The environment minister, Murray Watt, has given the green light for the bulldozing of nearly 3,000 hectares of tropical savanna in the Northern Territory without an assessment under Australia’s nature laws.
Top End Pastoral Company’s development would clear 2,723 hectares of woodland – an area 10 times the size of Sydney’s CBD – on Claravale farm and station in the Daly River region for crops, including sorghum and cotton.
The region is home to threatened species such as the vulnerable ghost bat, Gouldian finch, pig-nosed turtle and red goshawk.
Environment groups and a scientific expert on tropical savanna have expressed dismay at the minister’s decision to declare the development is not a controlled action – meaning it can proceed without an assessment under Australia’s laws for its potential impact on threatened species and ecosystems. It follows longstanding concerns that pastoral land-clearing has rarely been assessed under the national laws.
Our governments, at all levels, are selling out our natural heritage, which together with climate heating and the effects of world war is going to go into more rapid decline than it already is. We mustn’t let that happen. There’s no more time for apathy.
Remember all of this, anyone who is considering voting Labor ever again. We don’t live in a political system where only two parties can exert power. The minor parties can have major impact.
well, people had 3 years of this environmental horror before the last election and then proceeded to boot 4 of the 5 Greens out of parliament, so it’s safe to assume voters don’t really give a fuck.
Well, Independents are the right option as long as they have positive climate action in their plans. The major two are gutless on actually doing anything.
