Showing posts with label NPWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NPWS. Show all posts

Saturday 15 September 2012

No NSW National Parks jobs to go from Clarence Valley until next year's state budget?


Although the O’Farrell Government in Sydney is committed to cutting the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage job numbers by 350 statewide, Clarence Valley residents have managed to forestall any immediate National Parks and Wildlife Service losses according to The Daily Examiner on September 13, 2012:

THERE has been a victory for our region's national parks after plans to shift the responsibility of Iluka and Woombah peninsula to the Richmond Valley were axed.
Karen Toms, the manager of Woody Head Camping Area and chair of the Iluka Consultative Committee, said the move may have saved six jobs and it was "fantastic news".
She said National Parks and Wild-life Services had planned to amalgamate Clarence North and South and shift Iluka and Woombah out of the Clarence North, which could have meant job losses for the region.
"They changed their mind and are leaving it as it is, which is great news, but I'm not sure whether there will be more budget cuts later," Ms Toms said. A spokesman from NPWS said boundaries of management areas had been changed in the Lower Clarence, specifically on the southern side of the river, but that the Iluka peninsula will "generally" continue under the current reporting arrangements.


With most of the Clarence Valley coastline covered by national parks, keeping these areas adequately managed and manned is vital.

Saturday 21 July 2012

Will Clarence Valley Council follow where Coffs Harbour City leads?



NOM12/2 GAME AND FERAL ANIMAL CONTROL
131 RESOLVED (Graham/Knight) that:
Council note that:
1. The NSW government has a proposal on the table which would see children
as young as 12, with their parents' permission, able to hunt unsupervised on
public land in NSW.
2. This would see children able to hunt using bows and arrows, pig dogs, and
bowie knives without any adult supervision.
3. Hunting wild pigs using dogs and knives is considered, even for adults, to be dangerous for the hunter and the dogs, and an unnecessarily stressful death for the animal.
4. It is irresponsible for any government to be proposing an activity which will be
dangerous for the children involved and others who use public land for
recreational purposes.
5. While feral animal control is an important activity, it is best done professionally and as humanely as possible for the animals involved.
Council:
1. Oppose this dangerous proposal by the NSW government; and
2. Make a submission to the Department of Primary Industries voicing that
opposition.
NOM12/3 OPPOSITION TO PRIVATE SHOOTING IN NATIONAL PARKS
132 RESOLVED (Graham/Arkan) that:
Council note:
1. The NSW Government is seeking to allow private shooting in national parks
and other conservation reserves.
2. The NSW Government proposes to allow private shooting in conservation
reserves in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.
3. It is irresponsible for any government to be proposing an activity which will be
dangerous to members of the public and others who use conservation
reserves for recreational purposes.
4. While feral animal control is an important activity, it is only safe and effective
when undertaken professionally and as humanely as possible. This can only
be achieved through the resourcing of professional control programs
implemented by state conservation agencies.
Council:
1. Oppose this dangerous proposal by the NSW government; and
2. Write to the Premier and the Environment Minister in opposition to the
proposal to allow private shooting in conservation reserves.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

The truth about hunting in NSW National Parks?


National Park hunting according to the NSW Shooters & Fishers Party website:

Q. Will parks really be closed to other users while hunters hunt, and will NPWS staff have to supervise them, or will it be like in state forests?
A. It will be as it is in State Forests. National Parks will not be closed and there will be no close supervision by NP staff.
Thanks, Premier O’Fibba and Member for Clarence 'Steve' the Stuff up Gulaptis, for wrecking the NSW North Coast national park experience for locals and visitors alike.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Borsak baulked


The Leader of the NSW Shooters & Fishers Party Robert Borsak
has been caught out trying to slip clauses into legislation before the NSW Parliament allowing unsupervised amateur hunters the right to bear semi-automatic weapons.

So subservient is Barry O’Farrell to this man that it wasn’t until The Greens, the National Coalition for Gun Control and some journalists blew the whistle that he was forced to backtrack and remove some of these ‘rights’ in relation to weapons.

Fellow Shooters & Fishers Party MLC Robert Brown was so incensed with this turn of events that at the first opportunity he said this to a Greens MLC in Parliament on 20 June 2012 Unfortunately, we are in a modern era so I cannot take you outside and beat you to death.

It is not yet clear if the NSW Game Council gains the right to pressure local councils and catchment management authorities to cease feral animal control on their lands so that these same gun-happy hunters can blast away to their hearts content – everywhere from national parks though to local tips - in the GAME AND FERAL ANIMAL CONTROL AMENDMENT BILL which finally passed the Upper House on 21 June 2012.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Have Keneally and Sartor let down regional indigenous communities once again?


New provisions of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act came into effect at the beginning of this month.

In light of increasing competition over land use on the NSW North Coast and the sometimes cavalier destruction of indigenous heritage sites which has occurred in the not so distant past, it is worth noting that the Keneally Government and Minister Frank Sartor are still falling short in relation to commitments given according to this NSW Aboriginal Land Council media release:

The State's peak Aboriginal groups have expressed extreme concern at the lack of honesty and integrity displayed by the NSW Government in withholding key information about new Aboriginal cultural heritage regulations, despite its commitment to negotiate.

The NSW Government's undertaking to negotiate on regulations was a key condition for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) and NTSCORP Ltd to remove their opposition to legislative changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW), opening the way for Coalition and Greens support for the National Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill 2010.

NSWALC and NTSCORP are very disappointed they did not receive key information or copies of the final National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Aboriginal Objects and Aboriginal Places) Regulation 2010 until the documents were made publicly available by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) this week.

This is despite a commitment made in Hansard in April by the Environment Minister, Hon Frank Sartor MP to continue working with both organisations on the regulations.

"While meetings between our organisations and the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water took place, it now appears the negotiations were not in good faith," said Bev Manton, Chair of NSWALC.

She said that repeated requests for copies of the regulations had led to late and partial information being provided and there had been no response at all on several key issues raised by NSWALC and NTSCORP over the past four months until this week.

"Unfortunately, now that we have the information, it's clear that commitments made by the Minister in writing are absent, including a promised amendment to ensure that court appeals would still be available if there was substantial non-compliance with the consultation process.

"This was one of the few hard-won rights for Aboriginal people under the previous law," said Ms Manton.

The regulations will support new provisions in the National Parks and Wildlife Act which are due to come into effect on 1 October 2010.

The regulations will detail the defences available where a person has damaged or destroyed an Aboriginal object, and also outline the processes for consultation with Aboriginal groups.

Defences will be available if a person was carrying out a wide range of activities defined by the regulations as 'low impact', including major farming infrastructure and mining exploration works. Separate codes of conduct set out in the regulations for the forestry and mining industries will also act as a defence if a person destroys an Aboriginal object.

NSW still remains the only state without standalone Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation.

"Aboriginal cultural heritage is not only significant to our people, but holds a central place in the cultural heritage of this State. It's insulting that it continues to be treated under the same legislation as flora and fauna," said Warren Mundine, CEO of NTSCORP.

"Aboriginal People have the cultural responsibility to protect their significant objects and places and the traditional right to speak for those places but in NSW we still don't have the legal right to protect and speak for our own cultural heritage," Mr. Mundine said.

During debate on the legislative changes earlier this year, the Minister announced the establishment of a working party to undertake a two-year review of the regulation of Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales and to develop a new legislative model.

But NSWALC, NTSCORP and other Aboriginal groups are still waiting for a further announcement from the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Hon Paul Lynch MP, and confirmation as to who will be invited to participate on the Working Group.

"These changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Act were announced with great fanfare by the NSW Government as an improvement for Aboriginal heritage protection, to be followed by much overdue broader reform in the coming years," said Ms Manton.

"The lack of details put forward by the Government on the establishment of a working party to undertake a two-year review of the regulation of Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales and to develop a new legislative model, and the failure to properly and respectfully negotiate with Aboriginal groups on the changes to the National Parks and Wildlife Regulations, tell a different story," she said.

Tuesday 7 September 2010