Former Premier Bob Carr has joined calls for the Labor Government to reverse the reckless destruction of the environment that was overseen for 12 years by the NSW Nationals. Land Clearing and native forest logging continue to be the leading causes of extinction in NSW and are increasingly being called in for the impact they have on the deepening climate crisis.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the Environment Sue Higginson said "It's great to see the Nature Alliance in NSW growing and Bob Carr joining the fray, it's not a day too soon. The question now is does the Minns Government have what it will take to turn things around.
"Our chronically broken biodiversity offsets system, the continuation of native forest logging, planning laws that drive death by a thousand cuts, special rules for agribusiness and the intensive resource extraction priority of the State has driven us to an extinction crisis. The last 12 years of Nationals rule over the environment has seen the radical weakening of our laws and a dramatic rise in land clearing across the State. Let's not forget the absolute low point when the former coalition Government nearly blew itself up during the Koala Wars. But the reality is these are the drastically harmful legal and policy settings that we are operating within.
"The Ken Henry Review into the Biodiversity Conservation Act tabled in Parliament last month was extremely critical of the failures in law and policy that have created the situation that we find ourselves in. The good news is that he has laid down a blueprint of sorts to pivot us to a nature positive legal framework but despite scant commitment for a whole of Government response, the recent NSW budget has not mentioned it once.
"There is a strong appetite in the Parliament and the community for reform and protection and the Government should seize this chance to turn things around. The Greens will continue to use all of the levers we have available to us to push this Government to go further and faster for the community and environment,"
"Bob Carr has put the challenge out there to the Government to be bold and ambitious in delivering better outcomes for the environment and we will support and work with them if they choose to take up the call," Ms Higginson said.
