Following community pressure, three additional workshops have been added to update north coast residents on how they can have their say about the NSW Government’s controversial proposed biodiversity legislation changes.
Critics have attacked the proposed law changes saying they would lead to increased land clearing and habitat destruction.
The workshops will be held in Murwillumbah on 15 June, Lismore on 16 June and Byron Bay on 17 June.
At the workshops, lawyers from public interest environmental law centre EDO NSW will explain what is proposed under the reform package, outline key concerns with these proposals, and discuss how community members can have their say.
Designed to replace the Native Vegetation Act, Threatened Species Conservation Act, the Nature Conservation Trust Act and parts of the National Parks & Wildlife Act, the extensive reform package includes a Biodiversity Conservation Bill, Local Land Services Amendment Bill, and information on proposed land clearing codes.
Members of the public are invited to comment on the reform package until Tuesday 28 June 2016.
The Murwillumbah workshop will be held at the Tweed Valley Uniting Church Hall from 6 to 8pm, at the Lismore Workers Club from 6 to 8pm and at the Byron Bay Community Centre from 12.30 to 2pm.
For more details and to RSVP go to the edonsw.org.au website.
The workshops have been organised after the state government failed to include the northern rivers in its round of information sessions.
The government organised six public briefings in Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Tamworth and Nowra, but copped criticism that there were no briefings further north.
Nature Conservation Council of NSW chief executive Kate Smolski previously attacked the decision, saying the draft biodiversity package would spell disaster for nature on the north coast by enabling increased land clearing and habitat destruction.
‘Mr Baird’s Bill appears more concerned with fast-tracking land clearing than conserving nature, and has clearly been crafted to please big agribusiness and the developer lobby,’ she said.
‘If it passes parliament in its current form and becomes law, there will be more extinctions, more farms destroyed by soil erosion and salinity, and more greenhouse gas pollution fuelling runaway climate change.’
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