OEH says 'unexplained' woody veg loss not 'illegal'

Last week conservation groups promoted the 2013-14 NSW report on Native Vegetation as a reason to oppose government’s proposed Biodiversity and Local Land Services Act reforms, and claimed farmers had performed widescale illegal clearing over a three year period.

But the Office of Environment said unexplained did not necessarily mean illegal.

A spokesman for the Office of Environment and Heritage said the unexplained loss could be attributed to legal farm practices, clearing of regrowth, and a range of other permitted activities.

Nature Conservation Council said the 13,500 hectares of unexplained changes to exotic and native woody vegetation on 4400 NSW properties between July 2010 and June 2013 was “probably illegal” and “just a glimpse of what’s to come” if the new laws got through.

The Council claimed the amount of illegal clearing during the three years amounted to “twice the size of Sydney Harbour” - but the department said it was not possible to detail the proportion of illegal clearing as full investigations had not been completed.

NSW Farmers president Derek Schoen, whose organisation has demanded the draft laws be tilted further in landowners’ favour, said the statistics could describe management of fence lines, stock yards, fire hazard reduction control, or clearing of non-protected vegetation.

Mr Schoen also said the report failed to recognise vegetation gain such as planting and regrowth.

“Some groups have opportunistically leapt to their most convenient interpretation of the report... citing farmers generally as criminals in the process,” Mr Schoen said.

The report revealed the department’s risk-based investigations returned a falling number of penalty notices, remedial notices, and advisory letters over the three-year period to 2012-13.

Land clearing convictions and prosecutions in the five years to 2013-14 also dropped.  

A common conservation argument is that the department faces a difficult task to assemble evidence for prosecution, meaning only the cases with the highest chances of success are pursued.

Nature Conservation Council chief executive Kate Smolski said the report was evidence government had not equipped its services with the funds needed to monitor land clearing and enforce the laws.

The reforms are set to be tabled in parliament before the end of the year. Government continues to consult with stakeholders on the detail of the new legislation.