“Instead of being the unofficial ‘Foreign Affairs Minister for NSW’, travelling on overseas junkets and entertaining international business men at a record rate, the Minister should have turned his attention to the unapproved logging of high conservation value forests of NSW. He is presiding over a massive betrayal of all principles of sustainability in the Riverina Red Gum area and is making a mockery of portfolios.”
“The Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett action is a step to protecting the River Red Gum wetlands ecosystem being logged to death by the NSW Government. I have been campaigning on this issue since Bob Carr was Premier of NSW and my requests for this vandalism to stop have fallen on deaf ears over and over again,” says Ian Cohen, Greens MLC.”
“In yet another case of the Rees Government being the albatross of the Federal Government, Ian McDonald should be embarrassed that Federal Labor has to order NSW Labor to stop this unapproved activity.”
“The logging of this area doesn’t have any environmental planning approval under either State or Federal Acts. We now have unconfirmed reports that the Minister and Forests NSW are intending to illegally circumvent the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act Part 3A application and appoint itself as judge and jury under Part 5 of the Act – both preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and determining the application.”
“The NSW Labor Government has simply turned a blind eye to the destruction of these high conservation areas in order to maintain the output of low value timber products. In comparison Victoria has taken responsible steps to preserving the River Red Gums which function as filters and ‘green lungs’, crucial to the healthy functioning of the Murray River system. ”
“This is not a simple issue of the environment versus jobs as it is being portrayed. Independent economic assessment reveals that the number of jobs affected is around 120, not the several hundreds that are being claimed.”
“Jobs are in danger in an industry that is rushing towards its own extinction, so why is the State Government not looking at exit strategies for these people. The Environment Minister has been talking about “green jobs” with regularity in State parliament. “
“The tourism and ecosystem service possibilities for these forests promise far greater returns than the production of low value timber. This has been well proven with the Wran government’s protection of the Northern NSW rainforests in the 1980s.”
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