Shooters and Fishers Party Chaired Committe Favours Logging in NSW National Parks

The SMH reports that: "Logging would be allowed in NSW national parks and a freeze imposed on the declaration of new conservation areas under recommendations of a state parliamentary inquiry". The State Parliamentary Inquiry Into Land Use was chaired by the Robert Brown MP for the Shooters and Fishers Party.

SMH quotes the report as saying that "the government should immediately consider opening national parks and other reserved areas for logging to ensure the viability of the timber industry". Further the report urges the NSW government to consider what it describes as a ''tenure swap" which is explained as meaning that sections of National Parks would be opened for logging and state forests already subject to logging in NSW would be reserved for conservation in return.

The NSW Government is reported as responding to questions about the report by saying that: "it did not support commercial logging in national parks and had no plans to introduce it".

A Greens member of the inquiry (Cate Faehrmann MP) has been quoted as refering to the inquiry as a ''kangaroo court'' and saying that "the government could not be trusted to rule against its recommendations".

In support of this the Greens cite the O'Farrell Governments statements before the last election that it had "no plans" to let shooters into national parks, now reversed. The Greens argue the government "cannot be trusted not to support the reports findings".

The State Environment Minister has responded saying according to the SMH: ''The NSW government does not support commercial logging in national parks and has no plans to allow it. Once the committee's report is finalised and tabled in Parliament, the government will respond in the usual fashion.''

It is reported that members of the committee travelled throughout NSW to draft the report, speaking to representatives of the logging industry, farming interest and conservationists and that their draft report questions whether national parks provided ''the best means of conservation and, if so, whether they are indeed fulfilling the conservation objectives they were designed to meet''.

The report appears to be pro the expansion of forrest industries and interestingly, as is reported by SMH the report questions "the science of national park creation by placing inverted commas around the word science" and as also noted by the SMH report: "Last year the government froze the creation of marine parks while the science behind them was reviewed, after recommendations of a committee chaired by the same [Shooters Party MP]".

Source: SMH

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