Media Releases

September 07, 2021

The Nature Conservation Council welcomes the NSW Government’s commitment to a new suite of measures to protect the state’s most threatened species and ecosystems.  Environment Minister Matt Kean has committed to a target of zero extinctions in national parks and released details of a plan to designate key ecosystems and species as Assets of Intergenerational Significance (AIS) that...

August 31, 2021

Climate change is a conspicuous omission in the list of reasons the NSW Independent Planning Commission has given for rejecting the proposed Hume Coal mine today. [1]  “The IPC’s decision is correct and welcome, but it is disappointing that the climate impacts were not mentioned given the International Panel on Climate Change issued its most sobering report to date just weeks ago,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian.  “Yes, the water impacts of this...

August 31, 2021

The Federal Government’s new Enhancing Remnant Vegetation Pilot project will provide much-needed investment in habitat restoration in the heavily cleared Central West region of NSW.  The project, announced today by Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, will also hopefully advance our understanding of the most effective habitat restoration techniques, which can then be...

August 30, 2021

The Morrison Government should abandon plans for a new gas-fired power station at Kurri Kurri after polling showed most voters, including those in federal electorates in the Hunter Valley, opposed the development of new fossil fuel projects.   The YouGov poll of more than 15,000 voters commissioned...

August 26, 2021

Today’s landmark NSW Land and Environment Court ruling should send a chill through the state’s most polluting industries, including the electricity and commercial transport sectors.  The court has ordered the NSW Environment Protection Authority to develop “policies to ensure environment protection from climate change”. [1]  “Most people will be astonished to learn the EPA has until now not regulated greenhouse gases, which are arguably our most dangerous environmental pollutants,” Nature...

August 25, 2021

Development controls similar to those announced for Wilton in southwest Sydney this week should be applied across the state to ensure the deadly impacts of hotter, longer heatwaves are not amplified by poor urban design.  The Wilton Development Control Plan, announced by Planning Minister...

August 20, 2021

Centennial Coal’s Angus Place West colliery proposal should be rejected in light of the alarming forecasts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last week. [1]  Centennial Coal this week outlined plans to reopen the mouthballed Angus Place Colliery and extract up to 8.5 millions tonnes of coal.  When that coal is burnt it will add...

August 20, 2021

Conservation leaders urge Premier to protect Kosciuszko Nation Park from commercial over-development Some of the state’s leading conservationists, ecologists and former national parks managers are “imploring” Premier Gladys Berejiklian to “set aside disastrous plans” to significantly increase commercial development of Kosciuszko National Park. The...

August 16, 2021

An appeal was heard today before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to access key reports on the management of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.  The appeal, lodged by the Invasive Species Council in support of the Reclaim Kosci campaign, seeks access...

August 16, 2021

The Nature Conservation Council calls on the NSW Government to scrap planned logging operations near towns and settlements after new research found logging significantly increases the risks of catastrophic fires.  Australian National University researchers found regrowth forests were at much higher risks of catastrophic, crowning bushfires than older stands for 10 to 40 years after logging. [1] Lead author on...