A SAD DECISION FOR NATIONALLY THREATENED SPECIES

 NORTH EAST FOREST ALLIANCE

Media Release January 10 2024

Justice Perry ‘s judgement of today in North East Forest Alliance vs The Commonwealth of Australia is that no contemporaneous assessment is required before extending Regional Forest Agreements beyond the originally intended 20 years, noting:

the question of whether or not to enter into or vary an intergovernmental agreement of this nature is essentially a political one, the merits of which are matters for the government parties, and not the Courts, to determine.

NEFA objected to the Governments extending the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement in 2018 based on 1997 data, without requiring a new assessment, it is therefore extremely disappointing that after a 5 year legal battle this process of not requiring a contemporaneous assessment has been legally validated, NEFA President Dailan Pugh said.   

“This judgement means that it is valid to roll over Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) forever-more based on data collated in 1997 and politicised outcomes that ignore the science, including the rapidly increasing extinction risk faced by many forest fauna and the accelerating impact of climate heating upon them and forests. 

The original North East NSW forest agreement was made unilaterally by NSW in 1998 based on a 1997 assessment, and was only intended to last for 20 years, after which a new assessment was promised. This was adopted for the joint NSW-Commonwealth RFA in 2000.

After the 20 years was up, in 2018 Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison decided that they would not do a new assessment and, without any consideration of climate change, extended the existing RFA indefinitely as a variation.  

This decision was strongly objected to in 2018 by then opposition environment spokesperson, Penny Sharpe, who said the science underpinning the RFAs is out of date and incomplete, committing that ALP Labor will not sign off on a rollover of the RFAs until there is a proper, independent, scientific assessment of their outcomes, and the assumptions of the original RFAs are revisited. (3)

“The decision to not require a new assessment put at risk the survival of a multitude of species that have rapidly declined since 1997, including many nationally threatened species that are not adequately protected under NSW’s logging rules and are being significantly impacted” Mr Pugh said.

NEFA have identified that within north-east NSW’s State forests that are currently being logged, or proposed for imminent logging, there are nationally significant populations of over 11 nationally threatened animal species and 13 plant species. Of particular concern are the Endangered Koala, Southern Greater Glider, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Hastings River Mouse, Rufous Scrub Bird, and Giant Barred Frog.

We are in the midst of extinction and climate crises, aggravated by the 2019/20 wildfires, rising temperatures and logging, so it is reprehensible that these species are still not receiving the immediate increase in protection Professor Samuel’s review of the RFAs identified as needed back in 2020, said NEFA vice-president Susie Russell.

“It is time for Tanya Plibersek to provide the immediate protection for threatened species identified as required by Professor Samuel in 2020 and for Penny Sharpe to step up and end this sham RFA”, Ms Russell said.

NEFA thanks the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) for their work in mounting this case, and for the counsel who acted on our behalf: the now Hon Justice Kirk of the NSW Court of Appeal, Claire Roberts and James Johnson.

UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS OF UNCONTROLLED FIRES

While the title, UNAVOIDABLE IMPACTS, is a true reflection of what happens when an uncontrolled fire needs to be extinguished, most out-of-control bushfires are completely avoidable!

 It’s difficult to understand the mindset of those landowners that continually set fire to their properties, a practice otherwise known as ‘burning off’, with no means or intention of containing it.

This scenario is particularly prevalent where the land in question adjoins state forest, national parks or other public land, and this year has seen huge expanses of parks and reserves in the Clarence Valley burned out by neighbouring landowners. Everlasting Swamp, Nymboida, Chaelundi, and Ramornie National Parks, Sherwood, Banyabba, and Chambigne Nature Reserves, have all suffered, along with the entire Shannon Creek dam catchment, which has serious implications for the quality of the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply.

Out of control fires result in enormous financial losses for neighbouring landowners, and all too often result in the loss of homes, livestock, and even human lives.

The laws governing the seemingly ritual burning off of bushland are strict. All neighbours must be notified before burning takes place, and the fire must be contained within the property. However, the alerting of neighbours rarely takes place, and statistics suggest that many landowners light fires, knowing they can’t control them.

Out-of-control bushfires have cost millions of dollars-worth of property damage in the Clarence valley this year, and the cost to taxpayers of fighting those fires is even greater, and then there’s the clean-up. Removing fallen and potentially dangerous trees from highways and replacing power poles and wooden bridges. Water supplies are polluted and in extreme cases fish-kills can result, and the list goes on.

The environmental cost of too frequent burning is well documented, leading to ecosystem and species decline and even extinction. Despite all of this, authorities continue to condone these practices and turn a blind eye to breaches.

Earlier this year, an out-of-control fire at Dilkoon saw a Section 44 emergency declared, yet two days earlier, landowners had been free to burn-off without a permit.

Bushfire threat must be taken seriously.

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , November 22, 2023