Secret Government document reveals Department conflict over Kings Forest - 11 March 2010

Greens MP Ian Cohen is calling on the Minister for Planning to review internal documents marked ‘not for file’ on Kings Forest obtained under freedom of information. The former Minister denied the existence of this file that reveals an intense inter-departmental stoush between Department of Environment and the Department of Planning over conservation outcomes for Kings Forest.

“To many of us the controversy surrounding Kings Forest encompasses a simple story of the conflict between conservation objectives and residential development. However, behind bureaucracy walls the Department of Planning wilfully ignored advice from Department of Environment that DoP’s recommendations directly compromise the ongoing viability of local populations of two threatened fauna species, the koala and the long-nosed potoroo,” says Mr Cohen.

In an internal letter dated 31 January 2006 Joe Woodward, the then executive director of the Environment Protection Regulation Division, advised the then Acting Executive Director Yolanda Stone that;

“The DEC is of the view that to ensure the long-term survival of the species, in particular the Koala, the Long-nosed Potoroo and the Wallum Froglet, the southern and north-eastern portions of Kings Forest would need to be conserved under an appropriate environmental protection zone. Such an outcome would also contribute to the conservation of Aboriginal cultural heritage. The DoP's position, as advised to Project 28, achieves considerably less than the DEC's recommendation.”

“The Department of Environment and Conservation has told the Department of Planning that Project 28's development proposal will sever the link between key habitats and will significantly reduce the long-term viability of the Cudgen Nature Reserve.”

“It will result in the loss of local populations of a number of threatened species—a process that inevitably leads to extinction. The Department of Planning is ignoring the advice of respected ecological consultants and the New South Wales Government's key environmental agency.”

“To add further insult, the Department of Planning suppressed reports of three independent ecological experts from planning reviews conducted by the Planning Workshop and the Snowy Mountains Electricity Commission.”

“The remnants of protest from the Department of Environment and Conservation were well and truly eliminated when the project proponents called on Minister Sartor and personally asked the Minister to call in Kings Forest under part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act according to department correspondence.”