'It's killing our songlines' - traditional owners protest against logging
TRANSCRIPT
Protesters have been trying to stop logging in the Newry Forest near Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales - while also being met with armed police.
Uncle Bud Marshall is a Gumbaynggirr man and senior elder.
He says he's concerned on the forest's deep cultural value.
"Sacred men's place and it's right at the bottom of the mountain, Nungu mountain. We've gotta protect what's left over. Because if we don't then what's gonna happen. If it's destroyed I don't know it would just break my heart to just see everything go like this. And when are they going to stop. You know, it's you try to stop them but then they come back and do it again."
Aunty Alison is a Gumbaynggirr elder and healer, and believes the logging impacts country.
"When the tree exhales that's what we need, and when we exhale that's what the tree needs, so we're one of the same, we have the same DNA as the tree. The logging has to stop today. It just cannot go any longer. It's killing our songlines."
New South Wales Forestry Corporation, which manages state forests, says it's consulted with First Nations people and field surveys have taken place to protect Cultural Heritage.
But some Traditional Owners like Gumbaynggirr man, Uncle Micklo Jarrett disagrees.
"We didn't give any consent in the first place for people to come here and destroy our land. There was no consultation in the first place. There was no consent given in the first place. And there's no consent, and there's no understanding of Gumbaynggirr people now. As far as I'm concerned there's no consent. They have to leave the native forests alone. They have to leave them alone unless they can show me that there's consent. But it's crazy, these people who are chopping down these trees, and these koalas who are part of our family and totems are on the verge of being extinct."
The area being logged has been set aside by the state government as a future part of the Great National Koala Park, to help protect the endangered species.
The koala project is backed by the National Parks Association of New South Wales with the state's Environmental Protection Authority.
The Forestry Corporation says around 70 per cent of the area will not be harvested, including trees that are preferred by koalas for feed and habitat.
Jacqui Mumford is the CEO of the New South Wales Conservation Council, and warns these efforts could create further environmental risks.
"And a parliamentary inquiry back in 2020 found that koalas would be extinct in NSW by 2050 under a business as usual scenario which basically just means If we keep doing what we're doing Koalas will go extinct. And that's exactly what's happening. We're seeing an escalation of logging in the park. Um which is destroying koala habitat which is the leading threat to their viability as a species."]
Greens MP Sue Higginson has also advocated on how the logging can be damaging to the area, and spoke about it in the New South Wales parliament earlier this month.
"If we log these forests, we make them more susceptible to more intense and more frequent fires. By logging these precious public native parks we are actually putting these communities at risk of fire and the same goes for flooding."
Uncle Micklo Jarrett says groups from across the region have joined the Gumbaynggirr people in the anti-logging protest.
"I will support all the environmental groups that're here and the people that're here fighting and stop the logging until the end until they stop logging."
The New South Wales Police Force says it recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, but their first priority is the safety of the wider community.
The state's EPA says there are strict rules in place to protect habitat and will actively monitor logging operations and investigate any potential breaches.
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