Environment Department sidelining leads to inadequate - 1 October 2009

“An interim report by the Natural Resources Commission on the River Red Gum wetlands of south-western NSW has confirmed what many have repeated ad nasuem to the NSW Government - this iconic ecosystem and forest is heavily stressed and likely to continue declining without intervention and protection,” says Ian Cohen, Greens MLC.

“The refusal by Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald to allow Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water to undertake environmental assessments has contributed to a disappointing preliminary report that falls far short of being a thorough assessment of the impact of logging and grazing on the forests.”

“On 2nd September, Minister Macdonald is alleged to have instructed NSW Forest staff to refuse permits to DECCW officers to inspect the forests. This meant the key deficiencies in the NRC report were not supplemented with DECCW expertise. I have filed a number of Freedom of Information requests to confirm what really happened and whether Minister Macdonald is actively blindsiding any form of protection and sustainable management of the forests.”

“In Budget Estimates hearings I asked the Minister why these DECCW staff were not allowed in to the forests. The Minister’s response was evasive. I also pressed the Primary Industries Minister to explain why DECCW, as the chief Government agency responsible for the environment, was not involved in the assessment of the Riverina wetlands.”

“If the correct agency - DECCW - had done the assessment in the first place we might have seen a more thorough assessment. I believe the decision to exclude DECCW from the assessment was deliberate. Expert environmental assessment would show that the logging of these Ramsar listed wetlands is destroying forest ecology and function.”

“In championing the plunder of the Riverina forests, Minister Macdonald claims that there are over 1000 timber jobs in red gum logging on public lands in NSW. The NRC report confirms my own findings that it is substantially less than that and puts it at 157 jobs.”

“The Federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts told a Senate Committee hearing earlier this year that the logging ‘has a very significant impact on the ecological character of the Central Murray Ramsar wetland’.”

“We should do as Victoria has done, recognise the extreme importance of these forests to our natural heritage and protect them in perpetuity by declaring them national parks.”