FINALLY - ACTION ON BLUEBERRY INDUSTRY NON-COMPLIANCE

 More than a decade since local environment groups first began voicing concerns about the ballooning intensive horticulture industry in the Coffs – Clarence area, the Natural Resource Access Regulator decides to clamp down on non-compliance. So why has it taken so long?

 

About five years ago, in response to a deluge of complaints about the industry, an inter-agency advisory committee was finally formed, which seemingly included virtually every government agency and Council on the north coast.

 

By 2017 the committee had reported widespread illegal land-clearing, including repeat offenders, and the conclusion that “growers are prepared to pay fines as a business cost”. Complaints about water use, pesticide use and spray drift, poor worker accommodation and site safety, along with observations that erosion control was virtually non-existent, were also reported in committee minutes.

 

That committee was only able to support planning and promote best practice, with no regulatory power to enforce it. That was apparently against government policy at the time. In fact the then Minister wrote to one environment group in the Clarence Valley saying he was opposed to regulation because it “might encourage non-compliance”.

 

In 2017, Water NSW, the then regulatory authority, was so determined that problems relating to water use by blueberry growers not be aired, that they employed a lawyer at tax-payers' expense to prevent one local environment group from giving evidence to a tribunal hearing over a water licence application.

 

Despite no real compliance monitoring or enforcement throughout the past decade, this latest “crack down” has been widely reported in the media, seemingly used as some sort of a public relations coup!

 

Last week The Sydney Morning Herald reported Coffs Harbour's former deputy Mayor making the point that many of the current problems have arisen as a result of intensive horticulture not being required to present a development application (DA). However, all that would be needed is to add that activity to the existing list of developments that already require a DA on rural zoned land. All it takes is political will, but there is little evidence of that at this time.

 

            - John Edwards

 

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on September 28 ,  2020. 

THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT AND METHANE

Months ago the Australian Government revealed it was looking at a gas led recovery from the economic slump the nation is in as a result of the COVID crisis. Last week we heard more about this plan.

This latest energy ‘policy’ is another disappointment.  Since it came to power in 2013 the Federal Government has introduced and then abandoned a series of energy policies, largely because of the intransigence of the climate deniers in in its ranks who are determined to continue business as usual with fossil fuels.

This latest is just another version of business as usual.  Instead of coal, we have gas – methane  – another fossil fuel.  The Government’s claim that gas is not as emissions intensive as coal ignores the problem of fugitive emissions during gas mining and transport.  And methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas which, although it remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time than CO₂ , is about 86 times more potent per unit of mass over 20 years according to recent studies

The folly of replacing one fossil fuel with another is just one of the problems with the Government’s latest energy plan.  Another is the economic situation of the gas industry globally.

According to Bruce Robertson, a gas analyst with the Institute of Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis, the gas industry around the world is in dire straits for a variety of reasons.  There is a global gas glut with gas companies around the world declaring bankruptcy and major projects being shelved.

And yet we have the Federal Government supporting the expansion of gas mining and pipeline infrastructure and construction of a gas-fired peaking plant in the Hunter Valley.  And if the private sector won’t build this plant, the government says it will build it.  Robertson says, “If investors won’t back it, why should taxpayers?”

If the federal government gets its way, we will be locked in to using gas for around 30 years, endangering our Paris climate commitment as well as exposing taxpayers to the likelihood of a stranded asset. 

Looks as if the long term national interest is once again a politician-inflicted casualty.

            - Leonie Blain

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on September 21 ,  2020.

 

NEFA DEMANDS FULL SURVEY AFTER FINDING KOALA REFUGIA

 

In light of the increasing evidence of the devastating impacts if the bushfires on Koalas, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is renewing its calls for a thorough independent survey to identify the full extent of Koala refugia in Myrtle State Forest after finding a significant Koala fire refuge on 3 September..

In a brief audit of 7 hectares of burnt forest in Myrtle State Forest  NEFA identified 1,118 Koala scats under 18 trees, with 516 scats under one tree, in an area where the Forestry Corporation have never identified Koalas.

Despite the Government's refusal to look before they log, NEFA have proven that Koala fire refugia exists in Myrtle State Forest, and are likely to be more widespread, making it clear that a full survey needs to be undertaken if the Government has any intent of honouring their promise to save Koalas, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"Rather than continuing to intentionally and blindly log surviving koala refugia the Government must undertake surveys to identify and protect them from further degradation", Mr. Pugh said.

"The recent report by Steve Phillips for WWF found an average 71% reduction in Koalas in burnt forests.

"The scats we found in Myrtle State Forest are all post-fire, indicating the colony was once a lot larger.

"This surviving Koala colony is of exceptional importance for recovery of the decimated Banyabba population, it is grossly irresponsible for the Government to now log it.

"The new logging rules require the Forestry Corporation to protect 10% of the potential logging area in perpetuity as Wildlife Habitat Clumps and Habitat Tree Clumps, and the rules for burnt forest require an additional 7% to be temporarily protected.

"There are a variety of criteria for selecting these exclusions, including that they maximise inclusion of the most important Koala habitat, such as the area we have identified.

"The problem is that there is no requirement to undertake surveys to identify the most important wildlife areas to be protected in perpetuity, rather it is up to the whim of a forester. So while 17% of the potentially loggable area of this forest is required to be protected, there is no requirement to first identify Koala refugia for inclusion.

"NEFA's Preliminary Audit of Myrtle State Forest found that the Forestry Corporation were selecting the most heavily burnt and degraded forests for permanent exclusions. As a result of our complaint logging was postponed on the 24 August when the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) intervened to oversee the Forestry Corporation's selection of exclusions.

"NEFA's request to the EPA that a scat detection dog be used to undertake a thorough search for Koalas with a view to identifying remaining core Koala habitat for protection was dismissed.

"The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) 2020 have recently undertaken surveys of 15 areas of national parks in north east NSW using a combination of scat-detection dogs and modelling to comprehensively identify the remaining Koala refugia, noting 'Identifying fire refugia areas and understanding their spatial configuration within the surrounding burnt matrix is crucial to post fire species recovery and management'.

"This highlights that the Government's refusal to survey for Koalas on State Forests is ideological because contrary to their pretence they don't want Koala fire refugia to be identified or excluded from logging" Mr. Pugh said.

 

NEFA's report 'The identification of Koala refugia in Myrtle State Forest' is at https://www.nefa.org.au/audits