Laws that make land clearing easier ruled invalid by NSW court

Laws that make land clearing in New South Wales easier have been ruled invalid by the NSW land and environment court after a challenge filed by the Nature Conservation Council.

 In November 2016, NSW replaced three Acts
with its new Biodiversity Conservation Act.

In November 2016, the NSW Coalition government scrapped the state’s Native Vegetation Act, the Threatened Species Conservation Act and the Nature Conservation Trust Act, and replaced them with its new Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The government also introduced a suite of codes that exempted clearing in a range of circumstances from normal development assessment requirements.

The council, represented by the environmental defenders office NSW, argued in court in Sydney on Friday that the codes were invalid because the environment minister had not approved them before they were implemented.

Read Michael Slezak’s story from The Guardian - “Laws that make land clearing easier ruled invalid by NSW court.”

Shift sees jump in numbers suspicious of coalmining

A shift in opinion in New South Wales has left the majority of residents believing coal does more harm than good, and continuing to think the state government isn’t doing enough to protect farms and water from mining and fracking.

The ReachTEL polling of 1,190 residents in NSW, commissioned by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, shows a switch in opinion on the costs versus the benefits of coalmining, which appears to have occurred over the past three years.

Asked in March this year whether they thought, on balance, coalmining had a positive or negative effect on NSW communities, 56.5% said it had a negative effect. That’s a rise of 9.5 percentage points since 2013, when the conservation group conducted a similar poll.

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales says that is the first time a majority of people have thought NSW coalmining does more harm than good.

Read The Guardian story - “Coalmining does more harm than good, say majority in NSW – poll.”