[Greens-Media] FW: MEDIA RELEASE: Government Ignores Advice of own Planning Assessment Commission on Gardens of Stone; Rejects Greens Motion to Protect the Area

[Mehreen Faruqi]

Media Release
19.11.14
Government Ignores Advice of own Planning Assessment Commission on Gardens of Stone; Rejects Greens Motion to Protect the Area

NSW Greens MP and Environment spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC, has accused the Government of ignoring the advice of its own Planning Assessment Commission by voting down a Greens motion to protect the Gardens of Stone area.

Dr Faruqi said:

"It is disappointing that the Government has voted down a motion calling on it to declare the wider Gardens of Stone area a National Park. It is however not surprising given the glacial speed that this government moves in declaring new protected areas.

"The NSW Planning Assessment Commission review of the Coalpac Consolidation Project in October this year recommended that "the pagoda landform should be afforded special significance status and the highest possible level of protection.

"The Planning Assessment Commission has rightly recognised that recent coal mining proposals would have intruded on the environmental value of the unique stone pagodas in the Ben Bullen State Forest.

"My motion in parliament called on the Government to further protect the Gardens of Stone area, including parts of Ben Bullen State Forest, Wolgan State Forest and Newnes Plateau.

"The Government's own Environmental department has identified the whole of Ben Bullen State Forest of being of high conservation value for future reservation. The presence of internationally significant pagoda formations in the Gardens of Stone as well as the unique flora and fauna found in the area make it an ideal candidate to be further protected" Dr Faruqi concluded.

The motion: http://www.mehreenfaruqi.org.au/government-must-protect-gardens-of-stone-natural-heritage-from-mining-permanently/

Media contact: Matt Hilton for Mehreen Faruqi 9230 2625 / 0423 106 247