to consider the merits of the proposal.

As a result of the community consensus vote, a deputation has been sent to Mother Earth to see if humans can be evicted from the planet, as they are bad neighbours who create problems everywhere they are found and don't seem able to get on with anyone.

Mother Nature is considering the proposal and was last seen muttering to herself: "Better an empty house than a bad tenant."

M CASEY,

Grafton.

[Photograph and text,The Daily Examiner, letter to the editor column, 10 November 2009]

Batty politics

The Clarence Valley township of Maclean has a front row seat as the Labor MP for Page and the Nationals MP for Cowper play duelling banjos to the tune of bats awa' wi ye.

On September 8th The Daily Examiner told the world:

On Thursday, The Daily Examiner reported that an application by Clarence Valley Council and the New South Wales Department of Education for a licence to disperse bats from a rainforest reserve near Maclean High School and an area known as 'the gully' had hit a stumbling block.
The applicants were advised by the Federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts that it considered disturbing bats as a 'controlled action' which required a lengthy and time-consuming environmental impact statement (EIS)....
They are concerned about delays in approval for the licence that they've had in past years to disperse the bats so they won't settle in the school area," Ms Saffin said.
"This is a matter for the state and federal environment departments and I don't see why the previous licensing arrangements can't continue.
"I have agreed to raise the issue with Environment Minister Peter Garrett on behalf of the school community and I'm aware that timing is an issue on this matter."

On September 19th ABC North Coast broadcast this:

The federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, has taken the issue of the bats at Maclean to the federal stage.
In a speech to the Parliament this week, Mr Hartsuyker criticised the federal Environment Department for not approving the granting of a licence to remove the bats from bush near the Maclean High School.
Mr Hartsuyker says the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change referred the matter to the Commonwealth.
He says the federal Environment Department wants a report prepared before making a decision.
"There's no justification in stopping those bats from moving on, there is a precedent for this and the people of Maclean, the students and staff of the school are certainly demanding of a safe place to go to school and certainly a good educational environment," he said.

No-one seems to be going to bat for the vulnerable Grey-headed Flying Fox except the Federal Dept. of the Environment.
It will be interesting to see if Minister Peter Garrett listens to his department or the political banjos.

Of bats and B52s

Bats are still a favoured topic in letters to the editor found in the Old Egg Timer of Grafton on the NSW North Coast.

Clarence Plague

A NEW disease has been discovered in the Clarence Valley, which is believed to be associated with bats.

It is thought to be a virus, and rednecks, halfwits, and National Party politicians are especially vulnerable to the virus.

It is particularly virulent in the Cowper Electorate.

Symptoms include ranting, raving, frothing at the mouth, chest beating, and a type of flatulence that results in copious amounts of hot air issuing from the mouth.

Other symptoms include a morbid desire to seek media attention, and those afflicted will be seen standing near high schools, hospitals or roads trying to get their pictures taken.

Another manifestation of the condition is the writing of irrational letters to the local papers advocating all sorts of strange anti social behaviour, including discharge of fireworks in public places.

Those afflicted who are also gun nuts, become obsessed with the idea of putting on their camouflage fatigues and roaming around discharging firearms.

Medical authorities think that the condition is incurable and the most humane option would be to euthanase the sufferers.

Bio-ethicists are concerned that this might be construed as a form of eugenics which is against the Geneva Convention and The Hague Protocols.

Of more concern is the worry that if the local authorities don't get the outbreak under control soon, it will attract the attention of the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, and the Americans will fly a B52 over and drop a 10-megaton warhead on the Cowper Electorate, to stop the spread of the contagion.

The bats say however, that they are the victims of a vicious smear campaign and the virus got into Australia via racehorses from Abu Dhabi, or banana imports from Ecuador.

M. CASEY

Grafton

Some background here from our local political wonderkind in clogs - Hartsuyker’s strengthens Maclean bats Bill to end bureaucratic buck passing and remove Federal Minister from the process

Luke 'don't let truth get in the way' Hartsuyker on the National Party 2010 federal election campaign trail

Montage of cardboard cut-out incident manufactured by the Opposition in 2008

from Google Images

Not content with making a mockery of the House of Representatives during his first few months on the Opposition benches and refusing a lawful order from The Speaker's chair to remove himself from the chamber, spending the intervening years doing little more than rolling interjections - now the shadow spokeperson for small business and small minds has seized a protected species and begun wielding it as a weapon in the hope of holding onto his very marginal federal seat of Cowper.

Here is the Nationals' Luke Hartsuyker in full flight in The Daily Examiner last Friday, with the Liberal candidate for Page riding in his wake for the photo opportunity:

FEDERAL Cowper MP Luke Hartsuyker had more than flying foxes in his sights at Maclean yesterday.

The MP wants a flying fox colony removed from near Maclean High School and is intent on seeking a solution in Federal Parliament.

Yesterday he slammed the Maclean Flying Fox Working Group as a 'bureaucratic con'. He described Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin as a fence-sitter who had not been genuine with the high school's P&C committee.

Mr Hartsuyker went on the attack at the launch of his petition supporting the removal of the Maclean bats.

Mr Hartsuyker told a small group of media and residents outside the Maclean High School gates that a private member's bill was being drafted. If passed it would provide emergency powers to the Federal Minister of the Environment for the removal of the bats because they posed a public health risk.

"This petition will send a clear message to the Minister and will provide the Clarence Valley with a voice," Mr Hartsuyker said.

"It is outrageous that our school students are exposed to diseases of the third world. Co-existence is not working, disperse the bats now."

Now Mr. Hartsuyker knows full well that there has never been a case in this country where the vulnerable protected species the Grey-headed Flying Fox has directly transmitted Hendra or Nipah viruses to humans. There is of course a vaccine available for the Lyssavirus which is transmitted by a bite/scratch from an infected mammal, but the incidence of this virus is extremely rare and there have only been two cases in the whole of Australia.

He also would be well aware that an properly constructed application to the NSW Government would allow a limited period bat dispersal license to be issued as has happened in the past (it would be interesting to discover just who has been advising Maclean High School P&C to go down the rather torturous joint application route it has taken).

Yet the lack of rampant disease in the playground and an easier alternate route to bat dispersal permission does not stop our doughty, disaster peddling Coffs Harbour politician from holding forth - thereby making Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin appear very balanced and genuinely constructive in comparison.

Distribution of the species within the Northern Rivers Catchment

Previous North Coast Voices posts concerning bats.

Rescuing flying foxes across Northern NSW & Southern Queensland in the current drought

The Daily Examiner, 23 September 2019, p.10:

As WIRES becomes inundated with sick and starving bats, residents are being urged to give them a helping hand.

A bat starvation event is occurring across Northern NSW and Southern Queensland as WIRES works hard to nurse sick and starving back into health.

WIRES officer Linda Harrison said she had been receiving a large number of flying foxes, particularly juveniles, which were severely undernourished.

The lack of blossoms due to a combination of worsening drought conditions and continued destruction of the natural habitat went some way to explain the event.

“I have had them come in near dead. They are just starving, there is just no food out there for them,” she said.

“A big part of that is the amount of clearing that has been done – 200 years ago this would not have affected them near as much as it what it is now because there would have been more trees out there.”

Ms Harrison said the lack of blossoms meant the bats were starting to look for alternative food sources and were increasingly being found in backyards and trees lower to the ground.

“They are flying in and finding a food source and because they are just so worn out they are staying where they are,” she said.

“People are finding them in their backyards because they don’t have the energy to go anywhere.

“They do have a fairly specific diet but at the moment they are eating anything.”

Ms Harrison said while the bats should be left alone, there were a few things people could do to give them a helping hand, including putting fruit out on string for the bats to have a feed.

“As a rule we don’t usually encourage people to feed them but at the moment they are eating anything and we are doing what we can to keep them alive,” she said.

“Cut up some soft fruit or hang some fruit on bits of rope.”

Despite some rainfall in the last week, Ms Harrison said she was expecting the problems to continue and flying foxes were not the only animals having a hard time.

“I think I am in for a long couple of months, this is going to go on for a while. I think we are in for a long summer.”

“You can see there are more kangaroos coming into people’s yards around South Grafton, they are just coming in for fresh grass.”

WIRES rescue line: 1300094737.

Ignorance ruled in Maclean on Wednesday as folk went rather batty

Yesterday parents and students at Maclean High School staged a demonstration concerning the ongoing and problematic existence of a flying fox colony on land adjoining school property.

Pre-warned about this batty event, the media was at hand to film one adult shouting about how someone or other would be sorry if a child contracted Hendra Virus.
Without a blush another stated for the camera that all that was needed now was "the zombies".

WTF! Zombies? Hendra Virus straight from bat to human? A fear straight from the depths of ignorance via unreliable folklore it seems.

The World Health Organisation is pretty clear that humans catch the viral infection in this manner:

• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural hosts of Hendra virus.


• Horses are the only species of domestic animal that can be naturally infected with Hendra virus.


• Hendra virus is transmitted to people through close contact with infected horses or their body fluids.


• To date, no human-to-human transmission of Hendra virus has been documented.

If a school student were to attempt to catch a bat and was scratched or bitten that student could just possibly get Lyssa Virus (although only two cases have ever been reported in Australia and a precautionary 3-dose vaccination is readily available), but as far as science and medicine is aware, Hendra Virus infection would not pass from that bat to the teenager.

Nipah Virus which is also naturally found in bats is not known to have caused human/animal infection in Australia to date.

As former Maclean Shire Mayor and wannabe Nationals politician Chris Gulaptis proved some years ago as he positioned himself to run for local government election - when it comes to protected flying foxes some hysterical Maclean residents will believe anything and follow any rabble rouser at the head of the herd.

Perhaps the next time anyone in Maclean starts yelling for benefit of the media they might at least get their facts right.
Otherwise they are just plain embarrassing.

Update:

This morning's The Daily Examiner contained an explanation as to why the nocturnal grey-headed flying foxes were so conveniently active for the media audience - an as yet unknown person has thrown at least one fire cracker into the breeding colony.

One cannot really blame the young students because they were so clearly led by a red-neck element within the Maclean High School P&C. However, the parents should be ashamed of the lesson in ignorant and wanton cruelty they are giving their children, as well as the total dishonesty they displayed by trying to set the stage with agitated bats in an effort manipulate the all too conveniently gullible complicit media.

As many as 5,000 flying foxes killed by heatstroke in one colony on one day in the Northern Rivers

Australian Bureau of Meteorology temperature map for Saturday 15 November 2014

The Northern Star  in print and online, 18 November 2014:

* THOUSANDS of flying foxes are dead and hundreds of young babies have been left orphaned after heat stroke savaged the Casino colony at the weekend.

WIRES started monitoring the colony early on Saturday, but as the temperature rose and the humidity fell, the bats started to die.

At about 1pm bats started falling out of the trees; many were dead before they hit the ground.

The WIRES ground crew of volunteers gave the babies a hydrating injection before being transported to makeshift hospitals in homes in Casino, managing to save about 450 baby bats or "pups".

Emergency WIRES teams from neighbouring regions arrived in Casino to help deal with the catastrophe. The pups will be reared by WIRES carers before being released back into the wild.

* THE flying fox death toll at Casino has been revised upwards to more than 3000 and could be as high as 5000, WIRES Northern Rivers estimates.

Temperatures hit record highs at Casino over the weekend, hitting 44.1°C on Saturday afternoon, preliminary statistics from the Bureau of Meteorology reveal.

The Northern Star: Dee Hartin Photography

Sidesplitting quote from the Nationals' chief nong

The Daily Examiner in true tabloid style ran a front page yesterday on the 'war' over bats going on at Maclean.

State Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, drew a bellow of laughter from me at breakfast when I read that he had said: "war will be declared on this Federal Government" and "A major confrontation will occur and I will be in the centre of it - I have to be".

Trust our resident political nong.
As yet there are no bats in any number in the immediate vicinity of Maclean High School.
With the extinction of the adjoining rainforest patch in which flying foxes previously roosted, they may not come back as a highly visible presence for generations.
Yet here he is - ready to get out the batmobile and confront Canberra at the head of his 'troops'.

All this huffing and puffing because the precautionary dispersal licence applied for is apparently going through the usual channels whenever such an application concerns a listed vulnerable species.

Bucket rating awarded to APN media for giving Stevo's hysteria column inches:

Run! There are terrorists on the NSW North Coast

He's also kept up the fight against the bats, which continue to terrorise a number of towns on the north coast. [http://www.nswnationals.org.au/chris_gulaptis]

On the NSW North Coast it is easy to spot the many ‘terrorists’ in our midst.

According to the NSW Nationals MP for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, they all look like this:

Photograph from  http://www.bats.org.au/

And they are lurking with intent to terrorise.

Can't you just tell there's a state election in a little over five weeks time?

Saffin has the right answer on Maclean flying fox colony question

The community debate on the flying fox colony roosting in bushland adjoining Maclean High School has been ongoing for literally years.
In fact one former Maclean mayor initially got himself elected on the back of beating up on bats.

Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin has the right idea; removing the bats is not a long-term solution and she is committed to discussing permanent options including moving the school.

Here is one local resident's recent letter to The Daily Examiner on the subject:

Beauty and the Beast

DOES age come before beauty in the Maclean Flying Fox issue?

I obviously touched a sore point with Mr Apps in my letter regarding the flying foxes at Maclean High school.

I did live across the road from Maclean High school for 10 years during the last flying fox episode in the late 1980s early 1990s and attended the then public meetings, public rally and kept informed.

The flying fox colonies Mr Apps refers to are in existence and so too are the major nurseries between Lismore and Grafton, all of which apparently unite and then head south to be with their friends on the Central Coast.

While I do not question Mr Apps capacity as an elderly gentleman to have amazing recall of his childhood, flying fox camps come and go and I don't think flying fox numbers would have been high on his agenda as a kid.

Camps may contain tens of thousands of animals or several hundred depending on the abundance of food available in the surrounding area. As the numbers of animals changes in response to food availability, the area of the camp occupied by them increases or decreases. (This is often mistakenly viewed as a 'population explosion').

Grey-headed flying-foxes are known to be faithful to sites for over 100 years; if sites are destroyed, the animals move to the 'next best site'.

Attempts to relocate a camp may not have the desired effect and flying foxes may move to an even more inconvenient location - example - attempts to move the camp near Maclean High School resulted in flying foxes moving closer to houses. (From the NSW Conservation Society).

The 1.1 hectare site of decimated rainforest next to Maclean High school is and was one of many food sources for the flying foxes. It's hard to imagine flying foxes ignoring this yummy area as it is within the flight path of many of them. Add to this equation flying foxes are genetically blue printed at birth to return to their birth place to give birth to their next generation.

Ten years ago dispersal of the flying fox colony cost ratepayers $100,000 and they are now back with a vengeance and relocating themselves in the process but unfortunately it is not where the community wants them.

My interest in this issue is in the health and well-being of the students and teachers of Maclean High School because they are caught up in a problem they did not create, just like the flying foxes are. It is a public health issue that has been allowed to develop to a point where something has to be done now.

I am not an environmentalist, however I do love, value and respect what Mother Nature has created for us.

If we all took the same view as Mr Apps we would still murder and bulldoze everything in our pathway till such a time we lived in a concrete jungle and visited museums to view trees and animals.

There is a solution but the NSW Government refuses to make a decision either way hoping the problem will fade or be buried because it will cost them money.

So Brucie Apps of Townsend, putting your old age before my stunning beauty may I suggest if you feel as strong as I do on this issue maybe we should join forces (Beauty and the Beast), start a petition, organise a rally, sell raffle tickets to fundraise for a trip to Canberra so that the people of MHS can be finally heard.

DEBRAH NOVAK, Yamba

Nationals' Hartsuyker receives a slap down form Labor's Saffin

On the matter of a formal application to disperse roosting bats from land adjoining Maclean High School, last week Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin finally had enough of Federal Nationals MP for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker:

“I can say in response to Luke Hartsukyer’s silly comments, that the only one feeling the pressure is Luke himself, for not doing his job and helping to resolve it much earlier, and for deceiving the people, by not working on the plan from the beginning; a plan that requires, short, medium and long-term goals, which is what I have done since I was first asked for some assistance.
“Luke, I am going to offer you some unsolicited advice, and it goes like this:
“The best thing you can do, is to leave the people alone, leave the public servants alone and let them get on with their job of resolving this problem to the satisfaction of the students, staff and parents.
“It really does not need any more grandstanding and attacks on me ... people are weary with it.
“You carping does nothing to advance the safety and health needs of the school community.
“Given it is your electorate, I am trying to help you do your work, that you seem unable or unwilling to do.”

"The unnoticed apocalypse": insect declines and why they matter

"In early 2019, Australian entomologist Francisco Sanchez-Bayo published a scientific review of all existing evidence for insect declines [Sanchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys 2019]. He located 73 studies, mainly from Europe and North America, which collectively suggest that the rate of local extinction of insect species is eight times faster than that of vertebrates. He also estimated that, on average, insects are declining by 2.5% each year, with 41% of insect species threatened with extinction. The paper concludes: “we are witnessing the largest extinction event on Earth since the late Permian” (a geological epoch 250 million years ago)."  [Professor Dave Goulson, FRES, "Insect declines and why they matter", 2019]

This report originates in Britain but it is relevant to insect decline world-wide, including the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

The Wildlife Trusts (Somerset), Insect declinesand why they matter:

In the last fifty years, we have reduced the abundance of wildlife on Earth dramatically. Many species that were once common are now scarce. Much attention focusses on declines of large, charismatic animals, but recent evidence suggests that abundance of insects may have fallen by 50% or more since 1970. This is troubling, because insects are vitally important, as food, pollinators and recyclers amongst other things. Perhaps more frightening, most of us have not noticed that anything has changed. Even those of us who can remember the 1970s, and who are interested in nature, can’t accurately remember how many butterflies or bumblebees there were when we were children. 

The bulk of all animal life, whether measured by biomass, numerical abundance or numbers of species, is comprised of invertebrates such as insects, spiders, worms and so on. These innumerable little creatures are far more important for the functioning of ecosystems than the large animals that tend to attract most of our attention. Insects are food for numerous larger animals including birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and they perform vital roles such as pollination of crops and wildflowers, pest control and nutrient recycling. 

There have been several recent scientific reports describing the rapid decline of insects at a global scale, and these should be a cause of the gravest concern (summarised in Sanchez-Bayo & Wyckhuys 2019). These studies suggest that, in some places, insects may be in a state of catastrophic population collapse. We do not know for sure whether similar reductions in overall insect abundance have happened in the UK. The best UK data are for butterflies and moths which are broadly in decline, particularly in farmland and in the south. UK bees and hoverflies have also shown marked range contractions. The causes of insect declines are much debated, but almost certainly include habitat loss, chronic exposure to mixtures of pesticides, and climate change. The consequences are clear; if insect declines are not halted, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse, with profound consequences for human wellbeing. 

The good news is that it is not too late; few insects have gone extinct so far, and populations can rapidly recover. 

We urgently need to stop all routine and unnecessary use of pesticides and start to build a nature recovery network by creating more and better connected, insect friendly habitat in our gardens, towns, cities and countryside. 

Only by working together can we address the causes of insect decline, halt and reverse them, and secure a sustainable future for insect life and for ourselves. 

This report summarises some of the best available evidence of insect declines and proposes a comprehensive series of actions that can be taken at all levels of society to recover their diversity and abundance.

Read the full report here.

Yet another petition to the NSW Parliament was debated last week - resulting in yet another petition to parliament being casually dismissed by the Perrottet Coalition Government

Petitions

NATIVE FOREST LOGGING

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The House will now consider the electronic petition signed by 20,000 or more

persons that is listed on the Business Paper. It is about native forest logging and was lodged by the member for South Coast. Before I call the member for South Coast, I again welcome to the public gallery and the Cooper Gallery those who have joined us for the debate. I am aware that there are strongly held views on the matter we are about to discuss. Parliamentary debate allows that those with opposing views are able to express them freely without interference. I therefore ask that those in the gallery refrain from clapping or distracting debate in any way, including verbally or visually.

The question is that the House take note of the petition.

[NSW Parliament, Legislative Assembly, Hansard, 13 October 2022]

The Echo, 14 October 2022:

Yesterday in Sydney the public gallery in the NSW lower house of parliament was packed with citizens hoping to hear their representatives support the community’s calls for an end to the logging of our public native forests.

The debate was forced by the success of a petition with over 21,000 signatures that calls for a rapid transition out of logging our native forests.

Tens of thousands of people

Greens spokesperson for the environment and agriculture Sue Higginson MLC said that tens of thousands of people from across the state have come together to call for an end to public native forest logging. ‘The time has come and the case has been made that our public forests are worth more to us standing.

‘The government has made no plans to transition out of this destructive industry and into sustainable plantations in the full knowledge that communities and workers will be left behind by their policies.’

Ms Higginson said that much public native forest estate has been impacted by drought, fires and floods. ‘We need to change our perception of native forests to recognise them as a vitally important line of defence against both the climate and the extinction crisis, but this senseless government is determined to destroy them.

The petition

The parliamentary petition calls on the NSW parliament to:

• Transition NSW’s native forestry industry towards sustainable plantations by 2024.

• Immediately place a moratorium on public native forest logging until the regulatory framework is introduced.

• Urgently protect high-conservation value forests through gazettal in the National Parks estate.

• And ban biomass fuel, made from native forest timber.

North East Forests campaigner Sean O’Shannessy.
Photo supplied.

‘The response to the petition from the Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders was bitterly disappointing.
Tens of thousands of people are calling for our forests to be protected and the minister has completely dismissed what’s best for communities and the environment,’ said Ms Higginson…..

‘Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis heckled his Liberal Party colleague Shelly Hancock as she introduced and spoke for the petition on behalf of her constituents.’

Mr O’Shannessy said the is a rapidly dawning realisation among all rational participants in the public discussion of the future management of native forests, that logging is not going have a place there.

‘Sustainable plantations will supply our timber needs and our forests will be protected in properly managed reserves. We can not afford to keep subsidising the destruction of our carbon sinks, water catchments and koalas homes,’ said Mr O’Shannessy.

The Government’s idea of ‘sustainable’

Ms Higginson said that the Government claims that sustainable native forest management includes cutting down critical habitat for threatened species, including koala habitat, clear felling areas of our forests and cutting down hollow-bearing trees which are essential for the survival of forest-dependent threatened species like gliders, owls and bats.

‘Bizarrely, the Government claims that cutting down our forests is good for the climate crisis in complete contradiction to scientific consensus. Old trees sequester more carbon than young trees, which on its own should be enough for us to be doing everything we can to protect them.

‘The end of public native forest logging is inevitable and we are so close to finally seeing the transition out of this industrial scale destruction.

‘Parliament could do this tomorrow if the government would stop blocking this important reform and develop a plan that delivers economic security for communities and protects our precious forests,’ said Ms Higginson.

For interested North Coast Voices readers the 39 minute ‘take note’ debate of this petition can be found at:

https://api.parliament.nsw.gov.au/api/hansard/search/daily/pdf/HANSARD-1323879322-128218. Commencing at Page 58.

Below are some debate excerpts and it should be noted that all misconceptions, misinformation, unfounded beliefs and downright political lies voiced are actually found in remarks made by the Nationals MLA for Dubbo and Minister for Agriculture & Minister for Western New South Wales Dugald Saunders, as well as in remarks by Nationals MLA for Clarence Chris Gulaptis who retires from parliament at the March 2023 state election. Yellow highlights of some of the largest whoppers are my own.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS (Clarence) (16:12): I speak in response to the petition tabled by the member for South Coast. I acknowledge the petitioners in the gallery for their efforts in obtaining 20,000 signatures, because it is an effort. I know that and I understand why they are present today. But I am really disappointed with the contribution by the member for Ballina, because it is misleading. One of the problems when we talk about native forestry in this country, and in this State in particular, is that a lot of the proposals that have been raised are based on a range of misconceptions, misinformation and unfounded beliefs.

When it comes to which side of the House manages forests better, this side manages forests better. That was shown when Bob Carr declared State forests national parks back in the eighties, because they were managed so well by what is now ForestCorp. They are managed well. It is like your garden: You cannot let your garden be overgrown with weeds; you have to manage it. Unfortunately, that is what the problem is. We let our national parks overgrow and when the bushfires came through, five billion native species were killed in 7.2 million hectares of national park. That is what happens in a national park when they do not have the resources to manage it.

Mr Jamie Parker: You're in government. Why don't you manage it?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: Because the resources would have to come out of Health or Education.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Balmain will come to order.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: They would come out of Health or Education. The forests are managed in a responsible way, and we see that. Do we want native timbers from Borneo and attack the—

Mr Jamie Parker: We're about plantations.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Clarence will direct his comments through the Chair.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: We have plantation timbers and we also have native forests. The reason the forests were created in the first instance was to provide a resource for the inhabitants to build their houses and to construct this city. Parliament House is constructed from timber from our forests. That was the whole purpose of them, and still is. We want affordable housing, but where is the construction material going to come from? Members opposite talk about affordable housing, but how will it be provided if we do not cut down trees? Forestry Corporation plants four million seedlings every year to replace the trees it cuts. If that is not carbon sequestration, what is? It is a joke when members do not look at the evidence and the facts.

Mr Jamie Parker: We have looked at the evidence, mate, don't worry.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: Yes, look at the evidence. Five billion native species were killed in a hot fire because those national parks did not have the resources to be managed effectively.

Mr Jamie Parker: Well, give them the resources. You're in the Government.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: Yes, and we will take them from Education and Health, because that is what you are saying.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Clarence will direct his comments through the Chair.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: Yes, I will. The fact of the matter is that the Government's resources are finite; they are not unlimited. We cannot use a credit card and spend wherever we want to. State forests are managed effectively. They produce revenue that goes back into managing the forests and looking after feral animals and noxious weeds. Where is that revenue going to come from?

Mr Jamie Parker: It makes a loss.

Mr CHRISTOPHER GULAPTIS: Do our national parks make a profit? No, they do not. Of course they do not. Native forestry is heavily regulated to ensure that there is long-term ecological sustainability, and robust science consistently demonstrates that those regulations are effective. The proposal to create public native forests would have substantial negative impacts on the State's economy and finances. We must remember that the forestry sector is worth around $2.8 billion. It directly supports almost 20,000 jobs, 40 per cent of which are in regional New South Wales. I call on the Labor Party and members opposite to stop vilifying the timber industry and support the productive and sustainable approach that the Coalition Government has put in place to manage this incredible resource that has been used as a building material since Jesus was a boy. It is a terrific sustainable product, so why do they vilify it?

Ms JANELLE SAFFIN (Lismore) (16:18): I make a contribution to debate on the petition, which has some 21,000 signatures. I take umbrage at what the member for Clarence said. I am not vilifying the industry, but I want to be part of the debate because I have been involved in it in my area for some 40 years. The issue has been so divisive so many times, so we must resolve it in such a way that we get a sustainable industry. That is the objective that most people are going for. That is the objective of the people who signed this petition. Somehow we have got to get there. I understand that it is important. So many people in the Lismore electorate and beyond are passionate about this issue.

My electorate has huge environmental movements, including the North East Forest Alliance, whose members are here today. The Nature Conservation Council was also here this week. Local constituents have written to me in support of the petition. Local forestry and timber industry workers, as well as the unions, have also spoken to me about the petition. I understand the passion and the emotion in it. As I said, I have lived it for a long time. From what is happening in my area and on the South Coast—based on what I heard from the member for South Coast—and what I have heard in this debate, I can say that we are at the vortex of the issue. At the heart of it is the desire to have our forests protected from fire, flood and pestilence, and to have habitats for animals and rare plants that are free of weeds and predators, or at least minimally affected.

We all want a sustainable logging industry, wherever it takes place. I have recently read that under Premier McGowan—and I would hardly call him a radical Premier of any kind—Western Australia is moving to end native forestry logging. I note that Victoria is doing the same under its more progressive Premier Andrews. Those desires and objectives speak to management, and that has been the problem that I have seen for so many years.

We know that before European colonisation the forests, which were extensive, were managed. Of course, Indigenous nations practised cultural burning, which, thank goodness, so many are embracing now because they see the value in it. One thing that the member for South Coast said that really struck me was that this petition was a message to the Government and all members that we must take heed, and we certainly do.

I draw the attention of the House to the Legislative Council inquiry into the long-term sustainability and future of the timber and forest products industry. I read the report only recently.….

The committee's findings and recommendations are telling about the state of the industry and what is going on under Forestry Corporation. There were 11 findings, and I draw attention to finding 2, 3 and 5. Finding 2 states:

In the last decade, there has been no increase in additional hardwood and softwood timber plantations.

Finding 3 states:

The lack of expansion of timber plantations by the NSW Government has significantly contributed to the current timber crisis which has only been further exacerbated by recent events, including the 2019/20 bushfires.

We heard about those from the member for South Coast. Finding 5 states:

The reduction in harvestable areas of public native forests and failure to expand native hardwood plantations has resulted in the loss of wood supply …..

Recommendation 1 states:

That the NSW Government identify and implement as a priority a long term funded strategy for the expansion of both softwood and hardwood timber plantations in New South Wales.

We can all agree that has to happen. Recommendation 2 states:

That the NSW Government establish further state-owned timber plantations

Recommendation 4 states:

That the NSW Government provide long term support to workers in the timber and forest products industry transitioning away from native forestry to other parts of the sector with access to worker transition services, training and retraining support, relocation support, and counselling.

They are some of the results from the inquiry.

Mr DUGALD SAUNDERS(Dubbo—Minister for Agriculture, and Minister for Western New South Wales) (16:33): I thank the member for South Coast for tabling this petition. I have listened to the debate with great interest. I will clarify a few misconceptions. First, logging does not occur in State forests; selective harvesting occurs in State forests. The Environment Protection Authority is in charge of activating the regulations around that, and it does so regularly. The sawlog part of a tree is not used for biomass production; it is the roots, the bark and the other parts that cannot be used for anything apart from chipping, burning or pulping. It is about turning that waste into energy rather than leaving it to become a bushfire concern. That is the point.

As far as State forests, as the member for Oxley mentioned, only a tiny percentage of State forests are used for timber harvesting. We are talking about 1 per cent of the State forest that is harvested—that is, about 0.1 per cent of the broader forested landscape. It is a tiny amount, it is a managed amount, and it is not done in a way with disregard for the environment. That is the point.

Ever since I have been the Minister in this space, I have said that I hold Forestry Corporation to the highest level of compliance. That is absolutely what we need to do. On this side of the House, we all agree that there is no room for things to be done incorrectly. But to suggest that timber and State forests do not work hand in hand and do not support communities is just incorrect. It is also worth mentioning that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognises that managing forests for sustainable timber production is one of the best ways to mitigate climate change. Removing trees, allowing more sunshine through the canopy and growing new trees actually sequesters great amounts of carbon, and we have a fantastic renewable, organic and regenerative resource that we love as humans.

State forests also support things like native-based tourism. State forests are already doing that. We are expanding the mountain biking, the horseriding, the picnicking and the walking trails. They are all managed because we have State forests that are managed to support those activities. I am interested to see what Labor does around forests as a policy matter, because we have complete support from a number of workers up and down the coast and inland who are saying they want support for native forestry. On this side of the House, we absolutely provide that support. It is worth $2.8 billion and thousands of jobs. We have their back, but we also appreciate the petition.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I thank the guests in the public gallery, who were visiting today to listen to the debate. I also extend thanks to those members of the public who have been listening online.

Petition noted.