In New South Wales 75 hectares of wildlife habitat and carbon storage is bulldozed or logged every day. Something to remember when filling in your ballot paper at the March 2023 state election

IMAGE: Macquarie Port News

Nature Conservation Council (NSW), media release, 30 June 2022:

75 hectares of habitat lost each day in NSW

Latest land clearing data shows 75 hectares of wildlife habitat is bulldozed or logged every day in NSW, almost twice the average annual rate recorded before the Coalition overhauled nature laws in 2016. [1]

The annual Statewide Land and Tree Study (SLATS) data shows 27,610 hectares of native forest were destroyed for farming, forestry and development in 2020.

“This astounding rate of deforestation is a disaster for wildlife and the climate. We call on the government to take urgent action to reverse the trend,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said.

“In just one year we have lost an area of native forest nearly double the size of Royal National Park. It is simply unsustainable.

“Using widely accepted data on wildlife population densities, clearing on that scale would have killed up to 4.6 million animals - mammals, birds and reptiles – in just 12 months. [2]

“Native forests in NSW can absorb up to 44 tonnes/hectare of C02 annually [3].

“Protected from logging, NSW public native forests could store an additional 900 million tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to six years of NSW emissions.

“These forests are a critical carbon sink that we need to protect to pursue meaningful action on climate change.

“After the government weakened land clearing laws in 2016, deforestation rates doubled and have remained at these dangerously high levels ever since.

“The Coalition promised it’s new laws would enhance protections for bushland and wildlife.

“These figures, and the rising number of threatened species, shows the laws completely fail to deliver on that promise.

“More than 1,040 plants and animals are now threatened with extinction in NSW, about 40 more than when the scheme was introduced.

“The government must stop uncontrolled deforestation on private land and in state forests if it is going to tackle the extinction crisis.”

The SLATS data show a 43% increase in the amount of vegetation cover lost in production forests, presumably due to the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires.

“Native forests in NSW can absorb up to 44 tonnes/hectare of C02 annually,” Mr Gambian said.

“Protected from logging, NSW public native forests could store an additional 900 million tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to six years of NSW emissions.

“These forests are a critical carbon sink that we need to protect to pursue meaningful action on climate change."

REFERENCES

[1] Land cover change reporting, DPIE, June 2022

[2] Native Animals Lost to Tree Clearing in NSW 1998-2015, WWF-Australia, 2018

[3] Green Carbon report, The Wilderness Society, 2008 (figure of 44 tonnes/hectare of CO2 arrived at by multiplying the figure of 12 tonnes of Carbon a year by 3.67)

The Berejiklian-Maguire saga continues behind closed doors at NSW ICAC inquiry

Reading between the lines it seems Premier Dominic Perrottet is hoping to have a final NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption determination in the Operation Keppel Public Inquiry by October 2022, concerning former premier & former Liberal MP for Willoughby Gladys Berejiklian, so that he can create some clear air before the March 2023 state election.

Perhaps optimistically believing that state voters will forget that the stench of Liberal corruption is not just attached to the federal parliamentary branch of this political party.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 2022:

The anti-corruption commissioner overseeing the inquiry into former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s conduct has had her term renewed for another six months in the latest extension to the high-profile probe.

Former Court of Appeal judge Ruth McColl, SC, will continue as a temporary commissioner in the investigation known as Operation Keppel until the end of October, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has confirmed.

Gladys Berejiklian was grilled before the NSW ICAC for two days last year. CREDIT:ICAC

Read the full article here.

 

If you are a Yamba resident or have a holiday home in the town this Valley Watch-sponsored community meeting concerning Yamba Flood Planning being held on Saturday 9 July 2022 will be of interest to you

 

As at 10 August 2021 there were 6,670 people living in Yamba & environs with 805 visitors temporarily resident in various hotel, motel, caravan park & holiday rental accommodation. That 7,475 population is estimated to double during peak holiday periods as holidaymakers flock to the town. 

It appears that local government is hoping to grow the Yamba and environs resident population by at least 8,862-9,000 people in the next 19 years without ever providing the required "safe occupation and efficient evacuation of people" in times of flooding and that population and development not "exceed the capacity of existing evacuation routes for the surrounding area in the event of a flood".

As the one road leading both in and out of Yamba (which is also the official and only evacuation route) travels over one bridge and two causeways before reaching the next town at the end of an est. 19km journey and, in addition that road can be cut by deep stormwater and/or flood waters at one or all of another nine points before flood prone Maclean township is reached, then it can hardly be called a safe and efficient mass evacuation route even now.

It has also been made very clear to Yamba residents that NSW emergency services consider that safe evacuation is the resident's individual responsibility.

Sections of Yamba's official evacuation route on 1 March 2022
IMAGES: Yahoo! News

Problems with existing land currently under development in Yamba

West Yamba From O'Grady's Lane, flooding in Feb-March 2022 

by clarencegirl on Scribd

Park Ave and 135 Yamba Road Photos during Feb-March 2022 

localised flooding in Yamba, Clarence Valley

by clarencegirl on Scribd

CLIMATE CHANGE & NEW SOUTH WALES: filed under 'What could possibly go wrong?"

Global sea levels have already risen by 20cm (between 1901 and 2018) and the Australasia region, which includes New Zealand, has experienced even higher rates than the global average. More coastal flooding is expected as levels rise even further. The latest predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report reveal further increases are largely locked in, with a rise of about 15cm to 30cm [0.3m] expected by around 2050. [news.com.au, 21 September 2021]

Coastal Risk Australia updated inundation mapping for
Lower Clarence Valley at 0.3m rise above mean sea level

Coastal Risk Australia updated inundation mapping for
Lower Clarence Valley at 0.6m above mean sea level

I find it immeasurably sad that the NSW Government and coastal local government councils continue to plan development based on pre-Climate Emergency conditions. 

It's a though every climate change induced disaster and widespread adverse weather event that has occurred in the last 22 years - from the Millennial Drought to stronger East Coast Lows to constant coastal erosion eating away at foreshores to mega-bushfires to devastating record flooding to what appears to be a food shortage cycle developing - are still matters these two tiers of government can only deal with as compartmentalised abstracts when it comes to both short-term and long-term urban planning.

They still see low lying coastal areas with soft shore lines and city, town & village precincts slap in the middle of coastal floodplains already under stress, as capable of development far into the future - when in reality many may well be reduced in area or completely uninhabitable within the next 30 to 100 years. 

Clarence Valley Independent, 29 June 2022:

The state government is calling for public submissions about changes to Clarence Valley Council’s Business and Industrial Zones, which will be called Employment Zones, under new Local Environment Planning laws.

In May 2021, The NSW Department of Environment and Planning DEP proposed that existing Business and Industrial zones be replaced with five Employment zones and three supporting zones under the Standard Instrument Local Environment Plans SILEP Order, 2006.

Since then, DEP planners have been working with Clarence Valley Council planning staff to ensure its Local Environment Plan ‘is amended consistent with the intent of the state government reforms, while also ensuring the land-use planning outcomes are appropriate to the Clarence Valley.’

When the Independent searched what impact the changes would have on a Yamba Street, Yamba address and a Prince Street, Grafton property, we discovered the premises would switch from a Business 2 Local Centre to an Employment 1 Local Centre.

Under the planning changes, home business, home industries and home occupations will be permitted without planning consent, adhering to the Employment zone objective ‘to provide a range of retail, business and community uses that serve the needs of people who live, work or visit the area.’

The new Employment zone also expands land use permissibility in both Grafton and Yamba, with a wider variety of businesses and land uses permitted than under previous laws, including serviced apartments, hotel and motel accommodation, local distribution premises and recreation areas…...

The zones will also address current barriers within the planning system that limit the ability of businesses to establish, expand or adapt.

The new LEP zones are designed to better support councils in the delivery of the strategic vision contained in their Local Strategic Planning Statements and background studies.

The spokesperson said the Employment zones will be in place within individual LEPs by December 1, when the Business and Industrial zones will be repealed.

Stakeholders are invited to make submissions on the changes to the NSW DEP until July 12.

To investigate the changes under the new employment zones in your area visit the NSW DEP Website www.planning.nsw.gov.au/employment-zones-reform

A Stunning Collection Of Twenty Five Black And White Portraits Of Yaegl Elders on Exhibition at Old Kirk-Yamba Museum in River Street from Monday 4 July to Sunday 24 July 2022

 

‘KEEPING OUR STORIES 'PORTRAITS OF YAEGL ELDERS'

A STUNNING COLLECTION OF TWENTY FIVE BLACK AND WHITE PORTRAITS OF YAEGL ELDER

On exhibition at the Old Kirk-Yamba Museum, River Street, Yamba NSW.

From Monday 4th July to Sunday 24th July 2022.

Official book launch Friday 22nd July 10.30am 

Note: 

Images (left to right)

Top Row Middle: Mrs Lillian Williams.

Bottom Row Middle and Far Right: Reverend Lenore Parker-Randall & Mrs. Lois Birk

Some people just don't retire gracefully from politics or public office

 

A retired politician, well-known by his ministerial policies and actions to communities in the Northern Rivers region, also took very early 'retirement' from his new positions as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Americas on 30 June 2022.

This does not signal that troubles are over for former NSW Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade, Nationals MP for Monaro, sometime invited 'guest' of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption & now formerly appointed NSW Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner (New York posting), John Domenic Barilaro.

 

BACKGROUND

The Monthly, 29 June 2022: 

...It’s not looking good for former NSW deputy premier and trade minister John Barilaro, following a parliamentary hearing into how he was offered a $500,000-a-year US trade commissioner job that he created while in government. But nor is it looking good for Premier Dominic Perrottet, or the trade minister, Stuart Ayres, or for anyone involved in this whole sordid saga. (Admittedly, it never looked good to begin with, with incriminating details being uncovered by the day.) Giving testimony today, Investment NSW chief executive Amy Brown, who was responsible for the process, confirmed that she had “verbally offered” the role to preferred candidate Jenny West in August last year – contradicting Perrottet, who has previously said no suitable candidate was found. But the offer was rescinded in October, Brown said, after she was instructed by Barilaro’s office to “unwind” it, because of a “government decision” to instead make such roles ministerial appointments. This came, it turns out, not long after his office had sought her advice on “the various mechanisms” by which such jobs could be appointed, including whether it could be a ministerial appointment, in a request that was clear came from the deputy PM himself. What on earth made Barilaro think he could get away with nobody noticing this paper trail?

There had been something fishy about Barilaro’s lucrative appointment from the moment it was announced – and not just because this is the politician who happily adopted the moniker John “Pork Barrel-aro”. (Perhaps it might now be “jobs for the Barilaros”.) It quickly became known that Barilaro got the job after it had already been offered to West, with that offer rescinded just days before the former Nats leader announced his resignation from parliament. Then there was the fact that Brown had told the external recruitment firm that the appointment would be henceforth handled as an “internal matter” the day before Barilaro announced his resignation, despite Perrottet and Ayres saying this week that the process was handled by the recruiting firm. Today’s inquiry also revealed that Brown got a “heads up” from new trade minister Ayres that Barilaro was going to apply (she didn’t get a “heads up” on any other candidate), and that she later informed Ayers that his former cabinet colleague had been shortlisted.....

It’s also not hard to see why Barilaro though t he might get away with this. As the AFR’s Tom Burton writes, “Along with pork-barrelling, ‘jobs for the boys’ has been one of the ugly stalwarts of modern public-sector life”, with public boards often filled with “friends” of the government of the day. And some jobs are simply described as “political appointments” (the previous federal government made more than 30 such appointments on its way out the door). This kind of corruption has become painfully normalised. But in this case, Barilaro has steamrolled someone else – an “excellent candidate”, according to Brown – who is now being painted as some kind of jilted lover, with Brown implying that the frustrated candidate refused to reapply. (It’s not clear whether West knew something we didn’t back in October last year, but honestly, can you blame her?) It was shameless of Barilaro to pull this one, thinking he could simply take a role that has already been assigned. But it was equally foolish of Perrottet to allow it to happen. People are paying attention, it seems, and there’s no doubt that ICAC is watching too. 

Media attention also continues with regard to other issues:

Icac queries grant made by John Barilaro to company linked to Angus Taylor’s family

Tweet of the Week

 

I filed my @smh cartoon early. A little too early, it would seem! pic.twitter.com/3LuLTWPMNh

— The Cathy Wilcox (@cathywilcox1) June 30, 2022