Carr star-struck by profits

Chalk up a win for the environment. A movie company filming in 
environmentally sensitive areas of the Blue Mountains, west of 
Sydney, has abandoned its plans to make a movie there. 
Environmental activists and local residents who were harassed and 
arrested at a blockade against the project, which was backed to 
the hilt by the Carr Labor Government, say they can show the 
movie's producers at least 30 other areas where they can make 
their film.

The NSW Greens are calling for an investigation into the granting 
of wilderness areas in the Blue Mountains to a Hollywood movie 
company, despite explicit laws and regulations against it. The 
Land and Environment Court ruled that filming of the movie could 
not go ahead in the Grose Wilderness, near Mount Hay, in the Blue 
Mountains World Heritage Area.

Premier Bob Carr threatened to introduce special legislation to 
allow the filming to go ahead. That was not a first: last 
December Carr rushed through legislation to overturn a Land 
Environment Court decision against an environmentally disastrous 
waste reprocessing plant in Auburn, a high-density population 
area in Sydney's inner west.

The Greens say that Carr broke his own laws governing wilderness 
areas to allow the filming and must be held accountable for his 
actions. The project contravened the National Parks and Wildlife 
Act, the Wilderness Act and the National Parks and Wildlife's own 
filming policy.

"The Carr Government was star-struck by Hollywood's glittering 
lights and forgot its own environmental laws and policies", said 
NSW Greens MP, Ian Cohen. Mr Cohen said regulations and 
management policies should be strengthened to ensure there are no 
"grey areas" where commercial operators could exploit the law in 
the future.

"The community and the courts have proven to be the champions of 
the state's precious wilderness areas, not the government."