Bob Carr's New Forestry Law
Old Growth and Wilderness Forests Sacrificed
Rural Communities Threatened
The National Parks Association today warned that the Carr government's proposed new forestry law now before Parliament will give the timber industry unhindered rights to destroy vast areas of old growth and wilderness forests, with grave consequences for the health of rural communities and their economies.
"How will rural communities feel when their rivers again run red with mud, their town drinking supplies are polluted, their fishing industries destroyed and their nature based tourism and recreation industry is destroyed," said Noel Plumb, Executive Officer of the National Parks Association. " This law takes us back twenty years."
"The Premier's decision to protect less than one third of the forests scientifically identified as needed for new national parks means that some 300,000 ha of old growth forests and up to 100,000 ha of wilderness in north east and south east NSW remain outside the reserve system."
"This means that only the logging rules, or forest protocols, for forestry operations offer any protection at all to old growth , wilderness forests and other high conservation value forests left outside the new parks. These rules also determine the impact of logging on water quality and supply, wildlife, tourism and many fisheries."
"Unbelievably, the 'green' Premier's proposed law exempts the State Forest agency from public accountability and scrutiny for any adverse changes to the logging rules or forestry operations."
"State Forests is placed above the environmental planning controls under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act which apply to every other State agency or private developer, miner or logger in NSW. "
"State Forests will be answerable only to Ministers, politicians who can make decisions in secret for the next twenty years about changing the rules, about further extending clearfelling and woodchipping, about logging streamside buffers, about logging on steep land or highly erosive soils - all clearly on State Forests' agenda right now."
"Where the Ministers do put conditions on State Forest's logging operations, Bob Carr's proposed forestry law will remove the right of the public to uphold environmental laws and to take State Forests to the courts for breaches. Public rights to protect threatened species, stop water pollution or enforce logging rules will no longer apply to State Forests activities."
For further comment: Noel Plumb 02 9233 4660 or 018 975 075
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.
19 November 1998