Bat Chats is an informal guided tour of the vulnerable Spectacled Flying Fox roost outside Cairns City Library and vicinity. People will learn about how the Spectacled Flying Fox is a “keystone species” which has a key role in seed dispersal around the region. Watch the evening ‘fly-out’! Time: 5:30pm – 6.30pm Where: Corner of Aplin St …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2016/03/30/easter-holiday-bat-chats/
CAFNEC have released a summary report card on the political parties policies on the environment for the 2015 Queensland state election on Jan 31st. The scorecard can be downloaded as a pdf here: CAFNECElectionReportCard_web, and can be viewed below. Full detail of the parties responses to our survey are available here. Late breaking news: Labor has …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2015/01/23/cafnec-environment-report-card-election-2015/
Introduction The Australian and Queensland governments have released the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan for public comment over a six week period which ends on 27 October 2014. The Plan is designed to inform future development providing an over-arching framework to guide protection and management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area from 2015 …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2014/10/17/reef-2050-draft-plan-guide-easy-email-letter/
On the 2nd June 2014 CAFNEC provided a submission to the Senate Inquiry on the management of the Great Barrier Reef. This senate inquiry is timely given UNESCO’s concerns about the health of the reef and the range of development proposals on the table (including the Cairns Port dredging project). UNESCO is considering recommending that …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2014/06/02/5096/
On October 18th, 2013, the Federal and Queensland Governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which is the first step of the process to create a ‘one stop shop’ for environmental approvals. This is a worrying move which would significantly weaken our important environment protect laws. The bilateral agreement will accredit state planning systems under …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2013/11/27/update-on-one-stop-shop-weakening-of-our-environmental-protection-laws/
24 April 2013 The Newman government is proposing amendments to the Vegetation Management Framework that would reduce protection of our native vegetation and allow the clearing of an estimated 700,000 hectares of Queensland’s endangered and ecologically significant forests and woodlands. “The proposed Vegetation Management Framework Amendment Bill causes us to have serious concerns about the …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2013/04/24/media-release-taking-the-axe-to-queenslands-tree-clearing-laws-not-such-a-bright-idea/
April 2013 The Newman Government is proposing amendments to the Vegetation Management Act 1999 that will mean: Clearing applications could now be made for ‘additional relevant purposes’ of high value agricultural clearing and irrigated high value agricultural clearing. This would mean that north Queensland would be exposed to extensive clearing for agricultural purposes, with adverse …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2013/04/22/proposes-amendments-to-the-vegetation-management-act-put-queensland-biodiversity-at-risk/
On October 22nd the Queensland Premier Campbell Newman ended the state’s decades-long ban on uranium mining and reversed the position the Liberal National Party took to the election in March. Uranium has not been mined in Queensland since the closure of the Mary Kathleen mine in the state’s north-west in 1982. This announcement followed …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2012/12/12/uranium-mining-given-the-green-light/
To those of us who aren’t planners or legal specialists, changes to planning legislation can seem pretty dull and incomprehensible, but it’s worth persisting through the pages of confusing terminology, as the implications of these changes can be dramatic. The Newman government recently repealed the Queensland Coastal Plan which governed development and environmental protection in coastal areas, …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2012/12/12/a-change-of-plan-whats-on-the-horizon-for-our-coastal-areas/
Media Release from Queensland Conservation Council 5 December 2012 Queensland’s state and regional conservation groups meeting in Brisbane today have demanded that Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and other Queensland Labor MPs act to prevent the handing over of environmental approval powers to the States. The so-called “slashing green tape” agenda is being considered at …
Permanent link to this article: https://cafnec.org.au/2012/12/06/groups-demand-queenslands-federal-mps-retain-protection-of-the-states-environment/