By Peter Anderson
SYDNEY — Environmentalists and supporters of Aboriginal rights will rally outside state parliament on Friday, November 13, to oppose the government's resource security legislation. The legislation would in effect privatise state forests, placing them in the hands of the timber companies.
The companies would enter contractual arrangements with the government or the Forestry Commission for logging on state land for a period of, say, 20 years. Any actions on the part of current or future governments to halt logging would then be in breach of contract and make the companies eligible for compensation.
"This treats the companies as if all their Christmases had come at once", says the Nature Conservation Council's Sid Walker. "From that time on they would not have to bother whether there was a market for their products. They could cash in on what are called public assets, that is the publicly owned forests.
"I could envisage all sorts of scenarios, like deliberately creating a crisis of wood supply. They might conveniently discover an endangered species or a key Aboriginal site in forests under contract and engender a big public furore. If the government then was compelled to resume the land, the companies would get a big pay-out for doing absolutely nothing.
"At the same time, there is nothing in the bills forcing the companies to maintain employment, and I expect we shall see a continuation of the labour shedding that has been going on for decades in the timber industry. The ideology behind the legislation is straight from the National Party. Even Liberal MPs, particularly from urban areas, recognise that this legislation is out of step with community values."
The committee responsible for the package will present its report to parliament on November 17. Environmental organisations, including the Nature Conservation Council, have been joined recently by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council in opposition to the bills, which are likely to be blocked by independents in state parliament.
"We're very encouraged by the approach the NSW Land Council has taken on this issue. They see a very significant threat to Aboriginal interests and to the protection of Aboriginal heritage", said Walker.
"The Aboriginal community is furious that Aboriginal heritage has been so poorly protected in this state as it is, but this would remove one of the only straws they can clutch. One of the most exciting things that has come out of the struggle against this legislation is the beginnings of an alliance between the environment movement and the Aboriginal community."
Central to the legislation is the establishment of the Natural uncil, which will be responsible for all public land use (crown land, state forests, national parks and coastal waters). The council will be stacked heavily in favour of resource interests.
"All decisions on land use would be taken by the council. Developers would always, in our view, have a majority on that body despite the token acknowledgment of conservation concerns — there would be a representative from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, but they would always be out voted."
Council recommendations would go to Cabinet, where the ultimate decision would be made. "We feel there's a double jeopardy, because on the one hand you've got a stacked council and on the other, even if it did recommend preservation of particular areas, nothing binds the government to accept that decision."
A legacy of the Greiner government, the package of five bills covers all aspects of public land use and includes:
- The Natural Resources Management Council Bill. This will replace the environmental provisions and the regional planning process of the Environmental Planning and Assessments Act 1979 (EPA) and establish the Resources Management Council to review public land use. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of native forest will be handed over to logging and woodchip interests if the bill is passed. Its effect will be to downgrade environment protection and public participation.
- The Endangered and Other Threatened Species Conservation Bill. This could be renamed the Extinction Law. It repeals established licensing powers given to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, sacks the current independent scientific committee and replaces it with one stacked by government appointees. It substitutes a shorter list of those species endangered nationally for one listing more species under threat particularly in NSW. It includes ineffective provisions for recovery plans.
- The Environmental Planning and Assessment (Amendment) Bill. While the body producing the environmental impact statement will no longer be the body adjudicating it as under present legislation, adoption of this provision requires passing all five laws. The Minister for Planning can secretly change conditions he has set without involving the community or local government. The new law fast-tracks critical decisions by allowing only three months and 21 days to determine projects.
- The Forest (Resource Security) Bill. Forests can be handed over to the timber industry under long-term contracts with hefty compensation clauses. Designated Timber Production Forests would not require environmental impact statements under the EPA, and there is no protection for endangered species. The majority of the south-east forests would be made available for resource security without further assessment.
- The Heritage (Amendment) Bill. The Heritage Act ral environment, the built environment and Aboriginal heritage — will no longer apply to the natural environment or to Aboriginal sites, and permanent conservation orders will no longer be available. Urban bush land will no longer have legal protection. One motive for the new bill was a recent court decision which found that the government's policy of not applying the existing Heritage Act to natural areas was illegal.
The November 13 rally will run from noon to 2 p.m. For further information, ring (02) 247 2228.