A plan to “green light land clearing across the state” would devastate the region’s biodiversity says Mountains Greens candidates for council and Greens NSW MP Mehreen Faruqi.
Three of the four Mountains Greens council candidates met with Greens NSW MP Mehreen Faruqi in Lapstone on Wednesday August 3 to launch the Greens’ local government plan to protect biodiversity.
Ms Faruqi said the five-point plan was in response to the Baird government’s proposed repeal of the Native Vegetation Act 2003, which regulates land clearing, and other proposed changes to legislation.
“The Baird government has a raft of so-called ‘Biodiversity Reforms’ that will green light land clearing across the state and be devastating for our biodiversity. Councils are on the frontline of this.” said Ms Faruqi.
The Greens plan opposes the repeal of the Native Vegetation Act, and supports stronger local planning laws and incentives to conserve biodiversity, as well as the development of new nature reserves and green corridors for wildlife.
Blue Mountains Greens ward 1 candidate Kerry Brown said the Mountains were particularly at risk with 10 per cent of all threatened species in NSW found here.
“The very high levels of biodiversity in the Mountains are within our World Heritage-listed national park and also on adjacent private land that provides critical buffer zones.
“The new system for land management would remove the ‘improve or maintain environmental outcomes’ test, inevitably leading to broad scale clearing. The proposed ‘self-assessable codes’ for landowners are an unacceptable alternative to compliance checks on clearing by local government.”
Greens ward 4 candidate Kate McConville said the expansion of the biodiversity offset system would “allow landowners to assist rehabilitation elsewhere or pay into a fund”.
“This will do nothing for a significant ecological community they have cleared here in the Mountains.”
Ward 3 candidate Joel MacRae said council’s planning protections, developed over the past 25 years to conserve the unique natural environment had been “exemplary”.
“Greens representatives on council will vigorously defend these as a benchmark of good practice.”
