18 November, 2020
Good morning all
I touched on this topic in my last post but here is some more detail in a Facebook post.
Yesterday I found the Bushfires Amendment Bill tabled by The Hon David Elliott, Minister for Police and Emergency Services. This Bill was to provide law for some of the recommendations to the Inquiry Report of 31 July 2020.
This Bill is where the new '25 metre rule' comes from. This 'Rule' was to allow landholders the ability to clear 25 metres around their property boundary for bushfire protection. I assumed there would be conditions but one of the key conditions is its only available to Rural lands.
You might ask why this is an issue. Well, land zoned anything other than RU1 through RU6 are not grouped as 'Rural' - no matter how rural they really are.
I have spoken with Mark Banasiak of the Legislative Council (NSW Upper House). They are planning to introduce an amendment to the amendment, but they need support from the LC (first) and the Legislative Assembly (if it passes the LC) but that may not happen.
If we get our E-zones like Council are proposing, this is the kind of thing that will constantly happen. Parts of legislation will always be just out of reach.
An extract of the Bill and Mr Elliotts Second Reading of the Bill can be found here: https://sites.google.com/.../bushfire-amendment-bill-2020