Port Stephens ? Great Lakes Marine Park.

[eco_fisher]

Having attended a presentation from DPI and Marine Parks in October we were informed that after an announcement of a marine park the processes of consultation with stake holders, draft plans and final implementation is a two year process.? The Cape Byron Marine Park has been longer and is still not resolved.

After attending the latest presentation on departmental rhetoric in December the Port Stephens ? Great Lakes Marine Park is on a 9 month plan for implementation, 62% faster than the planned process.? Why?? Well if the feedback I have heard is correct it is due to the demands from the Greens on Labour to secure preference deals before the next state election.? I don?t see any evidence to suggest that this is not the case.? It?s the same reason why we have Marine Parks and sanctuary zones in the first place.

How can they speed the process up?

Are the government departments involved now working efficiently?? Do they have more funding?? Have they learnt that much from the disastrous implementation of the Cape Byron Marine Park?? No, No and maybe.? Are they hoping by reducing the timeframe for implementation by one year and three months from a two year plan, opportunities for community consultation will be affected therefore less community opposition will be experienced.?

This affects every consumer and taxpayer in the state regardless if you utilise the marine environment or not.? How do the farmers in parts of the state where the river systems are merely isolated puddles feel about funding marine parks through a tax on waste disposal?? And why should they when the rivers are in the state they are?

There are solutions to the impact we impose on our waterways and the present model of marine parks do nothing to change the high impact factors on this resource, like water quality, sewage and habitat destruction.? ?Lines on a map do nothing to stop polluted water from entering a sanctuary zone.? Habitat creation in the way of artificial reefs will do far more than protect biodiversity, it will enhance biodiversity. Why protect the most ?pristine? areas?? So we can keep destroying unprotected areas and hope the sanctuary zones support the ecosystem with the ?spill over effect??

Use this site people, communicate, share information and spread the word we are being screwed not to protect biodiversity but to secure labour politicians a pay cheque for the next four years.

Regards,
Steve

[bez]

Interesting Steve but not surprising. One of the objectives could be to somehow delay the process back to the original two year timeframe. First thing could be to get to the 6 week current submission window extended to 3 months (which is how long the Byron Bay communti information period was for), considering the 6 weeks covers the festive season

I will be definitely getting as many people to send in individual submissions because these take longer to read and analyse than a form or a petition, and maybe just maybe the govt/MPA has to follow some protocol along the way and actually dissect/review  all the submissions recived before the draft zoning plan comes out (i hear March 06 as planned?)
Obviously the holiday period submission period helps the chances of a lower than possible response rate from the public. So we need to get tacklies and any other outlets to rpomote people to fill out the questionnaire and send it in. Change the poltical process maybe not, but dragging  the red tape a bit longer might be possible.

[Tarki]

STOP PRESS.
                 If the Port Stephens Draft Zoning Plan is due for release in March this year, it is probably ALREADY being prepared for the Government printer, or some other private enterprise printer.  So how do you now feel about the "public consultation?"  Makes it all sound like a huge joke to me. Yes the Marine Parks Act (1997) requires the Govt to engage in "public consultation", but nowhere in the same Act is either Minister, (Devious and Macdonald) required or compelled to take any notice of it!  If re-elected in 2007, the Opposition have given a guarantee that the Marine Parks Act will be immediately reviewed, so that community consultation is meaningful and the relevant Ministers are bound to implement the communities wishes. Not so long ago, that was called democracy. The current Labor government has been there for ten long years. They are tired and arrogant. They are also broke! Isn't it time for a change?       Tarki.