Page 10 The Moorabool News – 22 February, 2022
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Is $50 million enough for koalas? The Federal Government has announced a record $50 million investment into koala conservation, but conservationists have stopped short of fully praising the move. Of the $50m, $20m will go towards grants for projects led by Natural Resource Management groups, NGOs, Indigenous groups, and State and Territory governments, to build on work guided by the findings of the National Koala Monitoring Program. A further $10m will go towards extending the National Koala Monitoring Program, with another $10m for grants for small-scale community projects such as habitat protection and restoration. Another $2 million will go towards research and application of research outcomes to address health challenges such as koala retrovirus and koala herpes viruses, with a further $1 million to fund expansion of the national training program in koala care, treatment, and triage. Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, said the new package will take Government spending on koalas to more than $74 million since 2019, bringing together land managers, researchers, veterinarians and citizen scientists, to address a full range of support strategies. “The extra funding will build on work already happening across the koalas’ range to restore and connect important habitat patches, control feral animals and weeds and improve habitat. “Together we can ensure a healthy future for the koala and this decision, along with the total $74 million we have committed to koalas since 2019 will play a key role in that process.” But conservationists are not convinced the funding, nor the upgrading of koalas’ conservation status from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’ in New South Wales, Queensland, and the ACT, are enough. Chair of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), Deborah Tabart OAM, said the Government need to back up its words with legislative action. “These funds are generous, but the detail is lacking. If we could turn back time, the solution would have been ‘don’t destroy koala habitat in the first place’. But now that the damage has been done, we can only hope Federal Government has enough sense to use this huge allocation of taxpayer funds to implement actual solutions, not tokenistic gestures,” Ms Tabart said. “The change in [conservation] status is too little, too late. The Federal Government may be offering our koalas a nice new word, but behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they continue to approve the destruction of koala habitat.”
Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, I read in the Moorabool News (People Power Deny Access 8 Feb 2022) the ongoing fight by landowners against Ausnet. I did write to the Moorabool News in January 2021 about this matter. I was very pleased to see that Mr Gerald Conroy had locked his gates and denied entry to ausnet, according to the article. His move is EXACTLY within the law, and his action is to be applauded by all landowners. Our land ownership is according to Fee Simple and this is part of the Property Law Act. All private land in Australia is Fee Simple land. This comes from the Magna Carta, about 800 years of democracy. Reference in the article to the SEC is correct, in that when the SEC was a government department, it was part of the CROWN and land acquisition was according to the rules of Fee Simple. Under this system, Government has the power to compulsorily acquire your land BUT ONLY FOR A CROWN PURPOSE.
As a private corporation, Ausnet has no more power to do anything that you or I can do. Ausnet have NO AUTHORITY to enter any land except with the specific agreement of the owner, regardless of what Ausnet or Dan Andrews says. Ausnet will pull any stunt to get access. If they go to the extent of having a search warrant, then the actions MUST be in relation to an illegal activity, and must be a police action. The cops cannot get a warrant and then allow Ausnet to enter your property and do land surveys. The laws of trespass are well defined, so landowners need to persist. As a side, if Australia attempts to become a republic, we WILL lose our land rights and all land will be dealt with by government legislation. We will then become slaves to the republic. Just beware. Paul Rumpf Bacchus Marsh.
Photo: Jordan Whitt Unsplash
Ms Tabart said the focus needed to be on reducing the clearing of koala habitat, otherwise “a further status change is imminent – from ‘endangered’ to ‘extinct’.” In 2020, a NSW parliamentary inquiry found the state’s koalas would go extinct in the wild by 2050, unless urgent government intervention took place.
Three developments rejected By Lachlan Ellis Three applications for two dwellings on each block in Ballan have been unanimously rejected by Council, in line with the Planning Department’s recommendations. The applications at 1, 2, and 16 Alexander Drive came before the Development Assessment Committee (DAC) meeting last Wednesday 16 February and were all similar, with two single storey dwellings with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and double garages in each of the plans. There were two objections to the 1 Alexander Drive application, while those at 2 and 16 Alexander Drive did not receive objections. Council Planners argued the applications contradicted the Moorabool Planning Scheme, did not meet neighbourhood character objectives, did not respect the spacious character of the area, and did not provide adequate space for the growth of new canopy trees. All Councillors present agreed with the Planning Department, voting in favour of the recommendations to reject all three applications. In May 2020, two-lot subdivision applications for the three sites were also rejected by Council.