The NSW government has confirmed that it will not stop native logging in the state. According to Premier Chris Minns, protecting future carbon credits is more important. What’s the scam?
The scam is carbon credits. Last week in Budget Estimates, NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed that his government would not move to convert native forests into national parks because the government would be blocked from using the forests as stocks for carbon credits it could sell.
Responding to a question from Greens MP Sue Higginson, Minns said:
You have to have a system up and running before you can quarantine a park or an area to allow for that area or that zone to be eligible for the carbon transfer.
“If you do it in reverse, then you can’t retroactively go to that national park or that forest and say, ‘this will now apply to carbon offsets in the future’.”
Logging of native forests in the state is costing the public plenty, says Higginson, including a $28 million loss over the last two years and $80 million in subsidies the previous year. In addition to the environmental cost of logging, of course.
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Callum Foote was a reporter for Michael West Media for four years.