North East Forests Decision
Carr Abandons Promises to Save The Forests
The National Parks Association today said that Premier Carr had abandoned his promises to save the forests and bring an end to the forest conflicts.
"Bob Carr has broken his promises to save the old growth forests and wilderness, his promises to save the forests and his promise to end the clearfelling of our forests by bringing an end to export woodchipping ", said Noel Plumb , Executive Officer of the National Parks Association ". This decision makes a mockery of the ALP's much vaunted Forestry Policy".
The Premier has announced that only a third of the old growth, wilderness, endangered species habitat and other high conservation value forests of north east NSW, shown by the government's own $30 million scientific assessment to be needed to conserve forest species from extinction, were to be protected in new national parks
" The Premier can talk about the number of parks he has created until he is blue in the face. The truth is that he has broken the most fundamental conservation promise he made to the public to get elected in 1995."
"The Premier can create 500 parks but what is their worth if they can not protect nature and do not honour his most fundamental promises."
"Conservation groups offered the government a solution which protected all old growth and wilderness areas and required not one job loss before the year 2006 and possibly NO job losses even then. We provided the government with the ability to restructure this vandalism in the forests by arranging a steady transition of jobs to plantations at the rate of about only 100 jobs a year over the next eight years."
"Instead Bob Carr has caved into the lowest common denominator, the thuggery of the timber industry union and threats by timber industry bosses to close mills just to embarrass the government."
For Comment : Noel Plumb 018 975 075 or 9233 4660
NATIONAL PARKS
ASSOCIATION OF NSW INC
PO Box A96 Sydney South 1235
Ph: (02) 9233 4660 Fax: (02) 9233 4880
For more information contact the National Parks Association office (Kristi Macdonald or John Macris) on (02) 9233 4660.
12 November 1998