WWF’s fear and intimidation campaign on tree clearing | Comment

By Dale Stiller, Property Rights Australia
Updated March 28 2017 - 5:09pm, first published 10:56am
WWF runs fear and intimidation campaign
WWF runs fear and intimidation campaign

Sometimes free advice is worthless. Martin Taylor from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in a recent interview advised that landowners, even when clearing under the self-assessable codes, needed to seek approval from the Commonwealth government and that the Commonwealth is supposed to assess the proposed land clearing. The claimed requirement is under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC). This advice misrepresents landowner’s requirements. The fact is that, under the EPBC Act, there is no compulsion for land owners to approach the commonwealth, unless, the landowner has reason to believe that the clearing will have significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance. How the Act is written requires the single development action to significantly damage the likes of a world heritage area, threatened species or the Great Barrier Reef. On behalf of a group of landowners Property Rights Australia sought to have this point clarified by seeking written advice of a barrister in law. A barrister’s advice is not free, but has worth.

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