The result of court action announced today allows the destruction of almost 600 trees at the Royal Golf Course, in Rose Bay and is testament to failed tree protection policies at local and state government levels. As an organisation, we call for urgent Ministerial intervention. 

With the NSW State Election only a few months away, a YouGov survey has revealed strong support across party lines for improved protection of Koalas. 89% of Labor and 78% of Coalition voters in NSW want Koala habitat in NSW protected.  The clear message is that political parties need to have credible policies so that public and private bushland that are koala habitats are protected from development such as housing, mining, and logging.  This is the case whether you live in Sydney or regional areas.  We’ll be closely assessing the upcoming policies. 

While the new energy saving rules for houses in NSW announced today fall into line with last Friday's agreement by the nation’s housing ministers, they won’t redeem the climate damaging stance of NSW Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts.

Total Environment Centre today congratulates energy ministers on Friday’s announcement for unanimously agreeing to put an emissions objective into the National Energy Market (NEM) Objectives. TEC Director Jeff Angel said that this decision defeats the inertia that has for so long held the NEM and Australia back from being net-zero carbon ready.  It’s an important signal to everyone involved in the National Electricity Market, including investors, regulators and consumers, that we have entered a new era of cooperation and commitment among governments to speed up the energy transition.

It's not only Doomsday Preppers and recluses who are taking their energy supply into their own hands. Today, the Total Environment Centre (TEC) announced the publication of a new report on autonomous energy resilience, that will assist everyone. “This year’s multiple catastrophic east coast floods reinforced what we learned in the bushfires of 2019-20,” explained Mark Byrne, TEC’s Energy Market Advocate. “When all hell breaks loose, we can’t always wait for the ‘cavalry’—emergency services—to save us straight away.”

Australia’s political parties should commit to world-leading recycling of Personal Transport Vehicles (PTVs), including bicycles, E-bikes, and E-scooters, according to an unprecedented alliance of bicycle riders, manufacturers, environmentalists, fleet providers, policy experts, and recyclers.  

The dumping by NSW Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts of policies* to safeguard Sydney and towns from killer urban heat; flood and fire; and to expand tree canopy and green spaces - to protect millions of residents from global warming, should be repudiated by candidates in the upcoming Federal Election. 

The release of the Green Electricity Guide, by Greenpeace with the support of Total Environment Centre, reflects significant changes in the electricity market and prompted a call to require emissions reporting by all retailers.  

The listing of the Koala as an endangered species means governments, particularly NSW and Queensland, must bring stricter land clearing controls back.   

Government’s vision for more livable communities is a step in the right direction — but beware the developers. The conservation movement welcomes the intention of the NSW Government’s draft Design and Place SEPP to make the planning system better serve the needs of people and the environment.  They warned, however, that government will have to resist the developer wrecking ball. 

The Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC) and Total Environment Centre have welcomed a historic agreement with the NSW Government which will protect 1100 hectares of land on the Cumberland Plain, while also catalysing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity. 

Unless there is radical change to the NSW government’s plans for urban sprawl, it will have effectively launched an extinction exercise against the state’s one glowing light of Koala recovery, on the western edge of Sydney.  The two critical measures that will give the colony a chance are the forthcoming Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan and a set of wide, protected corridors linking the Georges and Nepean Rivers. A lot has occurred in the past few months as the campaign has ramped up.