The Northern Rivers Times
6
January 11, 2024!!!
NEWS
Let’s celebrate our local seniors in 2024 gov.au
By Janelle Saffin MP State Member for Lismore MY Electorate Office reopens on Monday, 8 January and one of the first items of business will be launching the 2024 NSW Seniors Festival Local Achievement Awards. The awards – to be announced during the NSW Seniors Festival which runs from 11-24 March 2024 – recognise the many and varied contributions and achievements of seniors. There are five categories: • Business. • Environment, Science, Agriculture. • Health and Wellbeing. • Lifelong Learning. • Community Service. If you know a senior who stands out in any of these fields and who resides within the Lismore Electorate boundaries, please nominate them. Nomination forms are
FREE DIARY: Senior Ted receives a 2024 Legal Aid Diary from Janelle Saffin MP.
available by emailing my office at lismore@ parliament.nsw.gov. au with SENIORS FESTIVAL in the subject line. A form will be emailed to you which can be filled in electronically and returned by email. Printed nomination forms are also available at the Electorate
Office’s front counter, 55 Carrington Street, Lismore NSW 2480 or call my office on 66213624 and we will post one to you. Nominations open from 9am on Monday, 8 January 2024, and close at 5pm on Friday, 23 February 2024, to allow time for nominations to be assessed.
I will host a morning tea for our award winners during the NSW Seniors Festival in March, which happens to be the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Reach Beyond! is the festival’s theme for 2024, encouraging seniors to seek out new experiences and make
new friendships by participating in hundreds of free or discounted events. Festival events cover the arts, sports, music, technology and entertainment with some held in regional and rural New South Wales. For more information about the festival, visit www.seniorsfestival.nsw.
Free diary helps seniors know their rights SENIORS can still pick up the Free 2024 Legal Aid Diary from my Electorate Office at 55 Carrington Street Lismore and from libraries across the electorate. This is a very popular diary, full of tips for seniors about navigating the law from managing financial hardship to avoiding scams and resolving neighbour disputes. The diary is a trustworthy source of legal information about consumer rights as well as information about how to seek help if you have a complaint about a service. It also includes health and wellbeing tips and money-saving advice. The NSW Government is pleased to be able to provide the free seniors diary because it is a handy one-stop-shop for legal information.
Logging operations at Clouds Creek State Forest blocked as communities prepare for High Court decision Greens MP Sue Higginson has joined members of the community who have blocked access to logging roads at Clouds Creek State Forest this morning to prevent logging roading operations and protect endangered species in the forest, including Koalas and Southern Greater Gliders. The Federal Court is expected to deliver a judgement this Wednesday on the lawfulness of native forest logging under Federal environment laws. Greens MP and spokesperson for the Environment Sue Higginson said “This year must be the year that the NSW Government ends the industrial and destructive logging of native forests, we cannot afford another year of inaction and neither can the endangered plants
and animals that rely on healthy forests,” “Clouds Creek State Forest has already been targeted by the Government for more logging despite being within the boundaries of the Great Koala National Park that the
Minns Government has promised. This forest is one of many that has been subjected to industrial logging despite known presence of endangered species including Koalas and Southern Greater Gliders.”
“The Federal Court of Australia is on the verge of deciding whether public native forest logging that is ongoing in NSW is compliant with Federal laws that are supposed to protect the environment and biodiversity. The logging
operations that have been blocked by the community today could well be permanently halted if the court agrees that the Government has failed to obey the law.” “The community and the Forestry Corporation both know that logging
is being undertaken in areas with reported sightings of endangered Greater Gliders without the lawfully required protections for their habitat trees being in place. This situation has been repeated in other forests with the Environment Protection Authority issuing multiple stop work orders for the same issue in Tallaganda and Flat Rock State Forests last year.” “2024 must be the year that we finally end the logging of native forest in NSW, like Victoria and WA. Forest dependent species, the climate and the wellbeing of all people rely on healthy and biodiverse native forests that are currently being systematically wrecked by industrial and profitless logging operations. This must end,” Ms Higginson said.
