CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND THE NSW GOVERNMENT

The recent bushfires in the Blue Mountains and other parts of NSW have highlighted a serious problem which is likely to become worse as climate change gathers momentum.

Governments and the general community will need to develop strategies to adapt to the diverse challenges thrown at them by climate change - challenges such as more frequent and more severe bushfires.  Obviously this should be seen by all levels of government as a high priority.

It is therefore very disappointing that the NSW Government, which has a responsibility to prepare NSW for a future where climate change is a major issue, has made severe cuts to areas of the public service which advise government on climate adaptation. (For details of the cuts, see a report in The Sydney Morning Herald )

In a TV interview on the same day as the  newspaper report the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell stated that he was concerned about climate change and that his slashing of the public service positions did not mean that there would be no research into adaptation as the government was providing funding for universities to undertake reseach into adaptation.

Whether the decision to do away with the scientific positions was ideological or whether the Government believed universities  would provide adaptation advice more efficiently or more cheaply is uncertain.

The Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition believes that the most effective way of ensuring that timely information on climate adaptation is delivered across the range of government departments which need this information for future planning is by way of scientists employed by the state rather than through a hodge-podge of state-funded research programs in universities.

NSW BUREAUCRAT'S ADMISSION ON PROPOSED NEW PLANNING LAWS

Many community members and community organisations have  been concerned for months about the NSW Government's proposals for a new planning system for the state.  An earlier CVCC post outlined  some of these problems. ("Open slather for developers in NSW" - CVCC post of 1 June 2013.)

The campaign of those concerned about the NSW Government's proposed new planning system  has been strengthened by admissions from the state's chief planning bureaucrat, Planning and Infrastructure Director-General Sam Haddad.

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald of 13th August Mr Haddad confessed that the proposed new laws had "gone further than the government intended."

He also conceded department staff may have unintentionally spread ''inaccurate or misleading information'' about the changes, touted as the biggest overhaul of the state's planning system in more than 30 years.

He was responding to a formal complaint from the Better Planning Network community group, which claimed statements by department officials at public forums that the new laws would not reduce ''judicial review rights'' - residents' ability to appeal planning decisions where the law may have been breached - were wrong.  (The Sydney Morning Herald )

The Better Planning Network (BPN) has been campaigning vigorously for many months to have the planning system that replaces the current system made responsive to the needs of the general community rather than just the development industry and the Government.  The Government's Planning White Paper and its Draft Planning Bill, which were on public exhibition until recently, centralised planning in the hands of the planning minister and his agents, favoured the development industry, disempowered the general community and made economic development of over-riding importance, downgrading  local community concerns and impacts on the natural environment.

Now that the Director-General of Planning has conceded that there are problems with the planning proposals, the BPN has called on the Premier of NSW, Barry O'Farrell, to withdraw the bill. 

If you have concerns about the government's proposed planning system, you could sign the BPN's online Petition .

Alternatively, you could email or write to Barry O'Farrell, the Premier of NSW, urging him to withdraw the bill which is likely to come before parliament within three weeks, unless much more pressure is put on the Government to discard the current bill and start again.  The Premier's email address is:

office@premier.nsw.gov.au

His postal address is:  

Hon. Barry O'Farrell

Premier of NSW.

GPO Box 5341
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Lobby Day Earlier This Week           Photo Source:  BPN

 

A TALE OF FOXES AND HEN HOUSES

Is the NSW Game Council a fit and proper body to issue licences for recreational hunters to hunt in National Parks?

Last year the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, made a deal with the two Shooters and Fishers Party representatives in the Legislative Council in order to gain their support for his government's  power privatisation bill.  Payment for the deal was opening up 79 of the state's national parks/nature reserves to recreational hunters.  The spin put on this sleazy deal  (in which O'Farrell blatantly broke an election promise) was that these shooters would be doing the community and the environment a service as they would be helping eradicate feral animals in the national parks estate.  See the CVCC post of 30th May 2012

The Game Council of NSW, which is partly funded from the public purse and is the tool of the state's hunting lobby will be responsible for licensing those who hunt in the 79 national parks/reserves when O'Farrell's deal comes into operation in March this year.

On 23^rd January the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the Acting Chief Executive of the Game Council, Greg McFarland, had been suspended a few days earlier following a complaint about illegal hunting and trespass and inhumane killing of a feral goat in the central west of the state.  Herald article of 23rd January

The alleged incident which occurred on 28^th December was being investigated by police.

In a report a few days later (28^th January) the Herald gave an update saying that the Game Council had also referred the incident to police.  Herald report of 28th January 2013   Presumably they decided it was politic to do so because they knew it had already been referred to the police by the landholder where the trespass occurred. 

Comments by the Game Council about the matter suggest it is both arrogant (scarcely surprising given the kow-towing of the government to its minions) and has an overweening sense of entitlement.  According to the Herald, the Council's Chairman, John Mumford,"has called the matter an 'unfounded smear campaign' by Fairfax Media."  Not content with that dubious statement, the Council "said the allegations were leaked to discredit the council after it had been thrust into the spotlight over its impending role in licensing hunters when 79 of the state's national parks are opened to shooting on March 1."

Is it too much to hope that the NSW Premier and his government are wondering if they are on the right track in, firstly, opening up national parks to recreational hunters and, secondly, having the Game Council licensing the hunters ? 

O'Farrell and his government need to reflect on the wisdom of letting the fox look after the hen house.