THE QUEEN GETS IT. WHY CAN'T GLADYS ?

In a Media Release on April 18, the North Coast Environment Council (NCEC), the peak community environment body on the NSW North Coast, criticised the NSW Government's new  forests logging legislation which the NCEC believes will see forests on crown lands in NSW further degraded and diminished while protection for most threatened species will be removed.

NCEC spokesperson Susie Russell  has compared Premier  Gladys Berijiklian's forest policies with the plans of Queen Elizabeth II for a Commonwealth-wide plan for forest conservation.

“So while we turn our clocks back, and continue to destroy some of the most valuable living treasures on the continent- our unique forests and woodlands -the rest of the Commonwealth is abuzz about the new film featuring the Queen and David Attenborough and the Queen's call for forest conservation,” said Susie Russell.

“While the Queen is projecting images of rainforests on Buckingham Palace to encourage global rainforest conservation, in NSW Gladys is allowing Forestry Corporation to get away unpenalised after bulldozing illegal roads through rainforest on crown lands, as they did in Cherry Tree State Forest.

“Other Commonwealth countries are showcasing their contributions of dedicated forest reserves to Queen Elizabeth II's global legacy project The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC), which is dedicated to the conservation of forests in Commonwealth countries. 

“Yet here in Australia, we're destroying century-old mature trees and planting tiny seedlings as our contribution. Logging is causing accelerating expansion of dieback through crown forests. It's embarrassing. Almost 90% of our wood already comes from plantations, and nearly all the jobs are in plantations, so why are our governments so determined to destroy crown land by promoting native forest logging when economically it actually loses money,” she said.

Key objectives of the QCC include:

• raising the awareness of the value of native forests and 'saving them for future generations'
• creating a network of foreest conservation projects
• hoping to demonstrate the capacity of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth 'to act together as one to ensure forest conservation' 

“In NSW we are logging and degrading World Heritage class eucalypt forests and rainforests, surely protecting them is a legacy every Premier would want. Premiers Wran and Carr said protected forests were their most enduring legacy. But not Gladys... her legacy will be one rebuilt sports stadium and millions of trees gone and vast areas of crown lands degraded. Like asbestos and plastic waste, forest degradation is yet another environmental 'legacy' left behind for future generations to repair,” Ms Russell said.