[Greens-Media] MEDIA RELEASE: 'Greens Concerned About Committee Recommendation to Commercialise National Parks' (Greens NSW Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC)

[Mehreen Faruqi]

Media Release
13.3.2014
Greens Concerned About Committee Recommendation to Commercialise National Parks
Greens NSW Environment Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC, has expressed concern about a conservative parliamentary committee recommending that the Government is directing National Parks to be open to more commercialisation.

"I am deeply concerned by the recommendations of this mainly conservative committee to increase commercialisation of our precious national parks estate.

"The Government also evidently only see the pristine snowfields of Kosciuszko National Park as something to make money from, not for its conservation and natural heritage value.
"With looming impacts of climate change, we need to defend and expand our protected areas, not open them up to risky activities.

"It seems very convenient that the committee has recommended the government to increase commercialisation of the national parks, right at the time when the government has been doing exactly this for some time.

"The primary goal of the National Parks and Wildlife Service is ecological preservation and conservation. How we interact with it for recreational purposes should always minimise our environmental impact.

"Some of the Government's proposed commercialisation activities, such as horse riding in the Kosciuszko Wilderness areas, risk serious weed dispersal, erosion and compromise our last line of defence as a biodiversity bank.

"The O'Farrell government is perhaps the most anti-environment state government New South Wales has seen, so it is not surprising they are trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of our environment.

"Nature can be experienced by low impact activities cogniscent with the conservation goals of the National Parks.

Media Contact: Matt Hilton 0423106247





Matt Hilton
Legislative, Policy and Media Adviser

Office of Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC
Legislative Council | NSW Parliament
E: matthew.hilton at parliament.nsw.gov.au<mailto:matthew.hilton at parliament.nsw.gov.au>
P: (02) 9230 2625 | M: +61423106247|F: facebook.com/mehreenfaruqi | T: @MehreenFaruqi | W: mehreenfaruqi.org.au
Mail: Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

This email is solely for the named addressee and may be confidential. You should only read, disclose, transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the contents if you are authorised to do so. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please notify the sender by email immediately and then destroy any copy of this message. Except where otherwise specifically stated, views expressed in this e-mail are those of the individual sender.
[Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: MC900437266[1]]  Please consider the environment before printing this email.