The state government has bowed to pressure from conservation groups and added an extra public consultation session on the draft Biodiversity Conservation Bill.
The session will be held at the Lismore City Hall next Thursday (9 June) from 5pm to 7.30pm.
Opponents say the Baird government is proposing some of the most retrograde changes in nature conservation law in more than a generation.
The government plans to repeal the Native Vegetation Act 2003 and Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, and replace them with a new Biodiversity Conservation Bill and Local Land Services Amendment Bill.
They say the changes would make it easier for big agribusiness and property developers to clear native bushland across the state.
The government was conducting six regional public consultation sessions in May and June in Sydney, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Tamworth and Nowra.
The inclusion of Lismore follows a backlash from conservation groups on the north coast who have been scathing of the proposed changes.
Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said the package would spell disaster for nature on the north coast by enabling increased land clearing and habitat destruction
‘They would have been cheering in the boardrooms of big agribusiness and property developers when Mr Baird announced this package,’ she said.
‘He is doing their bidding by agreeing to sweep away the Native Vegetation Act and introduce much weaker nature conservation laws.
‘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.
‘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.
‘In Queensland, land-clearing rates trebled under Campbell Newman’s LNP government. [1] Mr Baird is squandering an historic opportunity to develop strong conservation laws to addresses the mounting extinction emergency in NSW.’
Public comment on the changes closes June 28.
Drafts of the new Biodiversity Conservation Act and amendments to the Local Land Services Act and supporting products are now on public exhibition and open for submissions.
