Greens MP Ian Cohen is calling for a halt to clearing of 360 hectares of critically endangered bushlandon a former ADI site in the Cumberland Plain.  The imminent clearing by bulldozers of this bushland - adjacent to sensitive wetlands - flies in the face of the NSW Government’s own advice on the Cumberland Plain.The environmental approval that allows Delfin Lend Lease to clear the area and build homes for 6500 people was granted under now superseded Federal conservation laws. The site should be reconsidered using current Federal law and NSW State guidelines.

“This clearing should be halted immediately. Both Federal scientists and NSW Department of Environment Water and Climate Change (DECCW)
scientists have listed this area, the Cumberland Plain Woodland in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, as a Critically Endangered Ecological Community
and yet it is about to be bulldozed,” says Greens MP Ian Cohen.

“Environment Minister Sartor must talk to his Federal counterpart, Mr Garrett, and act to save the Cumberland Plain from desecration. (more…)

in this, the year of women in local government.

Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon has congratulated the Liverpool Plains farming community for their win in the Supreme Court and said the victory has statewide significance.

The NSW Supreme Court yesterday found that BHP Billiton’s licence to explore for coal on the properties of two Liverpool Plains farmers were invalid because the company had not consulted all landholders.

“This is a most welcome decision that brings some balance to the mining approval process that is so weighted in favour of mining companies,” Ms Rhiannon said.

“When the NSW parliament resumes next week I will question the Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald on what action his department will now take to ensure breaches of the NSW Mining Act no longer occur. (more…)

Greens MLC Mark Parnell has called on all political parties and candidates standing at the 2010 state election to publicly reveal before Election Day who is paying for their campaigns.

The SA Greens have published online a list of all donors (over $1,500) to the party over the last 12 months, and will update this list right up until the day before the state election.

“South Australian voters have a right to know who is paying the bills for each party’s election campaign,” said Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

“Yet under the current rules we don’t find out who has given what money to federally registered parties until February next year - and in the case of state registered parties and independents we never find out. (more…)

Conservation groups today appealed the Premier to intervene in the battle over the future of the last koala colony in the South East Forests in a remote area near Bega.

“Our people inspected the remote area on Monday and found that contrary to statements from the Minister for the Environment, State Forest bulldozers were already at work on the road network that will be needed to allow access for the Eden woodchip mill’s huge log trucks,” said spokespersons for the groups.

“State Forests is deliberately pushing the community closer to direct confrontation in the forests even while protracted negotiations on the fate of the koalas are under way with the Department of the Environment.” (more…)

NSW Greens MP and transport spokesperson Lee Rhiannon says Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese will only succeed in transforming Sydney into a more liveable city if he directs Infrastructure Australia to shift its funding preference from road construction to public transport and rail freight infrastructure.

“The key to liveable cities is public transport. Anthony Albanese must allocate funding from Infrastructure Australia to large scale public transport projects, reversing the current preoccupation with roads,” Ms Rhiannon said.

“It’s time for a funding switch from the current situation where the Federal government is allocating $28 billion to road projects over six years, while rail gets a mere $7.9 billion. (more…)

Mr Ian Cohen, a Greens MP, who strongly opposed the now defunct Mogo Charcoal Factory proposal, and who is a long-term opponent of the woodchipping industry, has been ordered to pay $15,000 in defamation damages as well as massive legal costs, after a developer won a High Court challenge late last year.

The politician who said too much will be in Moruya on Saturday March 13 at the Waterfront Hotel for a fund-raiser for his legal costs. The night is aptly called ‘Bite Your Tongue’.  Fabulous local artists Matt Southon, Jeff Aschmann and Lisa & Tony have donated their time but the big news is that on his way to a tour of Japan, world renowned didgeridoo player Charlie McMahon is taking a detour to play on the night. Charlie is well known for his work in the seminal Australian band Gondwanaland but lesser known is that he featured, with the London Symphony Orchestra, on Mad Max - Beyond the Thunderdome. (more…)

The NSW government’s approval for two new giant fossil fuel power stations is based on the big lie that they are needed to keep the lights on. They will drive up the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and destroy jobs in the renewable energy industry, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Commenting on Planning Minister Tony Kelly’s approval of the concept plans for 2,000 MW power plants at Mt Piper near Lithgow and Bayswater in the Upper Hunter, Dr Kaye said: “NSW does not need more baseload electricity generation to keep the lights on. (more…)

(letter to Braidwood Times, published March 3, 2010)

With deliberations on the new Palerang LEP working draft just begun, it is clear that environmental issues will not receive the support that some may have expected. At last Thursday’s meeting, Clause 26D, Ecologically Sustainable Development (local), was the first to go. It stated: Before granting consent for development, the consent authority must have regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development as they relate to the proposed development. Not long after that, the fifth objective of the section RU1 Primary Production was debated - to ensure that the development and management of the land has proper regard for the environmental constraints of the land and has a neutral or beneficial impact on environmental assets including waterways, riparian land, wetlands and other surface and groundwater resources, soil fertility, remnant native vegetation, and existing and potential fauna movement corridors. With Cr Turley safely out of the room after it was suggested in no uncertain terms that she had an unexempted pecuniary interest, this clause was successfully deleted also, with the casting vote of the mayor. (more…)

(printed in March 2 edition of the Canberra Times)

Since your January 26 story “Koalas face big logging threat”, nothing much has changed except that, despite numerous representations to Ministers and further attempts to highlight the issue in the media and elsewhere, logging may begin as soon as Monday March 1. The support given by current and past governments to the ongoing, taxpayer-subsidised woodchipping of native forests and these governments’ blatant disregard for the protection of forests for biodiversity, water quality, habitat, climate change mitigation and tourist attraction reasons is hard to comprehend. How does continued logging of native forests in this way, without even value-adding in Australia, contribute to the nation’s financial or environmental well-being? (more…)