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No pot of gold at the end of the NRC rainbow
28-January-2010
28 January 2010
No pot of gold at the end of the NRC rainbow
The sixteen recommendations put forward by the NSW Natural Resources Commission to the people of Deniliquin yesterday are nothing but an impossible dream.
For Commissioner John Williams and his colleagues to recommend what they did was shameful and irresponsible, given that they all freely admitted it was nigh on “impossible” that Governments would accept their recommendations. About half of the recommendations in a report being presented to the Premier of NSW are out of her jurisdiction and can only be made a reality by the federal government which has not been a direct party to this process. But Dr Williams told the meeting that the recommendations were a “suite” that should be accepted all together in order to work.
The NRC may as well have written a fairy story for all the good it will do our communities as we battle the distorted arguments of the environment lobby in our capital cities.
We have a recommendation that says that 1200 GL or 54% of every drop of water that flows out of Lake Mulwala must be allocated to the central Murray redgum forests. Not only is this technically unachievable from the perspective of running the river to meet all the stock and domestic and irrigation needs in three states, the Murray Darling Basin Authority would have to re-write its entire rule book and change federal government legislation in the process! Just consider the bunfight governments are having over a mere 148GL of floodwater from northern NSW and Menindee Lakes and you can see how this NRC fairy tale becomes more and more fantastic.
Dr Williams said he did not know how much it would cost to achieve his grand vision of eco-tourism, a national park with fire trails and picnic areas and ecological thinning to be carried out by conservationists rather than the experts from state forests; together with structural adjustment to close existing timber mills and make everyone feel good about this brave new world. He therefore has no specific request for funding from Government, just a long wish list and an unreachable goal.
I have no idea how much the total package will cost either, but I can assure the NRC of one thing. Governments will not provide even a tiny fraction of this pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. I expect that Premier Keneally will accept the recommendation about handing over control of our sustainably operated, revenue producing world class forest to the NSW National Parks Service and then handball the rest to Peter Garrett and Penny Wong, who will say that this is a State issue and while of course they agree with the recommendations, it is not their responsibility to fund them.
We will be left with the worst of all possible worlds. A national park that will be a fire, weed and feral animal risk with no budget to run it, a dying timber industry and more dying redgums.
The Commission assures us that their process is purely scientific, that they are independent of any political party and they are men of integrity. I therefore call on John Williams to add an addendum to his report to the Premier; an addendum that says this:
Unless all of the 16 recommendations are accepted and implemented by Government, then none of them should be. The status quo should be preserved.
Today I am writing to Senator Mark Arbib, Federal Labor’s duty Senator for the electorate of Farrer and a person who has strong links with NSW Labor. I am going to ask the Senator to intervene with his State colleagues and apply the necessary pressure to bury this disgraceful report.
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The NSW Natural Resources Commission was asked to assess and make recommendations on the management of the NSW river redgum forests.
Their recommendations report was released on 21 December and they are currently conducting information sessions in Deniliquin, Barham and Balranald.
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