2015-08-19
Lynn MacLaren
As the State government steams ahead with the Perth Freight Link, starting with ploughing Roe 8 through the Beeliar Wetlands, the campaign to “Rethink the Link” is growing stronger and louder. As soon as Parliament resumes after the winter break I will table a petition calling for a suspension of all works until alternative proposals have been assessed. I will proactively continue to work alongside the “Rethink Perth Freight Link” alliance which filled the Fremantle Town with supporters on 21 July.
The battle to protect our most important remnant numbat population at Dryandra Woodland in the Wheatbelt continues as we await the much- anticipated result of our appeal against a proposed landfill. I am liaising with the federal Department of Environment to ensure that it is aware of its responsibilities to protect the threatened species at Dryandra, which are listed under federal environmental law too. Biodiversity protection is going to be a key focus in coming months, with the government promising to introduce much-needed biodiversity legislation this term. I aim to make the most of the rare opportunity to ensure that WA's biodiversity legislation is as good as it can be, and have recently taken on some interns to work in this area.
In June I worked with the ABC to break the story on Barnett government cuts to WA's world-class acoustic array, and shark tagging and tracking program. This network provides invaluable research into the movements and behaviour of big sharks off our coast as well as an “early warning” system if a tagged shark passes one of the satellite-linked receivers off the Perth, south-west or south coasts. While the receivers will remain in the ocean, the cuts mean that there is no allocation to fund ongoing maintenance and replacement of old receivers. The consequence will be that our most admired, effective and sensible shark hazard management tool will fall into disarray.
As a panel member alongside the Minister of Planning and the former Shadow Minister for Transport Animal welfare at the Built Environment Meets Parliament forum co-hosted by the Planning Institute of WA, Green Building Council of Australia and Consult Australia at Kings Park, I highlighted that adapting to the impacts of climate change is one of WA's biggest challenges.
Animal welfare
Animal exporters have reached a new low, with the announcement they will be shipping Australian cattle to China — a country without animal cruelty laws and with a bad track record for treatment of animals. Much to our relief there was one win to be celebrated in June, when the State government announced that it had rejected calls for recreational hunting trials on public land throughout WA.
In addition to participating on the Committee inquiry into the operations of the RSPCA, I gave my two cents-worth to the WA Review by outlining some of the key issues with the way that the Animal Welfare Act is administered in WA.
Greenways/urban forest roundtable
Alongside my colleague in the Senate, Scott Ludlam, I facilitated a roundtable discussion into the importance of greenspace and urban forest (aka urban bushland) in Perth, listened to some great feedback from knowledgeable stakeholders, and collected constructive criticism of The Greens draft Perth Greenways Plan, to ensure that we can strategically plan to protect and conserve WA's natural assets.
Scrap the DAPs
Several communities, joined by local mayors, are ramping up a campaign to “Scrap the DAP”s (Development Assessment Panels). Following my tenacious debate in Parliament opposing DAPs when they were introduced, I was the sole State MP at a forum in South Perth with 15 communities represented from near and far to report how the controversial DAPs have failed them.