Yes, there's another opportunity to write a brief submission to make the world a better place! This one is about giving authorities such as Councils more power to deter illegal tree and vegetation clearing. Please spend five minutes reading this post, and another five writing a submission!!
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| An urban street tree, Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis). We need to protect significant trees and vegetation such as this. |
The NSW government is currently consulting on proposed changes to legislation that are intended to protect trees and to deter illegal tree and vegetation clearing. You can read about the changes on this NSW government website:
If you'd like to make a submission, here are a few short talking points prepared by the Growing Illawarra Natives team. You have until Wednesday 4 June.
- The proposed changes are generally very positive and are to be commended. They will make protection of trees easier by making changes to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity Conservation) (BC SEPP) such as:
- ensuring that Councils can enforce complying development restrictions on land where illegal clearing has happened.
- clarifying that the BC SEPP applies on public land as well as private land.
- clarifying the conditions under which dead, dying or dangerous vegetation can be removed, to remove known loopholes.
- The proposed changes fall short of proposing that tree and vegetation removal offences are currently treated as criminal offences, meaning that Councils need to establish offences 'beyond reasonable doubt' which is difficult and costly to do. A shift to treating tree and vegetation removal offences as civil rather than criminal offences would make issuing penalties and taking court action less difficult for Councils.
- The proposed changes don't address some known problem areas where tree and vegetation clearing is currently allowed. Areas where improvement is still needed include:
- The '10-50 Bushfire Clearing Scheme' which allows self-assessed removal of trees and vegetation on properties within a specified distance of an area assessed as 'bushfire-prone land'. This scheme is vulnerable to abuse, and can be used to remove significant native vegetation on a property even if that vegetation does not contribute to substantive bushfire risk. The restrictions within the regulation, including for any property on a slope of more than 18 degrees, are poorly understood and are likely to be widely ignored, resulting in problematic removal of native vegetation and increased risk of erosion and flooding: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/1050-vegetation-clearing
- The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme still allows significant vegetation removal that is not captured in the proposed changes. The 2023 review of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme found critical deficiencies including in native vegetation clearing, that have not been addressed in subsequent legislative reform (https://theconversation.com/strong-progress-from-a-low-base-heres-whats-in-nsws-biodiversity-reforms-234917). Native vegetation continues to be cleared at devastatingly high levels in NSW. More work is needed here.
You can make your submission via this NSW government webpage: https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/draftplans/exhibition/protecting-our-trees-changes-deter-illegal-tree-and-vegetation-clearing
The deadline is Wednesday 4 June. Get to it folks!
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| Urban Echidna, Mount Pleasant. This is why we work to protect our trees and vegetation! |
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