Parks for Profit - economic rationalism threatens future of National Parks
Monday, 29 November 1999 10:00
The Total Environment Centre, National Parks Association, Colong Foundation for Wilderness, The Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservation Council today condemned Government moves towards commercialising the parks and "restructuring" some of the most effective and experienced staff out of the NPWS.
"The Environment Minister Bob Debus and the head of the NPWS Brian Gilligan, are simply pandering to Treasury by cutting resources and finding ways to make our National Parks make profits" said Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel.
"The NPWS are losing the best and most experienced staff, the parks will be more and more commercialised and developed and the flora and fauna protected in it will suffer as a result " he said.
"National Parks make up only 6% of the State. With land clearing and development eating up what is left it is essential the environment is given priority. National Parks play a crucial role in protecting biodiversity, wilderness and stunning landscapes. They need experienced conservation managers not political yes men and bean counters" said National Parks Association Executive Officer Noel Plumb.
"One of the worst aspects of this restructure is the abandoning of wilderness in the form of the NPWS Wilderness Unit and the Wilderness Act - that clearly signals the NSW Government is moving away from conservation towards commercialisation in the NPWS." said Colong Foundation director Keith Muir.
"National Parks are the jewels in the conservation crown of this State" said Nature Conservation Council director Kathy Ridge, "The restructure is a backward move putting economy before the environment".
"The Wilderness Society is appalled at the direction the NPWS chief Brian Gilligan and his boss Bob Debus is taking. What is the point of boasting about the number of parks they have created, then undermining the purpose of the parks by commercialising them?" said TWS campaign coordinator Marian Spencer.
