Protest against Government sell off
PROTESTERS targeted Wollongong's Department of Lands office yesterday as part of state-wide action against government policy to sell and lease Crown land, including Killalea State Park.
Lands Minister Tony Kelly criticised the organised protest as "an attempt to link coastal rejuvenation and tourism development with the sale of some perpetual Crown leases".
On April 30, Mr Kelly signed an agreement to lease three parcels of Killalea land for 52 years to Killalea Coastal Investments, a joint venture between Mariner Financial and Babcock & Brown.
It allows 202 residential lodges, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants and a conference centre.
NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale joined the Wollongong action, and collected a further 2500 petition signatures to take to Parliament.
Ms Hale previously tabled 6000 signatures on a petition against the lease of Killalea land.
Environmentalists targeted six department offices yesterday, criticising the department for not transferring high conservation value public lands to the National Parks estate.
The National Parks Association, Wilderness Society and Total Environment Centre joined the Save Killalea Alliance and the South Coast Labour Council at the Wollongong protest.
They said there would be little protection for more than one million hectares of vegetation on Crown leases if the estate was sold and said NSW needed an inquiry into Crown land management.
Protesters demanded the Government abandon the Killalea lease proposal.
Mr Kelly said the Greens were briefed on the lease freehold offer and knew it had "nothing to do with rejuvenation projects at Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour or eco-tourism at Killalea".
He defended the department's land management, saying it balanced "the environmental value of its land against the equally important needs of developing communities". The Government encouraged selected perpetual leaseholders to convert land to freehold, a right Mr Kelly said was already attached to many perpetual leases.
He said this would provide greater environmental protection than exists for perpetual leases.
Illawarra Mercury - 20 July 2007
Return to "Killalea Media Index" Page - A list of all media articles found relating to Killalea State Park with links to the articles.
Return to "Killalea State Park Protest" Page - General information on what has been happening over recent months.
Return to Killalea Index - Additional Killalea family information.