Without wishing to be political, this sends a fairly clear message about
the likely outcomes of certain voting choices in the September federal
election.
John Leonard
On 14 May 2013 10:26, Greg Roberts <> wrote:
> I would hope that as lovers of birds and other wildlife, we should be
> deeply
> concerned about what is happening under the Campbell Newman-led Liberal
> National Party in Queensland. A series of recent moves by the Government
> demonstrates just what is at stake here.
>
> The Government has boasted that it will "take an axe" to state laws
> protecting native vegetation on private and leased lands from being
> cleared.
> The laws were enacted by the previous Labor Government in response to
> revelations that hundreds of thousands of hectares of native vegetation
> were
> being cleared annually, contributing greatly to greenhouse gas emissions
> and
> seriously threatening biodiversity, especially across vulnerable woodlands
> inland. Now, landholders need do nothing more than present a "business
> plan"
> for properties and they can bulldoze what they want.
>
> The former Labor Government in its final years acted to lock up some
> important natural areas as national park, such as the expanded Mapleton
> National Park in the Sunshine Coast hinterland - a lovely, bird-rich area
> of
> rainforest, wet sclerophyll and open forest. The new Government is
> reviewing
> all park declarations made since 2002 and has made it clear that most will
> be revoked. The protection of national parks is supposed to be set in
> stone,
> otherwise there is no point in having them. Queensland already has one of
> the smallest national park estates in the country on a per capita basis -
> it
> is about to shrink further, and in the process the sanctity of national
> parks will be ditched.
>
> Logging and other damaging activities were removed from extensive areas of
> state forest and other forested areas by the former Labor Government. Those
> lands have been reopened to the developers and logging licences are being
> issued to anyone who wants one. One new licence covers one of the few
> remaining areas of rainforest frequented by the Eungella Honeyeater.
>
> The new Government is revoking Labor's historic legislation protecting the
> catchment of pristine wild rivers on Cape York and in the Channel Country
> of
> south-west Queensland. It will move to stymie the planned World Heritage
> declaration of Cape York and has vowed to open up Cape York - one of the
> nation's last great wildernesses - to developers.
>
> This depressing list goes on and on. Funding to help members of the
> community challenge bad environmental planning decisions in the courts has
> been stopped. Environmental responsibilities have been split among three
> departments - with ultra-conservative National Party ministers (in a
> government that is supposedly part-Liberal) running the show. Even the
> former Bjelke-Petersen National Party Government would not tolerate what
> Premier Campbell Newman (who is supposedly a Liberal) is up to. Despite all
> his faults, Joh kept a leash on some of the more rabid environmental
> wreckers in the Nationals' rank. Now it is open slather.
>
> Greg Roberts
>
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--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
I want to be with the 9,999 other things.
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