a sad state of NSW run by boofheads... (great cartoon by Cathy Wilcox, SMH...)

The Deputy Premier almost split the Coalition last year but now all seems forgiven.

Six months ago, many Liberals were hoping that their increasingly erratic NSW Nationals colleague John Barilaro would not return from a period of self-imposed mental health leave.

Barilaro had few friends in the Liberals. The Nationals leader had just led his troops to the precipice in protest against a then little-known koala planning policy, which had been causing tensions in the Coalition for months.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian held her nerve and told him to back down or she would appoint an all-Liberal cabinet. The Nationals surrendered and Barilaro was left battered and bruised. He took four weeks off but the Berejiklian-Barilaro relationship has never recovered.

The Liberals (and even some Nationals) were nonplussed, convinced Barilaro would ultimately quit Parliament and their problems with the crash-or-crash-through leader would end. They were wrong. Barilaro has this week made the commitment to remain as Nationals leader and Deputy Premier and intends to contest the 2023 state election.

While most never seriously believed Barilaro would leave public life, his decision to stay in Macquarie Street was cemented after he played a key role in the very policy that threatened to tear apart the Coalition. Unlike the emotional, tantrum-throwing antics on display last year, this time negotiations over the divisive koala policy were constructive and collaborative.

Excluding other ministers from the process, Barilaro and Planning Minister Rob Stokes worked exclusively from January on devising a new koala state environmental planning policy in a bid to land a position that both could live with.

The result is that rural land zoned for primary production or private forestry will be excluded from the new koala planning laws, and the reworked policy will, in theory, strengthen protection for koala habitat in the areas of the state where 95 per cent of development takes place (never mind most koalas do not live in those areas).

Barilaro called an urgent party room meeting on Monday afternoon, ahead of the late afternoon release of the koala policy, to tell his MPs of the outcome. Liberal MPs, however, were not briefed, including the outspoken upper house MLC Catherine Cusack, who crossed the floor over the issue last year. Cusack was swiftly dumped as parliamentary secretary after opposing the government’s initial koala bill, which was later withdrawn.

Stokes faced a hostile budget estimates committee the next day. It was the same upper house committee that last year spent months working on the koala inquiry, delivering a sobering report that found koalas are on track to become extinct in the wild in NSW well before 2050 without urgent intervention to stop the destruction of their habitat.

In an obvious political move, the reworked policy helps the Coalition’s electoral chances on the North Coast, where the Nationals would have faced a battle to hold seats at the next state election had it been seen to be anti-koala. Alexandra Smith is state political editor.

Meanwhile, Barilaro insists that excluding land zoned for primary production or forestry in regional NSW from the policy means farmers will not be ‘‘strangled by red tape’’.

It will now be the responsibility of his Agriculture Minister, Adam Marshall, to come up with codes for how farmers carry out logging and land clearing while also protecting koalas.

Former Barilaro sparring partner Environment Minister Matt Kean, who wants to double the state’s koala numbers by 2050, will have to sign off on those codes.

The overall outcome, however, is likely to be a retrograde step for the state’s koala population and fall short of what is needed to save the animal from extinction.

Labor, the Greens, the Shooters, environment groups and even the NSW Farmers have criticised the plan.

Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann has described the policy as ‘‘appeasing the logging industry’s demands to be able to log koala habitat on private land’’; and independent MP Justin Field said: ‘‘Koalas need trees. This policy doesn’t protect trees. The fight continues.’’

The NSW Farmers are furious they were not consulted and fear what the new codes for logging and land clearing will mean for them.

But despite all this, the Coalition has delivered a policy that has, at least internally, brought peace. Barilaro has demonstrated that when he puts his mind to it, he can be a leader who delivers for his party, his MPs and the voters that keep the Coalition in government.

Barilaro has reinvented himself in the Nationals’ eyes but also in the eyes of the Liberals. He has, for now, shaken the reputation of being a renegade leader. What a difference six months can make.

Read more: SMH 11/03/2021

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The latest koala plan from the NSW Government has outraged conservationists and destroyed any remaining credibility, writes Sue Arnold.

A RECENT Sydney Morning Herald editorial urged NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian ‘not to abandon her environmental policies’.

The statement beggars belief. Given the recent approval of a new state environment planning policy for koalas effectively giving Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s department control of koalas on private land, the Berejiklian Government has abandoned any shred of credibility.

The record speaks for itself. On 3 March, at a Budget Estimates hearing, NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean claimed the number of koalas in NSW was 20,000 and that he planned to double the state’s population.

Labor’s Penny Sharpe asked Kean where the 20,000 figure came from. Kean replied it was “the number that was included in the Parliament Inquiry report”, referring to the Legislative Council’s inquiry into koalas last year.

Kean was either unaware of his own government’s submission to the inquiry which cited research from 2012 estimating 36,000 koalas in the state or he mislead the Budget Estimates Committee. He would also have to have been aware that the NSW Chief Scientist’s report on koalas in 2016 claimed 36,000 in spite of the fact that this number contradicted the Federal Government assessment of 21,000 in 2010. Not only do koalas not breed like rabbits but the methodology used by the Chief Scientist, relying on desktop estimates, was highly questionable.

In response to Kean’s answer, Sharpe – a member of the Parliamentary Inquiry into koalas – commented that as 90 per cent of koala populations are in decline, how did Kean plan to double the population by 20,000? A reasonable question. One that neither Kean nor anyone in the Berejiklian Government can answer.

In fact, no one has any idea how many koalas remain in the state. What is known is that Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announced in January 2020 that 8,000 koalas had been incinerated on the mid-north coast during the bushfires. Since that announcement, the Berejiklian Government has ensured no population surveys would be undertaken to establish remaining koala numbers.

Government ministers’ statements on koala numbers relying on significantly out-of-date question estimates are unacceptable. However, this major policy failure doesn’t constrain the Government from continuing to play the numbers game.

At the Parliament Inquiry into koalas last year, Dr Matthew Crowther, Associate Professor of the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Sydney University, explained that the koala population is difficult to estimate:

“Numbers are very difficult. They range from people who have done very good, localised surveys to people who just make it up. I would never want to give an estimate in NSW. Many populations are very low density and very hard to estimate.”

Dr Crowther also indicated another reason it was difficult to estimate koalas number was that “one could not predict what changes there could be in the future”. He advocated for the precautionary principle.

A major drought preceding catastrophic bushfires resulted in concerning reports of mortality from wildlife shelters and hospitals as koalas died of starvation and thirst. These numbers have never been estimated or taken into account.

Kean’s response to the Budget Estimates Committee on how he planned to build up koala numbers is eye-watering:

“I have assembled an expert panel on some of the country’s leading scientists... the science will look at a number of things which include how to treat disease, how to protect from vehicle and dog attacks, how to do translocations. It would also look at things, the most important factor being the protection of habitat, both on private and also obviously public land.”

This response can only be regarded as spin. Just five days later, the Department of Planning announced the new state environmental planning policy for koalas.

The Koala SEPP 21 has outraged conservation organisations. It does not apply to rural and forestry zones which comprise 90 per cent of private forests in northeast NSW. Further, a new provision allows the secretary of the department of regional NSW (National Party leader Barilaro’s bailiwick) to have a concurrent role in any future koala plans of management.   

Development controls over koala habitat and rezoning will also be subject to agreement by the secretary of Barilaro’s department. Once private native forestry codes are developed in line with the SEPP, development consent for private native forestry will be removed.

In the department’s frequently asked questions flyer, the document indicates that code updates will be made by Barilaro with the agreement of Kean.

In other words, Barilaro is now in charge of koala conservation in NSW.

The planning departmental blurb outlines the principles of the Koala SEPP 21 as to:

• help reverse the decline of koala populations by ensuring koala habitat is properly considered during the development assessment process; and
• provide a process for councils to strategically manage koala habitat through the development of koala plans of management.

Noting there is no consideration of any protection of remaining habitat.

Minister for Planning Rob Stokes is responsible for the new SEPP. In a recent publication of Pittwater Life, a popular magazine in the northern beaches which includes his electorate of Pittwater, Stokes made more outrageous claims.

Stokes claimed 20-30 thousand koalas in the wild in NSW. His statement asserts the Government has already protected almost 8,000 additional hectares of core koala habitat in national parks and conservation areas. In contrast to the campaign focused on the creation of the Great Koala National Park encompassing approximately 300,000 hectares, Stokes’ claim of 8,000 hectares is insignificant in terms of any species protection.

Stokes further asserts that the new SEPP has already enabled a plan to better protect koalas in Campbelltown. This is a statement that is guaranteed to disgust local conservation organisations fighting massive urbanisation by LendLease, the Walker Corporation and the Greater MacArthur Project — projects destined to eradicate the last healthy surviving koala population in not only southwest Sydney but potentially the state. Projects all approved by Stokes.

In the article, Stokes indicates that Bellingen will be the next plan for protecting koalas. Bellingen has recently been described as a ‘wood bowl’ for the forest industry. Industrial logging of critically important forests is escalating and “renewable energy” targets low lying forests, regrowth areas and native vegetation to be burnt for electricity. 

Stokes said:

I have seen first hand the impacts of poorly designed urban development on koala habitat. The new koala SEPP is a big step forward in protecting koala habitat from inappropriate development.

More needs to be done to protect the negative impacts of logging or intensive agriculture in the wrong areas.

It is vital to ensure that developers are forced to take koala protection seriously.

Indeed.  

Forest activists and community campaigners would be happy to show Stokes the negative impacts of his approvals.

In reality, it’s long overdue for the government he serves to be forced to take koala protection seriously. Undertaking a population survey to find out how many koalas remain in NSW has never been more urgent.

Read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/berejiklian-governments-latest-koala-plan-out-of-touch-with-reality,14966

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Sack the NSW government.

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW!!!!!!!!

John Barilaro has resigned as NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader, sparking another wave of Coalition instability on a wild week at Macquarie Street.

• John Barilaro was elected leader of the NSW Nationals and Deputy Premier of NSW in 2016
• He took time off last year and at one stage thought he would "never be back"
• He says he has no plans to make a switch to federal politics

Just days after Premier Gladys Berejiklian's bombshell departure on Friday, Mr Barilaro fought back tears as he told reporters public life had "taken a toll".

Transport Minister Andrew Constance also resigned at the weekend, meaning there will be three by-elections in NSW, which is battling a major COVID-19 outbreak.

Mr Barilaro said he would call a party room meeting for this Wednesday where a ballot would be held to find a replacement.

Ms Berejiklian, Mr Constance and Mr Barilaro are all leaving Parliament, which has further destabilised a government already in minority.

The Coalition claimed a slender-seat majority at the 2019 election, but things have changed since then.

Liberal MPs John Sidoti and Gareth Ward have moved to the crossbench temporarily due to separate controversies.

While the three by-elections will be an unwanted distraction for a new Premier, the Coalition is expected to retain all three seats.

Mr Barilaro said he was done with politics and ruled out a switch to Canberra.

He said he had been thinking about walking away for a long time and seeing Mr Constance resign yesterday convinced him this was "the right time".

"It is tough on anybody in public life to continue in this role, especially under so much scrutiny, especially media scrutiny," Mr Barilaro said.

"Ten and a half years is a long time in politics. Five years is a very long time as Deputy Premier, I've taken it seriously and given everything I possibly could have."

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-04/nsw-deputy-premier-john-barilaro-resigns/100511638

Now that Barilaro and Gladys have gone from the political picture, who is going to pretend to protect the koalas and the secular heritage (old buildings that are non religious like churches, convent and Catho-schools) of Nioo Saooth Wailes?... Your guess is worse than mine...

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assangez