With the Berejiklian Government now re-elected, we cannot ignore that this Government has demonstrated such contempt for protecting the environment.
It was positive to hear that the Don Harwin, NSW Energy Minister acknowledge “The Federal Government is out of touch on energy and climate policy …” Yet its own performance on climate change has been woeful, with many new coal mines approved in NSW over the past 4 years.
The NSW Government passed its Orwellian ‘Biodiversity’ laws that allows the destruction of habitat by greenlighting broadscale land clearing of native bushland. Nor can its flawed “offset money” for biodiversity management ever compensate for the loss of endangered habitat.
Regional Forest Agreements were renewed in 2018, signalling more intensive and destructive logging regimes of our State Forests which are pushing koalas and other arboreal mammals to extinction.
The Berejiklian Government has passed legislation (Water NSW Act) to raise the Warragamba Dam wall and flood 4,700 hectares of World Heritage national parks.
Major funding cuts to the National Parks and Wildlife Service have also occurred during the Coalition’s time in office. This Government also revoked Marine Sanctuaries and then backflipped on its plans for a Sydney Marine Park.
The Nature Conservation Council has prepared a report recommending 5 key points for 2019 election candidates in order to protect our nature and make climate our number-one priority. See nature.org.au/nsw-election-2019.
- Set up a $2-billion regional renewable energy fund to accelerate the transition to clean energy;
- Set up a $1.5-billion land and biodiversity fund to restore bushland and forest to protect all high-conservation-value habitat from clearing;
- Establish a Sydney Marine Park to give the marine life the world-class protections it deserves;
- Create the Great Koala National Park to save our iconic species for future generations; and
- End logging of public native forests to protect these remaining ecosystems, which are among the most diverse in the world.
NSW needs leaders who recognise a healthy, functioning environment is essential for the health and wellbeing of its people.