FORESTS AND NATIONAL PARKS CONCERNS OF GRAFTON NANNAS

This blogging Nanna has had so many stitches on her bamboo needles in recent months that she has been very slack in doing important things like posting on this blog.  So there's some catching up to do!!

Nanna Kerry protesting outside Chris Gulaptis' office

LETTER TO  CHRIS GULAPTIS MEMBER FOR CLARENCE

 The letter below was presented to our local state MP at a knit-in on August 27th.

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Dear Mr Gulaptis

Protected Forest and Murray River National Park Concerns

The members of the Grafton Loop of the Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed are very concerned about the push to log important forest areas in this state.

1. Logging Protected Areas of State Forests

Over a year ago, on 31st May 2018, we wrote to you about the management of our State Forests and the proposed new logging rules which would see much more intensive logging and increased mortality for native wildlife as their habitat was destroyed.  Unsurprisingly the Government did not listen to the concerns of community members and scientists about the folly of its plans.

Now we see the Government is planning to allow logging in more than 15,000 ha of protected old-growth and high-conservation-value public forests.

The Nannas remind you again that the State Forests of NSW belong to the people of this state - not to the timber industry or to a Government that appears hell-bent on damaging as much of the natural environment as it can while it is in office.

We also point out that these forests store huge amounts of carbon - something the government should be aiming to keep stored as part of a comprehensive policy of climate change action.  (It is, of course, astonishing that the Government does not have a comprehensive or effective climate policy.)

In addition these forests provide crucial habitat  for many threatened species including koalas, owls and quolls.

2. Push by the National Party to Log Murray River NP

The Nannas are appalled that your party is pushing to allow logging in the Murray River NP.  If Mr Barilaro and your Nationals colleagues are so concerned about jobs in that area - and in other regional areas - it's way past time that they spent some time investigating sustainable jobs rather than harking back to the destructive days of  the past.

In conclusion, Mr Gulaptis, the Nannas have two questions for you based on the concerns expressed in this letter:

• What plans do you and the National Party have for the creation of sustainable jobs in the regions - including our own.
• What are the Government's plans in relation to effective action on climate change?

Nanna Dorothy ready to deliver our letter

NOTE:  The Grafton Nannas are still waiting for a response to our letter from our MP (28-9-19)

GRAFTON NANNAS OBJECT TO STATE GOVERNMENT'S DISSOLVING OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE

During a recent knit-in outside the office of the State Member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, the Grafton Nannas delivered a letter to the MP about their concerns about the NSW Government's changes to the status of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) following the recent state election.

The  text of the letter is printed below:

Dissolving of Office of Environment and Heritage

The Grafton Nannas are very concerned about your Government’s recently announced intention of doing away with the Office of Environment and Heritage  as an independent entity.

We have long been worried about the Government’s lack of concern about protecting the natural environment for current and future generations of humans as well as for other life forms.

Government policies over recent years have been seen by many in our community and elsewhere as being a de facto war on the natural environment.

For example:

·         Changes to vegetation laws which have led to a large increase in clearing of habitat which is important to the survival of native flora and fauna.  This weakening of the former laws is also likely to lead to increased topsoil loss and general land degradation.

·         Changes to logging regulations which threaten the sustainability of native forests which belong to the people of NSW – and not to logging interests.  These changes include limiting pre-logging fauna surveys, an inevitable increase in clear-felling, and reduction in  the width of buffer zones along streams. 

·         Failure to protect the health of rivers, particularly those in the Murray-Darling Basin.  For years the NSW Government, as well as the Federal Government, has been pandering to the irrigation industry while ignoring the need to protect river health by ensuring that flows are adequate for river health.  The drought is not an excuse for this folly.

·         Other examples include the cutting of funding to the National Parks & Wildlife Service and penny-pinching changes to its structure as well as the failure to ensure that the existing weak environment laws are enforced and appropriate penalties imposed on those who breach them.

We are aware that the Premier recently stated that her Government would make the environment a priority. 

Since hearing that OEH was to lose any of the limited independence it currently has and is to be pushed into a mega-Planning Department, we are left wondering about what the premier actually meant about “priority”.  Did she mean that she intended to make it a priority to finish off effective protection of the natural environment – something started years ago under the Coalition State Government?  It looks very much like that to the Nannas.

Nannas deliver the letter to Member for Clarence