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Email Robyn Parker now

To stop this looming injustice we first need to stop Robyn Parker from signing the Deed of Agreement. Please email Robyn Parker or phone (02) 9228 5253

What to say

Simply state that you request that she not sign the Shanes Park Deed of Agreement as negotiated with the Federal Government. That she send the Deed of Agreement back to the Federal Government for amendments that ensure that the site be gazetted a Nature Reserve by the NSW Government. You can add in anything else about the sites unique conservation values. This can all be done with the stroke of a pen by both governments. It is the right thing to do and will demonstrate they are truly committed to protecting the environment of western Sydney. Robyn Parker recently changed the reserve status of a reserve at nearby Cranebrook changing it from Regional Park to Nature Reserve. Shanes Park is equal if not more significant than the Cranebrook land so it is only equitable it too be classified a Nature Reserve

The Shanes Park Air Services Australia land must be protected by the NSW Government as a Nature Reserve not a Regional Park

Robyn Parker must not sign the Deed of Agreement with the Federal Government condemning the 558 hectare site

The NSW Government has for many years been seeking the Federal Government hand over ownership of the 558 hectare Air Services Australia site to them. They wanted the land transferred to them at no or minimal cost. WSCA has supported this move and at the 2007 and 2010 Federal elections lobbied both the major parties to ensure this happened. We have consistently stated that once that happened that the land should be conserved as a Nature Reserve

It is now known that a Deed of Agreement has been negotiated between NSW and the Federal Governments as to the handover of the site. Of great alarm is that the negotiated outcome includes gazetting the site as a Regional Park and rolling it into the flawed Wianamatta Regional Park which means it will be managed as per the Master Plan for the ADI Site Regional Park which has Lend Leases influence all over it. The Wianamatta Regional Park Master Plan allows all kinds of intensive recreational uses within it. Those uses are contrary to nature conservation.

Shanes Park is a rare conservation jewel due to its size and its impressive flora and fauna. It provides habitat for some very rare plants and is one of the most important bird areas in western Sydney. The list of birds living at, breeding at or visiting the site is impressive. Over 400 ha of the site is on Commonwealth Heritage Listed. The immense conservation value of this site is well known to bureaucrats within the NSW and Federal Environment Departments yet they have all colluded to put these values at risk by agreeing to a lowly Regional Park status.

www.shanespark.com is a new website about the Shanes Park land and why it should be a Nature Reserve. Check it out for lists of species, photos and background documents. You can also lodge an e-submission from this site.

A Regional Park is essentially an area set aside for public recreation not conservation. If Robyn Parker signs the Deed of Agreement with the Federal Government and opens the site up as a Regional Park then species currently on that site will be seriously impacted and localised extinctions will follow.

Hypocrisy by Robyn Parker and her staff

Robyn Parker office@parker.minister.nsw.gov.au  recently brought in the National Parks and Wildlife Legislation Amendment (Reservations) Bill 2011 which was condemned by Labor and The Greens for failing to protect some massive State Forests from logging. Rolled into this Bill were sections that changed the reserve classification of 181 hectares of land at Cranebrook that the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service originally gazetted as a Regional Park. It too was rolled into the Wianamatta Regional Park. WSCA lobbied for the incoming Liberal Nationals to scrap the Regional Park classification and upgrade it to Nature Reserve. We also told them that if they are to do this then they need to also ensure the same for the Shanes Park land. The Liberals were elected but their election commitment only applied to the Cranebrook land. The recent Bill changed Cranebrook from Regional Park to Nature Reserve.

Whilst Cranebrook possesses great examples of threatened species and several endangered ecological communities it does not really compare to the uniqueness of Shanes Park. Scientifically you cannot justify that Cranebrook deserves Nature Reserve protection above Shanes Park. A failure by Robyn Parker and her staff to apply the same reserve classification to Shanes Park as they did with Cranebrook exposes them to the tag of hypocrites.

Shanes Park is equal if not more significant than the Cranebrook land so it is only equitable it be a Nature Reserve 

WSCA wrote to Robyn Parker back in May 2011 (which they never responded to) about the Liberals election commitments stating that:

WSCA urges the NSW Coalition to classify the 558 hectare Shanes Park Air Services Australia Site as a Nature Reserve and not a Regional Park. This site arguably has superior conservation value than the Cranebrook land and therefore should also be afforded protection as a Nature Reserve. 

Who is to blame?

Air Services Australia owns the land so the Federal Minister responsible for transferring the land is Anthony Albanese. His office and bureaucrats were lobbied about ensuring the site be conserved as a Nature Reserve.

Tony Burke the Environment Minister and local ALP member Ed Husic met with reps from WSCA over 12 months ago and they were told why the site should be saved as a Nature Reserve. They were also told of the issue of the proposed NSW RTA freeway route through the southern end of the site. We called on them not to hand over the site until these two issues were resolved with NSW. Tony Burkes SEWPaC staff were part of the negotiations between Airservice Australia staff and the NSW Government. They agreed with NSW that the site become a Regional Park

The push for the Regional Park though obviously came from the NSW Environment Department with the local area managers pushing for the site to be included in the flawed ADI Site Regional Park (Wianamatta Regional Park). So it was a lazy outcome and would save them all some work by simply rolling it into an existing reserves plan of management

So the NSW Government proposed the conservation classification - the inappropriate Regional Park - and the Feds simply went along with it. One has to wonder that with a plethora of documentation available to both Environment departments as to the immense conservation value of the site how they could come to the conclusion the best way to protect those values is within a reserve the National Parks and Wildlife Act states is primarily for public use and recreation. Appalling stewardship by those responsible for protecting nature.

The freeway issue has not be resolved so NSW will inherit a big bush block that the RTA intends to bulldoze one day to create a freeway linking the M7 with the Bells line of Road. The Liberal Nationals are pushing for the re routing of the Bells Line of Road to open up markets across The Great Dividing Range

WSCA correspondence to RTA May 2009
RTA response to WSCA December 2009

Below is the Shanes Park land with the Freeway route in purple