I imagine many of you are aware of the poor decisions being made by a number of state governments regarding the management of our national parks.
Perhaps you have signed a petition or two – but were planning to do more?
Today is the day to act.
It looks like cabinet are meeting today to consider what action to take, if any, to increase the federal government's involvement in the management of national parks.
I'm going to make it real easy for you to add your voice to the call for our national parks to be truly national.
If you have only 1 minute to spare sign this petition.
If you have 5 minutes to spare also send a letter to your local MP.
If you have 7 minutes to spare also send an email to Environment Minister Tony Burke.
If you have 10 minutes to spare also call Environment Minister Tony Burke on 02 62777640.
An email from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW this morning motivated me to make the call, telling me that a direct phone call is one of the most powerful ways we can tell our decision makers what we want.
I was a little intimidated by the idea of making a phone call, but it was easy. I wrote down a few short sentences as talking notes: My name is X, I'm from X, I'm concerned about X, and I would like X. I made the call and asked if I could leave a message for the Environment Minister. The friendly receptionist listened politely to my quick spiel, thanked me for my call and said she would pass on my message. She suggested I follow up my phone call with an email (she provided an email address) which I then did.
Here's my short email:
Dear Tony Burke,
I'm a resident of the Hunter Valley NSW and and am a regular visit to Yengo, Wollemi and Werakata national parks.
I would love to see the federal government act now to ensure protection of our national parks. The NSW government's plans to allow hunting in National Parks deeply concern me. My 6 year old daughter is also concerned by these moves and chose to accompany me on a recent No Hunting in National Parks rally in Sydney (image attached).
Please amend national environmental laws to ensure greater protection of our national parks. Our national parks need to be truly national.
Kind regards,
Tricia
Do you have the time today to add your voice?
Edited to add an update from Getup 21st June: "This wasn't a good week for national parks. After intense lobbying by the country's mining and gas lobbies, Cabinet folded and chose not to introduce legislation that would have given national protection to our national parks. With overwhelming public support, now is not the time to give up. Federal protection for parks is still under consideration and we can help put it on the agenda for both parties and their pre-election commitments." Getup will be releasing a bumper sticker to help the campaign. Find our more and vote for your favourite design here.
