Arrest Logging and extend National Parks
Petitioner:
Mr Nawal Maharaj
| Member:
Smith, Tamara
| No. of Signatories:
707
| Date closed:
09/08/2023
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
This petition of NSW residents notes:
• In June 2020, a Parliamentary Committee recommended that identified koala habitats in “public native (non-plantation) forests” be protected by, amongst other things, transferring them to national parks (Recommendation 7 of a Legislative Council Portfolio Committee report “Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales”).
• Exactly two years later, in June 2022, the Land and Environment Court levelled fines and costs totalling $285,000 against NSW Forestry Corporation after the Court found tree felling by the Forestry Corporation had harmed koala habitat in exclusion zones in a public native forest near Coffs Harbour (EPA v FCorp of NSW [2022] NSWLEC70).
• In January 2023, two citizens were arrested by police in the Bulga State Forest when the citizens were engaged in non violent, peaceful protest against Forestry Corporation logging operations in that public native forest, significant parts of which serve as koala and other wildlife habitat and refugia after the tragic 2019-20 bushfires.
We, therefore, call on the Legislative Assembly to urgently take all necessary steps to
a) Arrest all logging in public native (non-plantation) forests or, at least, arrest such logging while the House seeks to
b) Expedite the transfer of koala and other wildlife habitat, in public native (non-plantation) forests throughout NSW, to national parks, and
c) Ensure that relevant parts of the Bulga State Forest are included in the expansion of nearby Biriwal Bulga National Park in Mid North Coast of NSW.
