Archive: Land & Biodiversity / Climate Change
Last Updated 30/10/09
(13/7/09 - E) Submissions in by Wednesday 30 September 2009.
For more information, to access the Green Paper and to learn how to make a submission on this critically important issue go to this website:
http://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/index.html
DSE Information about the Green Paper
Victoria Naturally Information about the Green Paper
Psst…Got a spare 5 minutes? (24/6/08) Make a SUBMISSION - get submission guidelines It's so easy, and so important!
Land & Biodiversity In A Time Of Climate Change: (13/6/08) Do you think the Green Paper is a pale shade of green?
Tell us if you agree with the State government's take on its role in addressing this issue.
Land and Biodiversity Green Paper - Submissions Due 30 June
(9/6/08 - E) The State government isn't proposing to do much to save our environment, so FriendsNET, Victoria Naturally & EDO provide a Guide To Submissions and a Seminar to help you make a submission - please, please do.
This is a critical issue, and how the Victorian government addresses it over the next 30 years it will depend on the outcome of the Green Paper. Click here to see the Guide. Click here to see information about the seminar being run by the Environment Defenders' Office on 17 June. Click here to see MRRA's items on this issue to date.
MRRA Says:
You should be deeply concerned with the way the Green Paper (and government) is going. Our reading of the Green Paper to date left us wondering if an economist had written the government and policy section. There's nothing there about how we are actually going to deal with these issues, except work out how money can be made from climate change and by bartering biodiversity and the environment - the paper even goes so far as to suggest saving some biodiversity might be a bit hard and so perhaps we'll have to decide which species to keep!!!! What's next - deciding which children to save?
The government also seems to be hoping lots more community groups sign up, so they can do the 'work'. As Victoria Naturally have astutely identified, there's not much that the government itself seems committed to do. There's a pong of the government getting the community to plant tress while it carries on with business as usual - the same type of business that caused all the problems in the first place.
For anyone with a genuine concern and affinity with our natural environment, and an interest in trying to mitigate climate change, the Green Paper is a soul-destroying read. Frankly the government needs a good kick up the backside for what it has done to date, and another whammer for the oh-so-little it proposes to do in future.
Please take a look at the Victoria Naturally suggestions for making a submission, and ACT by putting a submission in yourself. It doesn't have to be "War and Peace"...
You can also attend the seminar being run by EDO on June 17. Bookings are essential: call Verity McLucas - 8341 3100 - verity.mclucas@edo.org.au Click here for more information.
Victoria Naturally Invites Community Groups to Land & Biodiversity W'shop 18 May
(1/5/08 - E) Submissions close on 30 June and both Victoria Naturally and DSE are calling for public input
Is it a sign of how important this issue is that everyone is calling for submissions? There seems to be plenty of offers of help on hand as well. So take advantage of it, and make sure you have your say on those things which are so important to protect if we are to have a sustainable future.
Click here to see Victoria Naturally's news and views; click here to see DSE's information.
Land And Biodiversity In A Time Of Climate Change: Green Paper Released
(14/4/08 - E) Critically important issues, and a quick look at the Green Paper says someone's not quite "getting it" so take a look and have a say - you could at least say that if any government is serious about these issues, it will do something to rein in rampant population growth and development, not try to work around them. Forums to be held. Submissions in by 30 June. Victoria Naturally calls for public submissions and offers to help
See Victoria Naturally's offer to help people make submissions on this important document.
Below is an overview of information on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's website www.dse.vic.gov.au
Getting a copy of the Green Paper
Following on from last year's White Paper, after consideration of submissions a Green Paper has now been released for public comment. You can download copies of the Green Paper from the Department of Sustainability and Environment website http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrence.nsf/LinkView/5ED8F2B42CA71DDACA25740E0010AB35554FC9C681B6CAB6CA2572C600036DB1
If you need more hard copies of the Green Paper or the Summary brochure, please call DSE’s Customer Service Centre on 136 186.
Attending a Workshop
Thirteen workshops will held around Victoria (click here to see schedule). The Department of Sustainability and Environment requires you to register to attend the for the workshops, and on its website warns that while it hopes to accommodate those wishing to attend a workshop, registration isn't a guarantee of a place (DSE says it hopes to have a range of interests represented).
Register for a workshop
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=HFJl7pcEa_2fvrxy1_2bWpIvSQ_3d_3d
Make a submission
Submissions are invited on the Green Paper until 30 June 2008
The Department advises that a number of questions in the Green Paper are highlighted with a Q, and you may structure your response around these questions or provide other suggestions. The Government says it will consider all submissions when developing the White Paper. You can make a submission in the following ways:
You can also attend a regional workshop in your area to learn more about the process and participate in discussions about the Green Paper itself. Workshop sessions will commence with an information briefing and then break up into discussion groups where you can provide feedback.
Location/ Date / Time
Colac Thu 1 May 10.00am-3.00pm
Horsham Wed 7 May 12.00pm-5.00pm
Hamilton Thu 8 May 9.00am-2.00pm
Beaconsfield Tue 13 May 12.00pm-5.00pm
South Morang Wed 14 May 1.00pm-6.00pm
Bendigo Mon 19 May 12.00pm-5.00pm
Wodonga Thu 22 May 12.00pm-5.00pm
Shepparton Fri 23 May 9.00am-2.00pm
Mildura Mon 26 May 11.00am-4.00pm
Melbourne CBD Fri 30 May 9.00am-1.00pm
Leongatha Tue 3 June 12.00pm-5.00pm
Traralgon Wed 4 June 11.00am-4.00pm
Bairnsdale Thu 5 June 9.00am-2.00pm
MRRA Says:
This truly is a critical issue, at a critical time in Victoria's history. Decisions are about to be made about where land and biodiversity policy goes in Victoria for the next 30 - 50 years.
MRRA made a submission to the earlier Paper. We said the government needs to get really 'fair dinkum' about environment, and start honestly addressing core environmental issues (particularly in a time of climate change), and not just tinker around with the easy 'feel good' bits while running an unlimited growth and whatever-the-developers-want policy at the same time.
We haven't read the Green Paper in depth yet, but there does seem to be at least some response to the hundreds of submissions to the earlier Paper. We hope so.
We also hope DSE will rethink the restrictions it seems to be placing on attending the forums. These should be open to all, if they are to be truly consultative.
MRRA urges as many people as possible to attend the forums, read the Green Paper, and make submissions.
The Green Paper is largish but an easy enough read so no excuses there! If you really care about Victoria's environment, you will be bursting to put your views in. If you are not sure, or not confident about making a submission, but have something you would like to raise, contact Victoria Naturally for some advice.
Alternatively, MRRA will be making a submission and if you've got some thoughts you would like aired, we would be happy to put them forward for you. Send us an email on mrra.sec999@gmail.com or call on
Let's all make an effort to give our environment every possible chance of not only surviving into the future, but thriving. The State government needs to hear from the people, needs to know what we think, and there has to be enough of us singing the same song to make the government listen. Together, we can do this...
MRRA Attends Green Wedges / "Land and Biodiversity In A Time Of Climate Change" Forum
(13/6/07 - P) We left them with something to think about, and took something to chew over away with us as well
Last Friday a seminar was held in South Morang. The key issue for discussion was the future of Melbourne's Green Wedges. A major problem is maintaining the rural land inside Green Wedges for rural activities. You see, there are plenty of people who own or are buying that rural land who are willing to speculate on it eventually being able to be developed - and returning hefty profits along the way. An answer has to be found. Land speculation, and how it might be stopped, was seen as a pivotal issue and addressed by a number of speakers. There seemed to be fairly strong support for it being stopped, and a number of potential solutions were put forward. The current noisiness in Macedon Ranges by some people wanting houses on almost all rural lots got a mention - as something to be solidly avoided. That left the door open for MRRA to ask: With Macedon Ranges under assault from speculators, and the State government refusing to reinstate protection, will the Green Wedges survive if the rural Shires (like Macedon Ranges) that ring the Green Wedges fall to the massive development pressures they are currently under?
MRRA Says:
Critical question, isn't it? Could the Green Wedges end up as islands hemmed in on either side by suburban development... or will they too succumb under double pressures? The unwelcome scenario seemed to get most people's attention, and to be taken seriously... the fight for the Green Wedges may not yet be over.
One feature of the seminar that left an indelible impression was the number of times and different players who spoke reverently of the late Victorian Premier, Dick Hamer, and his 'green' vision for Melbourne. Even a representative of the Department of Sustainability and Environment made it clear that the Bracks Labor government strongly supports maintaining Mr. Hamer's vision through maintenance of the Green Wedges.
At which point, it took a lot of willpower to not stand up and scream, what about Macedon Ranges! No state policy, no legislation, no Green Wedge. Yet it is as much a part of the Hamer vision as the Green Wedges!
The Liberal Hamer government identified Macedon Ranges as a place of State significance warranting protection through legislation and state policy - protection features that Macedon Ranges no longer has.
So, hmmm... seems it's a case of the government of the day supporting all of Hamer, except Hamer's vision for Macedon Ranges. With the Bracks government, the line seems to have been drawn at Macedon Ranges' southern boundary - we've missed out because we're not Melbourne. The closest Macedon Ranges has come since 2000 to being protected was when the Victorian Liberals announced their stunning policy, before last November's State election, to reinstate all of the protections the Hamer government gave Macedon Ranges in 1975. With various members of the Bracks government apparently very confused over what's where, and bizarrely claiming either Green Wedges protect MR (how?), or that MR is itself a Green Wedge (sorry, it isn't), it's pretty obvious they don't get it, and as long as that lasts, neither will we.
Future Management Of Green Wedges Seminars In South Morang (8 June) and Pakenham (25 June)
(29/5/07 - E) This is one of the lead-up discussions that will inform the State government's up-coming White Paper on Land and Biodiversity Management - a 20 - 50 year plan for natural resource management, land health and biodiversity.
Click here for information about the workshops (Note: MRRA had difficulty in accessing the PPWCMA website response page - you may wish to respond by phone or email). Click here to see related story re State government's consultation paper "Land and biodiversity at a time of climate change" and how you can make a submission by June 22.
"Land And Biodiversity At A Time Of Climate Change": White Paper
(29/5/07 - E) State Government Calls For Submissions by 22 June
The State government is looking for public comments on land, biodiversity and climate change as part of a process to form new policies in relation to these issues. You can find out more by going to: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrence.nsf/LinkView/523B19576C368289CA2572C0007B3BEA554FC9C681B6CAB6CA2572C600036DB1#cp
and downloading two information sheets that set out the issues, and how you can make a submission.