Colong Foundation for Wilderness
Media Releases
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Colong Foundation Media Releases (2006 archive)
Action required to stop mining damage to Sydney’s catchments – 18 December 2006
Emirates Resort approval could be illegal – 18 December 2006
Grose Valley Fire – World Heritage takes a hit – 11 Dec 06
Southern Coalfield Inquiry will be a Whitewash - 6 Dec 06
Emirates Resort approval - Environment Group withdraws support - 4 Dec 2006
Debnam rides roughshod over wilderness - 3 Dec 06
Bob Debus will be missed - 31 Oct 06
Kakadu's Wilderness at risk - 8 Sept 06
Wilderness - restoring the Balance - 7 Sept 06
New Plan subjects Kosciuszko to development creep - 16 June 06
Shooters in Newnes and Ben Bullen forests would be deadly - 2 Jun 06
Senator Campbell Must Defend Kakadu's Wilderness - 19 May 06
New law cuts 1000 hectare hole in the Bargo State Conservation Area - 6 Apr 06
Call to reinstate the Parks Service - 31 Mar 06
1000 hectare excision puts all parks at risk - 28 March 06
Planning fails to protect World Heritage in sand mining approval - 21 Mar 06
10 square kilometre shooting range deal bad for conservation - 8 March 06
Highlands Shooters' resort would set a bad precedent - 6 March 2006
Effective Action required to stop further mining damage to Sydney’s water supply catchments
19 December 2006
“The severe damage to Waratah Rivulet by intensive underground coal mining has compromised its ability to collect and transmit drinking water to Woronora Dam. The Rivulet represents a third of the catchment of Woronora Dam that supplies the Sutherland Shire and Helensburgh with water,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Iemma Government must show leadership and direct mine regulators to preserve the integrity of Sydney’s water supply catchments by restricting the intensity of underground coal mining in these areas”, Mr Muir said.
“The intensity of underground mining must be reduced to stop further damage to the water supply catchments for Sydney and Wollongong. The causes of the damage are well known and the Government’s limp response of calling an inquiry (6th December) ignores the seriousness of the problem and seeks to defer any extra controls on mining until after 2010. A moratorium on mining approvals must come into immediate effect and operate until mining companies agree to stronger controls that will prevent damage to our drinking water catchments,” he said.
“The Sydney Catchment Authority should be given the power to control mining under water supply areas, including its catchments and the upper canal, because the Department of Primary Industry (Minerals) is too closely aligned with the coal miners to adequately respond to the dangers posed to our water supplies”, said Mr Muir.
“The damage to Waratah Rivulet is not an isolated incident of damage to our water supply catchments. I have seen similar extensive damage of Wongawilli and Native Dog Creeks that comprise other important parts of our water supply catchment. Significant reaches of these three streams no longer effectively collect and transmit water due to the effects of underground coal mining. Cliff falls and major surface cracking has also been caused by intensive mining at the Dendrobium Colliery,” he said.
“More coal needs to be retained under the drinking water catchments to prevent surface damage such as stream bed cracking and water pollution. The Government’s mining engineers need to be directed by politicians to give priority to catchment preservation above coal extraction,” Mr Muir said.
“If we allow the coal mining damage to continue we will need more than a desalination plant to secure adequate water resources. Our formerly pristine water supply catchments south of Sydney are simply an irreplaceable resource. The Metropolitan and Woronora catchments are situated above the Illawarra Escarpment and receive the most reliable rainfall in the Sydney region. Fresh pure, clean water from these catchments must not be degraded and diminished by coal mining,” said Mr MuirFor more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Approval of the Emirates Resort in World Heritage National Park could be illegal
18 December 2006
The Colong Foundation for Wilderness has just received advice that the Emirates proposal to relocate their Wolgan Resort onto Wollemi National Park is illegal.
“Our advice from the Environmental Defenders Office is that the proposed resort does not comply with the plan of management for the park and cannot be approved,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, will not be able to approve the relocation of the resort onto the national park unless the plan of management for the World Heritage listed park is amended”, said Mr Muir.
“The concept plan modification documents on exhibition do not even show which parts of the proposed resort would be located on the park,” Mr Muir said.
“Why should the Emirates be given approval for a resort they say is in a national park without first exhibiting clear plans of what is intended? You can’t get your plans for a backyard BBQ or a pergola approved by a council without a decent plan that shows where the thing is located, and the Emirates park grab should not be given any special deal,” Mr Muir said.
“Last year, when the first concept plan was on exhibition, it came out that Emirates wanted a section of Wollemi National Park, yet the national park revocation was not part on the display documents. I was very disappointed in Emirates for not properly notifying the public of its intention to revoke part of the World Heritage Area,” said Mr Muir.
“Emirates, however, assured the Colong Foundation that as per the exhibition document none of the proposed resort would go on the revoked part of national park; so I forgave them,” he said.
“Now, a year on, I find that what they promised regarding the national park appears to be untrue and the exhibition documents do not indicate exactly what resort infrastructure is planned for the national park lands. I believe that this is an unforgivable breach of trust,” he said.
“Why the Department of Planning allowed the Emirates modified concept plan to go on exhibition without these basic details shows just how bad things are with planning in this state. The whole thing should be thrown out by the Planning Minister, Frank Sartor. The Emirates should get on with developing plans for their 1000 hectare property instead of coveting parts of the adjoining World Heritage Area,” Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Grose Valley Fire – World Heritage takes a hit
11 December, 2006
“The Blue Gum Forest, birth-place of the modern conservation movement, was badly damaged by the Grose fire on Wednesday the 22nd of November. If this precious forest was a row of houses, then there would automatically be a major investigation into how the fire was fought. The fact that this major loss of our natural heritage is only now becoming known is testimony to the prevailing attitudes of those controlled the media spin during this recent fire event,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Until today the overall perception from the media was that this fire was a good one. No houses or lives lost”, Mr Muir said.
“There where no media updates on the struggle to save Blue Gum. No the reports of success in saving fire sensitive rare plants and rainforests along the escarpment edge. All the media reports spoke of bushland burnt; not on the success of any strategy to minimise the impact on the World Heritage listed national park, while saving lives and property”, he said.
“The Blue Mountains National Park Fire Management Strategy 2004 sets out all the necessary actions to protect the natural environment, as well as life and property. Yet for some reason it appears at this stage that the fire was not fought according to that agreed Strategy, as far as its provisions on natural heritage were concerned”, said Mr Muir.
“Increased fire is a major threat to World Heritage values of the Greater Blue Mountains national parks. Unless we develop and implement better strategies to defend the bush, as well as lives and property, then climate change will make this threat much worse,” Mr Muir said.
“The fire management strategies and techniques undertaken during the fire need to be re-examined to ensure the diversity of the Blue Mountains forests is protected into the future,” he said.
“Future fire management requires the feedback that only an inquiry into the Grose Valley Fire can achieve. Such an inquiry should not be taken as a criticism of those involved in fighting fire. It is an opportunity to ensure that everyone stays on fully board with future efforts to mininise fire damages,” Mr Muir said.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
6 December 2006 “The
damage caused to our drinking water catchments by underground coal mining
will not be properly examined or prevented by the Inquiry announced today.
I call on the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, to revise the
terms of reference to make the threats posed to our drinking water
catchments the key issue,”
said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness. “The
damage caused by underground coal mining to our drinking water supplies is
not something you can balance against ‘the social and economic
significance to the region’ as the terms of reference for his Inquiry
sets out to do”, he said. “It
is not a choice between closing down the coal industry and conservation.
There is only one decision to be made; and that is how best to preserve
the Specially Protected drinking water catchments from the spoiling
effects of coal mining. The Government must act to ensure that the
pristine waters of our drinking water catchments will flow unabated and
unpolluted forever,” he said. “Calling
a so-called independent of Inquiry without any real legal teeth will not
defuse this potentially explosive issue. Drinking water catchments are not
even specified in the terms of reference to the Inquiry,” Mr Muir said. Mr Muir believes that the "Inquiry will be a total whitewash without powers to cross examine experts;
or funding for those who seek to protect our pristine drinking water
supplies; or even any powers to discover those controversial documents
locked away in departmental offices,” Mr Muir warned. “I
can only assume that Minister Sartor has not been fully informed on the
extent to which the drinking water supplies for Sydney and Wollongong are
at risk from longwall coal mining operations. We need an Inquiry that will
reveal the damage longwall coal mining is causing in our specially
protected drinking water catchments. The issue is still a secret, but not
for much longer”, Mr Muir said. For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261
2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah) Emirates Resort to be placed in World Heritage National Park - Environment Group withdraws support
Southern Coalfield Inquiry will be a Whitewash – fails to address threats to our drinking water supplies
“The Emirates have relocated their Wolgan Valley Resort proposal onto the World Heritage listed Wollemi National Park. This is the first time a developer anywhere in Australia has moved a resort proposal from private land onto a national park during an environmental assessment review,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“We call on the Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, to immediately reject the national park relocation initiative and insist that the resort proposal stay wholly on their thousand hectare private property in the Wolgan Valley”, said Mr Muir.
“The proposed resort relocation into a national park is not justified. The whole thing should be thrown out, and the planning laws fixed so this sort of nonsense doesn’t happen again,” Mr Muir said.
“The Colong Foundation, which had supported the proposal in principle, now rejects the planned relocation into the national park, even if it is said to be clapped out cattle grazing land”, said Mr Muir.
The Emirates may have spent millions on expensive reports but basic information is very hard to find within these reports. There is no map, for example, that clearly shows how the resort is situated in the park. There is a map that reveals Donkey Mountain, a magnificent sandstone mesa within the Gardens of Stone National Park, would be effectively be alienated by a proposed feral animal proof fence. There is also a new proposal for a huge dam that would receive water transferred from the Wolgan River,” he said.
“The Minister for the Environment, Bob Debus, has provided a nice letter which explains that there will be a dam, roads, six villas with guest pools, a reception building, support infrastructure and fencing in the World Heritage Area. His letter gives the best description of what is proposed on national park land,” Mr Muir said.
“I fully expect that most of the 6-star visitors will come mainly by helicopter; as the majority of its rich patrons just won’t travel for three hours by road as stated by the proponent. There is no environment assessment of noise impacts from the proposed helicopter operations, which are said by the proponent to be minor in extent. Despite the masses of distracting details in the consultant reports, there are too many unanswered questions to permit any clear assessment of this modified proposal, except that it must remain on private land,” Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Debnam rides roughshod over wilderness
3 December 2006
“Last week, Peter Debman announced a political deal with bush user groups that could end wilderness protection in NSW (Libs/Nats sign MOU, Debnam media release, 20 Nov). The Coalition is so desperate to win that they have thrown out a core environmental principle, protection of wilderness, and hope in doing so to secure a political benefit”, revealed Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Coalition’s risky strategy assumes that swinging voters in key seats are not wilderness supporters, but rather hard core horse riders or off road vehicle owners who want to drive or ride in these areas. As most park users are content and support wilderness protection, this strategy is based on a losing set of possibilities”, Mr Muir said.
“Mr Debnam’s so-called historic agreement with bush user groups seeks to put visitor use before nature conservation in national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas. Within three months of gaining office, Mr Debnam says he will write legislation that would in effect extinguish wilderness and convert nature reserves into recreation areas”, Mr Muir said.
“But the Coalition goes further than that. In the case of the Kosciuszko and Guy Fawkes parks, Debnam and the leader of the National Party Andrew Stoner, want turn these two parks into equestrian ranches of some sort, where feral horses can roam, and be recognised as a key cultural value. These important national parks, when managed as horse farms, would be ruined for nature conservation in no time”, said Mr Muir.
“Getting rid of wilderness, will mean fragmenting the very last areas of intact bushland we have left. Once they are gone, there will be no sanctuary, either for nature or humanity, from the spoiling forces of this high-tech world of ours”, warned Mr Muir.
If Mr Debnam gains office in March, he will find, after all the bluff and bluster, that his bush user supporters received more than fair go in the wilderness assessment and public review processes over the last decade or so. He will also find that he must work with conservationists everyday; and they will go on fighting for wilderness and stopping his destruction of it every single day during the term of his office,” Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Bob Debus will be missed
31 October 2006
“When Minister Debus leaves in March 2007 he could leave a big hole in the Iemma Government as far as environment policy is concerned. There is no substitute for experience and we hope that Mr Debus moves into Federal politics to advance the cause of protecting the environment, particularly on curbing climate change” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Just holding the job of Environment Minister in a changing political environment is testing enough. After Bob Carr left, Mr Debus won the trust of Premier Morris Iemma on important environmental issues, such as expanding marine parks,” he said.
“In his seven years as Environment Minister Mr Debus greatly expanded the wilderness estate to 1.8 million hectares and secured World Heritage listing for the Blue Mountains.
“Mr Debus has made some tough calls, such as reserving the Grose Wilderness – birthplace of the modern conservation movement, against vocal opposition in his own electorate of the Blue Mountains. It was the right call, his vote went up, when many predicted it would go down.
“Mr Debus should finish with a bang. There are still many environmental issues to address, including a number of unprotected wilderness areas, such as Yengo near the Hunter Valley. Further protection of the Gardens of Stone area near Lithgow would also be a significant advance,” Mr Muir said.
“He will be missed and we hope that his replacement will make continued efforts toward a more environmentally sustainable society, a task that is getting harder every single day”, Mr Muir said.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Kakadu’s Wilderness at risk
8 September 2006
Plans to remove the 475,000 hectare wilderness zone from Kakadu National Park’s ‘Stone Country’ will be revealed at the Fifth National Wilderness Conference to be held at the University of Technology in Sydney over this weekend.
“The new draft Kakadu plan of management offers no explanation for the proposed abandonment of all the current zoning controls,” said Mr Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Kakadu’s Stone Country may be pretty well impossible to development but not the slopes surrounding the sandstone escarpment. Where are the controls in Kakadu’s new plan of management to prevent development of these sensitive areas? Without the certainty of planning prescriptions, Kakadu could head in all sorts of undesirable directions,” said Mr Muir.
“Further commercial tourism could be almost as damaging as more mining. Concentrations of people mean lots of sewage effluent, roads, clearing, and infrastructure for electricity and telephones.
“The Federal Environment Minister, Senator Ian Campbell should make wilderness preservation a prerequisite for approval of the management plan for Kakadu. Wilderness precludes all forms of development and isn’t wilderness all about setting aside areas for nature?, asked Mr Muir.
“The Kakadu wilderness zone was approved by the Kakadu Board of Management in 1986. It was a good idea to set aside a third of Kakadu National Park in a wilderness zone in 1986: why wind back protection now?
“Wilderness protection in Federally managed parks should be greatly expanded to curb increasing development pressures. Minister Campbell should reinstate a Wilderness Unit in his Department of Environment and Heritage to ensure these rare areas are adequately protected and managed,” Mr Muir said.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Conference Key Note speaker: Helen Gee will present a free public lecture on wilderness from 8pm at UTS and is available for interview on (02) 9261 2400 (wk)
Website http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/CelebratingWilderness/About.htm
for conference program, speakers bios, background notes, images and venue detailsWilderness - restoring the Balance
7 September 2006
Helen Gee will give a free public lecture this Friday night as part of the Fifth National Wilderness Conference being convened this weekend at the University of Technology in Sydney. The conference will celebrate the many wonderful wilderness areas that remain in Australia.
“Australia presents the greatest challenge for wilderness preservation as our continent contains some of the largest areas of unprotected wilderness outside Antarctica in the developed world. The Conference will seek out ways to determine how wilderness can make an even bigger contribution to environmental conservation as we move towards an environmentally conscious society,” Helen Gee, spokesperson, said.
“Protecting wilderness does not line our pockets. Wilderness remains the last bastion of nature standing against the impact of modern technological society. But have we so distanced ourselves from nature that it has lost its relevance to our daily lives?
“Deep down we all know that the greenhouse effect must be curbed and our consumption of natural resources stabilized. In that case, wilderness remains the talisman of hope for the natural world and as a legacy for future generations. The words of Henry Thoreau ‘In Wildness is the preservation of the World’ are as true today as they were when first written in 1851.
“Wilderness purifies our air and water. It is where the wild things are, and where we find peace and inspiration. Many plant and animal populations will survive in a greenhouse altered world only if we preserve the self-regulatory capacities of wilderness.
“To bring ourselves under control we need to understand wilderness. There is no good life without good environment. Bigger is not better if the natural self-sustaining systems of the world decline. We must think in terms of wholes, not parts. Society needs to develop a new attitude toward wilderness. Wilderness has so much to teach us,” Ms Gee said.
Conference Key Note speaker: Helen Gee will present a free public lecture on wilderness from 8pm at UTS and is available for interview on (02) 9487 2693 or 0401487269
Conference liaison: Keith Muir (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)Website http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/CelebratingWilderness/About.htm for conference program, speakers bios, background notes, images and venue details
New Plan subjects Kosciuszko to development creep
16 June 2006
A peak environment group holds grave fears for the future of Kosciuszko National Park with yesterday’s release of a management plan that prioritises resort development and high impact recreation. These development opportunities contained in the plan ignore the fact that the alpine area of the Park is recognised as one of the most sensitive areas in Australia under climate change.
“This Plan is a pre-election gift to developers. The Government has disregarded clear warnings from the Independent Scientific Committee it employed to help write the Plan”, said Mr Keith Muir, director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“With climate change upon them, the resort industry has won permission to expand summer based tourism. The Government has failed to take effective action to curb investment in further unsustainable on-park development. The developers will also draw more and more water from already stressed rivers to feed hundreds of snow-making guns,” Mr Muir said.
“Under the Plan, horseriding, horse camps and feral horse numbers will increase. At Pinch River, a known area for illegal riding in the Pilot Wilderness, horse facilities have secured Government support for upgrading. In fact, the Plan does nothing to further protect wilderness areas. And, feral horses will continue to flourish due to inadequate controls, “ he said.
Kosciuszko is a national park of international significance and the Government has learned little from the Snowy Hydro debacle about the way the people of NSW value this park, “ said Mr Muir.
“The new plan that is supposed to operate for twenty years but will need to be revisited in less than five years to further address climate change and curb the growing visitor use pressures. I fear that the construction of more and more facilities with the increased funds gained from park visitors is a slippery slope that will cause more problems than it solves. Stronger wilderness and other environmental protection measures are needed to balance the visitor use pressures if the park is to survive,” he said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Ben Bullen forests would be destructive and deadly
2 June 2006
“Yesterday’s public notice proposing access to shooters in Newnes, Ben Bullen and thirty other state forests in NSW could lock out everyone else due to the risk of accidental shooting. The Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, seems to be determined to lock up even the most popular state forests for shooters, denying access to these areas for a wide range of recreational users”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Government is risking public safety and people could be accidentally shot. I can’t imagine that regulatory authorities who are unable to prevent unregistered trail bike riders on Newnes Plateau can stop unlicensed hunting. Everyone knows two out of every three trail bike riders in these forests are unregistered and it will be the same with the shooters, said Mr Muir.
“To make matters worse, some unscrupulous hunters will release feral deer, goats and pigs into these new forest hunting areas, while others will plug away at everything that moves. Hunters have released pigs and deer in the southern Blue Mountains on several occasions but these were detected and eradicated by National Parks and Wildlife. Shooters also plan to introduce exotic birds in the Game Council’s handbook and not currently found in NSW”, Mr Muir said.
“Every citizen has a duty to protest against this hunting nonsense, be you farmer, bush lover, miner, policemen or forester. The gun lobby has to be opposed; as it wants have as much access for gun use as possible. The massive number of hunting orders will see more gun users on public lands and it is a mathematical certainty that there will be more gun-related accidents.
“The Government is deluding itself that the Game Council, which is comprised of hunters, can self-regulate shooters. Instead I can imagine many unlicensed shooters will be creeping around in the bushes or strolling behind a pack of hunting dogs, terrifying everyone and every living thing in these forests.
“The pathetic Feral Animal and Game Act has already been used to give almost a million hectares of State Forests over to shooters, and rather than eradicating ferals it will promote the spread of these animals, threaten native wildlife and human life.
“Politicians fear to lose your vote. So let Minister Macdonald and local Member Gerard Martin know before July 7th that allowing hunting in popular State Forests, like Newnes and Ben Bullen, will increase the number of hunting accidents and deaths.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Senator Campbell Must Defend Kakadu’s Wilderness
19 May 2006
“The Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Ian Campbell, must reject the proposed removal of management zones in Kakadu National Park, including the wilderness zone. The fifth draft plan of management gives no explanation for the proposed abandonment of the zoning approach,” said Mr Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness
.“Kakadu is developed enough and should not be thrown open to more luxury camps and lodges. There is no regulation of bed numbers or other prescriptions in the new draft plan to curb development. Kakadu could head in all sorts of undesirable directions under this draft plan,” said Mr Muir.
“Commercial tourism can be almost as damaging as mining to Kakadu National Park. Large concentrations of people mean lots of sewage effluent, sealed roads, an airport, clearing, large resorts and infrastructure, electricity power lines, telephones, mountains of rubbish and all the air conditioned comforts of home. It is madness to remove the park’s zoning scheme, particularly the wilderness zone. The public would have no certainty regarding the future protection, development and use of the park.
“The Federal Environment Minister should make preservation of a wilderness zone a prerequisite for his approval of the management plan for Kakadu. Wilderness zone best preserves natural areas because it precludes all forms of development and isn’t that what national parks are about, setting aside areas for nature?
“The Kakadu wilderness zone was approved by the Kakadu Board of Management in 1986. It was a good idea to set aside a third of Kakadu National Park in a wilderness zone then, why wind back protection now?
“Wilderness protection in Federally managed parks should be greatly expanded to protect environmentally sensitive park areas to curb increasing development pressures on our parks,” Mr Muir said.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Interest groups come before conservation as new law cuts 1000 hectare hole in the Bargo State Conservation Area
6 April 2006
“Never before have holes been cut in the national parks estate to accommodate the demands of political lobby groups. The National Parks and Wildlife (Adjustment of Areas) Act 2006, passed last night means that calls for parks to be revoked can be successful, not for development but for narrow interest groups”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
The decision to revoke 1000 hectares will encourage other opponents of national parks to campaign to revoke other park areas. Park critics in the Capertee Valley have already sought to 'reclaim' the Gardens of Stone and Turon River National Park and such moves should be discouraged, Mr Muir said.
I again call on the Government and Coalition Parties to promise that national parks and state conservation areas will remain permanent and protected. Reserves should not be revoked for private interests such as the Sporting Shooters Association and the Combined Four Wheel Drive Clubs, or loggers or miners interests.
NPA believes that the large area removed from the Nattai national park complex and handed over to the shooters is a bad outcome for the environment.
There are no alternative protection measures in place to safeguard future development or selling-off of the pristine bushland of the Rocky Waterholes Creek gorge.
It is disgraceful that alternative sites outside the national park system were not even investigated.
While some small areas of bushland previously earmarked for new shooting ranges are now to be added to Dharawhal and Wollemi national parks, these should not been seen as compensation. The shooting ranges on these sites should never have been contemplated.
The legislation passed last night also created the long-awaited Bargo River State Conservation Area. Unfortunately two thirds of the area originally proposed by NPA Macarthur Branch remains unprotected, including a huge corridor diving the area in two pieces for a future road through the bushland valley.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Call to reinstate the Parks Service as the Department of Environment and Conservation sells World Heritage short
31 March 2006
“The embattled Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) no longer vigorously defends national parks and World Heritage Areas from damaging development. I am stunned that DEC did not make a submission on the Newnes Junction sand quarry that is set to be the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area’s most dirty and noisy neighbour. Our environmental watchdog is incapable of effective action because it can’t properly separate its regulatory role from its role as a manager and defender of national parks”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“I urge the Coalition Parties to support my call to reinstate the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The National Parks and Wildlife should be split off from the Department of Environment and Conservation, for the same reason that Sydney Catchment Authority was split off from Sydney Water Corporation. Regulatory roles need to be separated from management roles or you get bad management and bad regulation. The DEC did not object to the quarry development because that would conflict with its role in development control,” Mr Muir said.
“The Foundation’s assurances from Bob Debus, the Minister for the Environment, that his Department would make a submission on the proposed major sand quarry adjoining the World Heritage Area were ignored, probably because of a legal technicality. Changes to planning laws and government restructuring have tied the hands of the state government department most likely to object. The DEC would have to be Houdini to object to a development and then remain an objective regulator of development and pollution,” said Mr Muir.
“It was the previously strong and vigorous objections of the former National Parks and Wildlife Service that resulted in the refusal of a sand mine proposal on the Newnes site in 1996. The DEC that incorporates National Parks is now more or less a rubber stamp that issues a thing called the ‘General Terms of Approval’ for developments, rather than making independent submissions on development proposals. The DEC then amuses itself by tinkering with environmental offsets and compensation rules that have in the case of the Newnes Junction quarry sold the World Heritage Area down the drain,” Mr Muir said.
“On 20 March, Planning Minister Frank Sartor approved the 20 million tonne sand quarry right next to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The consent conditions that sound so wonderful will be generally overlooked once a mining lease is issued for the sand quarry. The Department of Primary Industry (DPI), that regulates mines has bigger issues to worry about than a sand mine on the edge of the World Heritage Area. The quarry should never have been approved and will be a running sore that will further damage public confidence in the NSW Government”, said Mr Muir.all parks at risk
28 March 2006
“The 1000 hectare excision from the Bargo State Conservation Area cuts the eye out of that reserve, removing a fifth of its land area. The park excision before Parliament today is not to ensure some essential public purpose, but for a shooting complex. Once Governments start to hack out large chunks of parkland to accommodate the political pressures of the day, all parks are at risk,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Iemma Government has enraged conservationists with this revocation. Cutting off pieces of parkland for roads and facilities have become increasingly frequent but this excision is of a different order. Never before has a large piece of park in a core area been excised for a single interest group to clear and develop. This is a land grab for a private interest”, he said.
“The Bargo SCA revocation indicates that the Government has lost respect for parks,” Mr Muir said.
“The Department of Environment and Conservation’s revocation of land policy has been ignored. There has been no consideration of off park alternatives and the proposed location is not the last resort option. The park excision simply enables the political convenient solution of consolidating shooting facilities in an out of the way place”, Mr Muir said.
“The Environment Protection Authority was not asked for its view on the potential for lead contamination associated placing a major shooting complex in the bushland catchment of Warragamba Dam. Tourism Minister Sandra Nori’s assurances that lead from the range will not pose health risk are unconvincing,” he said.
“I call on the Government and Coalition Parties to promise that national parks and state conservation areas are permanent and protected. Reserves should not be revoked for logging, mining, tourism or other private interest, such as shooting facilities,” said Mr Muir.For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9299 7341 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
Planning fails to protect World Heritage as giant sand mine goes ahead at Newnes
21 March 2006
“The giant sand quarry at Newnes Junction announced late yesterday by Planning Minister Frank Sartor must be in the least suitable site for sand mining within 300 kilometres of Sydney. The quarry sits tightly between the Newnes Junction village and the World Heritage area, making the village unliveable. It is the very site where sand mining was refused in 1996 because of possible damage to the national park and the water quality of the Wollangambe River”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
Pre-emptive Approval
“The Department of Planning is conducting a strategic sand survey of Sydney’s sand resources. My last letter from the Minister (29 January, 2006) states that he was working to identify key resource areas and that the strategy remains in progress.”
“The approval of this damaging mine pre-empts the strategy, reverses the site-specific rejection of sand mining on the site and goes against the Planning Department’s previous strategy for Newnes Plateau published in 1990. Frank Sartor only listens to sand miner’s arguments and has ambushed his own process, revealing his anti-conservation and anti-democratic colours,” Mr Muir said.
World Heritage at risk
“The planning system has failed to protect the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Sand mines are notorious for off-site environmental impacts and this mine on the doorstep of the World Heritage Area will damage to the largest and most precious wilderness area in NSW”, said a bitterly disappointed Muir.
“Water pollution from the quarry would degrade the Wollangambe River and noise, dust and ugly quarry scars will blight the wilderness landscape. The sand mine will also destroy the Newnes Junction Village Common, an intact piece of bushland containing two high conservation value shrub swamps,” he said.
“The Wollgangambe River is the most intact wild river in the Blue Mountains, and so the damage that water pollution from the quarry will cause is maximised. The wonderful and wild Wollangambe Canyon is enjoyed by thousands each year. The compensation package announced for this quarry means diddly-squat compared to what will be lost”, said Mr Muir.
“The decision is a disaster for World Heritage and an indelible black mark on the environmental record of the Iemma Government”, Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
10 square kilometre shooting range
deal would be bad for conservation8 March 2006
“Minister Sandra Nori has introduced legislation into Parliament to excise ten square kilometres of pristine bushland from a water supply catchment for the so-called ‘Sydney International Shooting Centre’. Minister Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Sandra Nori says her proposal is good for nature conservation (ABC Illawarra 3 March 2006) but this is totally wrong”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Environment Protection Authority declared a former shotgun range near Batemans Bay a remediation site (Declaration Number 21029). Society has banned lead in paint and petrol, and banned use of lead shotgun pellets from waterways. Yet Minister Nori goes and puts her proposed ‘Sydney International Shooting Centre’ so that it will rain lead onto Sydney’s main water supply catchment and says its good for conservation. The legislation to excise the Bargo State Conservation Area sets a bad precedent undermining the permanent protection of these reserves and should be withdrawn”, said Mr Muir.
“No shooting facility, even a monster one, could need 10 square kilometres of a conservation reserve, and such schemes are not good for conservation. If the shooting range location needs such a huge area, even as a buffer, then the proposed site is inappropriate. Excising and bulldozing bushland in Sydney’s main water catchment to then pollute it with toxic lead is a damaging unnecessary scheme,” Mr Muir said.
“National Parks Wildlife has a policy that requires excision of reserves only as a last resort. Minister Nori has said nothing about examination of alternative sites or the National Parks’ revocation policy. The Minister verbals the National Parks knowing full well that public servants must support her legislative land grab,” he said.
“Alternative sites should be investigated that do not require a hole in a conservation reserve and that protects catchment areas from potential lead contamination. If shooting facilities are to be relocated, then consider placing them into one of the extensive pine forests of the Southern Highlands”, Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9299 7341 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)
would set a bad precedent
6 March 2006
“The NSW Government should pull back from making a bad precedent in political deal making. Using legislation to cut a very large hole in a public conservation reserve for a large shooting complex will prove to be a cynical and unnecessary exercise. Conservation reserves should be permanently protected and alternatives would exist that enable such facility to be better located elsewhere”, said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
According to Tourism Minister, Sandra Nori “funds for the regional shooting complex development have been allocated through the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation's Shooting Club Development Fund. The total site (comprising 1000 ha) would allow future development possibilities to incorporate other shooting disciplines” (Hansard 1 March 2006). “It appears that the shooters lobby is not just building a gun club but a political stronghold in the Southern Highlands in bushland near Hilltop,” Mr Muir said.
“By setting this precedent, the Tourism Minister, Sandra Nori has opened the door to inappropriate developer schemes in parks, such as other exclusive facilities, resort hideaways and who knows what else,” said Mr Muir.
Challenge issued to the Minister Nori
Mr Muir said “The Department of Environment and Conservation’s Revocation of Land Policy specifies that the excision of reserves should be “an avenue of last resort”, done only “in exceptional circumstances” and where there are “no suitable alternative sites available outside NPWS lands” (July 2002). The Colong Foundation calls on the Minister for Tourism, Sandra Nori to make public the environmental impact assessment and site selection documents that demonstrate compliance with this policy.”
“No information has been provided regarding any alternatives outside national parks and drinking water catchments. The site chosen for the large shooters complex would pose a serious risk of lead contamination to Sydney’s drinking water supplies. The Minister Nori’s speech states that Hon. John Tingle MLC of the Shooters Party facilitated the site selection process that identified the Bargo State Conservation Area as the site for the shooters complex”, Mr Muir said.
“Alternatives, such as the location of this facility in the extensive pine forests of the Southern Highlands should have been considered. A complex of seven shooters facilities could be more compatible with the Belanglo State Forest. The logging operations in the pine forest could work around the complex. The forest is close to both the Hume and Illawarra Highways, better meeting the needs of shooters from further a field,” he said.
“The Belanglo and other possible alternatives that protects our water supplies and conservation reserves should be considered and Minister Nori should withdraw her legislation until these avenues are investigated”, Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 9550 3615 (ah)