GREENS Upper House member Cate Faehrmann was in Coffs Harbour last Monday to kick off the Greens campaign for the seat in the upcoming State election.

She announced Tim Nott as the Greens candidate for Coffs Harbour, and also discussed koalas, pokies and John Barilaro.

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At the announcement, Mr Nott spoke about local planning issues and said the State Government has avoided basic planning principles.

“Has the community been listened to?” Mr Nott asked, citing that development plans had no mention of extra roads, hospitals or schools and no consideration of climate change.

“We need courageous decisions in government.“

Mr Nott also addressed the issue of koala protection.

“Unfortunately, like a lot of local residents, they’re running out of homes.”

Mr Nott said Coffs Harbour should have a separation of tourist and community precincts and noted that, while the Jetty Foreshore master plan shows three to four storey residential dwellings, the planning laws allow for much higher buildings and wondered if developers would stick to the lower heights.

He said that Coffs Harbour had been left behind and promised to fight for the area.

The Greens candidate for Oxley, Dominic King, also spoke at the event, noting that housing and cost of living pressures had people feeling they are being left behind.

Mr King said current planning laws are pro-development and anti-community and need to be changed.

Ms Faehrmann detailed the Greens’ plans for the next parliament.

She highlighted that John Barilaro’s trade commissioner job nomination was found by an upper house inquiry to be very unsatisfactory and the Greens will move to censure Stuart Ayres in parliament for his role in the controversy.

“People are sick of this jobs for the boys mentality,” she said.

Ms Faehrmann welcomed announcements by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to curb the impact of pokie machines but wants faster action.

She said the Greens want limits put on machines so that the maximum is far less than $5000 or $10000, along with other actions to prevent people losing record amounts of money in the next parliament, and not leave it until 2028.

The Greens, she said, want support for venues that want to phase out pokies completely and she has spoken to a number of venue owners who have successfully removed all pokies.

“It’s a very welcome step from the Premier,” Ms Faehrmann said, calling on Labor leader Chris Minns to support the proposed moves.

She also said that the Greens will fight against ‘draconian’ anti-protest laws, arguing that the protection of areas on the Coffs Coast have been facilitated by peaceful protests.

Ms Faehrmann chaired an upper house inquiry that found koalas will be extinct by 2050 unless drastic changes are made.

“Today we draw a line in the sand,” she said, adding that an immediate moratorium on the destruction of koala habitat is needed if they are to survive.

“Logging is absolutely ramping up on the Mid North Coast,” Ms Faehrmann, promising that the Greens will introduce a koala habitat protection bill within the first 100 days of the new parliament.

“We are throwing millions of dollars at this industry that is ripping the heart out of our beautiful country.”

According to Ms Faehrmann, the threat to koala habitat is on private land because that is where two thirds of the habitat is.

In many areas there is no requirement to seek permission to clear private land.

She said the State Government has put $193 million into koala protection but it is not pursuing effective strategies.

She made it clear that the community can have forestry, development and agriculture and it can be done in ecologically safe ways.

“It’s not rocket science – identify koala habitat and protect it,” Ms Faehrmann said.

Both Mr Nott and Ms Faehrmann stressed the economic and environmental benefits of a Great Koala National Park in the region, with Ms Faehrmann calling on Labor to get behind its immediate establishment.

By Andrew VIVIAN