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June 28 deadline for submissions

Saturday, June 17, 2023

The review of Biodiversity Legislation in NSW and the new draft Conservation Bill 2016 is under scrutiny not just from conservation organisations. The respected Wentworth Group of concerned scientists have written to MP's expressing serious concerns with a number of the proposed changes.

In a letter to all MP's the Wentworth group highlighted their concerns about the changes "These retrograde changes risk returning NSW to an era of unsustainable environmental damage by reinstating broadscale land clearing, resulting in more degraded land, more damage to river systems, increased carbon emissions, and the loss of habitat critical to the survival of threatened species" - The Wentworth Group, May 2016

The impact of these changes if they come to fruition, will be devastating for our native fauna and flora. It's important for our future that we act now. We have less than 2 weeks of public comment on this which means less than 2 weeks to defend nature and prevent this catastrophe. You can make a submission using the template and submit in a few simple steps or customise by adding any specific concerns you have. There have already been over 3000 submissions but we need more.

If the Biodiversity Conservation Bill 2016 is passed it will:

• Remove the requirement to ‘maintain or improve biodiversity’, jeopardising the long term health of our flora, water and soils and impacting our native animals.

• Abandon protected ‘no go zones’ of precious wildlife habitat – any trees anywhere could potentially be cut down;

• Make a de facto ‘taxpayer subsidy’ of $240m for those wanting to clear land irrespective of any long term damage.

• Reduce the role of the Environment Minister in important environmental decisions;

• Increase self-assessment for landholders, allowing land clearing with little oversight from any professional environmental representatives.

• Increase the use of biodiversity offsets, allowing landholders to pay money into an offset fund in order to clear trees.

Over the past six weeks WIRES have been making people aware of many events across NSW where communities have been able to learn more about the potential consequences of the legislation review and to discuss their thoughts and opinions openly. You can find a complete list of events at Stand Up for Nature.