Send an email below telling Premier Chris Minns, Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty to stop runaway habitat clearing.
Edit the email with the points below to make a bigger impact or sign it off and send it as it is.
- The previous Carr Labor government took great strides to protect habitat, that was undone by reforms in 2016 which gave care for nature to the agriculture portfolio.
- However, your government has so far failed to come close to the environmental legacy of the previous Labor government, let alone develop even stronger protections that reflect the scale of the extinction crisis we are facing alongside the challenge of climate change.
- Habitat clearing is the leading threat to biodiversity in NSW. To end our species extinction crisis we must stop destroying habitat.
- More than half (29 million hectares) of all native forest and woodland in NSW has been lost since colonisation.
- Since coming to Government in 2023, around 95 000 ha of land has been cleared, stripping wildlife of their homes and releasing over 7 million tonnes of carbon each year - more than every household in Sydney.
- It's widely recognised that the laws that are meant to protect nature in NSW are doing a terrible job. Last year, Ken Henry AC found they are not fit for purpose and called for a major reset in policy thinking. After 12+ months in office, the time to act is now.
- Right now, the regulatory system is rewarding destructive behavior and disadvantaging land stewards wishing to deliver for nature.
- It's absurd that agribusiness operators can simply tick a box and decide there is no environmental significance where they want to clear. It’s like getting a student to mark their own exam.
- The NSW community want to see their state Government doing more to protect and restore nature. This has been shown in numerus polls and is what we expect of a Labor government.
- NSW must also immediately stop Code-based clearing in all areas where vulnerable and endangered ecological communities are found.
- The NSW Government must outline a path to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, remove the self-assessment clearing loopholes and give environmental considerations primacy in all relevant decisions.
- There is a better way to work with the land and look after people and Country together in NSW – one that values ecological diversity, supports landholders with restoration projects, holds bad actors to account, and empowers communities to protect the places they love. Making this vision a reality is the role we want to see our Government play.