A revolt from independents and some Coalition lawmakers has forced the New South Wales (NSW) government to scrap a Nationals bill that would have made it easier for farmers to cut down koala habitat across the state.
Just days after introducing it into parliament, NSW for Agriculture Dugald Saunders announced late yesterday that the government would no longer proceed with the bill.
“While this bill upholds all existing protections for the environment, we will continue to have further conversations with local councils to progress legislation that unites communities and industry,” Saunders said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The legislation was dumped after significant internal agitation from within the Coalition, including from Nationals MP Geoff Provest and Liberals Shayne Mallard and Felicity Wilson, who were threatening to cross the floor.
“We need to be hypercautious of any policy that could put koalas at future risk of extinction,” Wilson told Guardian Australia an hour before the bill was pulled.
“We have worked so hard in the Tweed, doubling protected areas and building our first ever koala hospital. If the government insists on putting this legislation to parliament, it will not get my vote,” Provest wrote on Facebook yesterday.
The furor over the legislation has been compared to the “koala wars” of 2020, when then-NSW deputy premier John Barilaro threatened to blow up the Coalition over another bill relating to the native animal.
Independents and teal-style hopefuls last week said they would use the bill as campaign fodder in inner-city seats in the lead-up to the March state election.
Upper house independent Fred Nile also confirmed he would not back the proposal, which he said would be a “legislative precedent winding back the role of local government”.
“I note that local councils are already able to divulge their local decisionmaking powers to the Local Land Service,” he said yesterday.
“If a specific local council seeks to do this, then they can do so, but to impose that system on all local councils is undemocratic and disrespectful,” he said.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet yesterday said he embraced “the fact that ministers and members of the party, both sides will have strong views on it,” and was working with Saunders and NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin to find a resolution.
Currently, councils can require landowners to obtain a development approval if they wish to undertake logging. The state’s Local Land Services agency also assesses and approves harvest plans.
The bill would have removed the role of councils, and extended the length of time for which private logging activity is approved from 15 to 30 years.
The government had argued it would reduce red tape and improve timber supply.
Local Government NSW, which represents councils, believed the bill would have devastating impacts on important native habitats, particularly for koalas and other threatened species.
Nature Conservation Council of NSW chief executive Jacqui Mumford said the state’s koala populations only recently had their conservation status upgraded to endangered and yet the government was trying to “make it easier to bulldoze their homes”.
Independent upper house MP Justin Field said the government had been forced to pull the bill because of community backlash, with the “debacle” setting the scene for the March election where the government’s environmental record should be challenged.
“While the government has abandoned this retrograde bill, they continue to allow logging of core koala habitat on public land. This is totally out of line with community expectations,” he said.
“The Coalition needs to do some soul searching and listen to the community on environment and integrity issues,” he said.
The Greens said almost 2,000 e-mails calling for the legislation to be scrapped had been sent to government MPs — including the treasurer, Matt Kean, Griffen, Provest and Wilson — in less than 24 hours. The campaign was launched by upper house MPs Sue Higginson and Cate Faehrmann.
“This is a signal to the Coalition that they are on shaky ground with the NSW public,” Higginson said.
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