Polling released by the National Parks Australia Council shows the vast majority of Australians want national parks set aside for nature conservation not development.
The survey was conducted nationwide, with the protection of nature, saving threatened species, and quiet enjoyment of nature topping the list of importance for national parks and conservation areas to Australians.
Of those Surveyed, an overwhelming 91% agreed national parks and conservation areas are critical to protect nature from resource extraction and 78% supported not having development in parks and protected areas.
NPA CEO, Gary Dunnett stated ‘We have seen an alarming trend in recent years of Australian governments, State and Federal, prioritising development in national parks to the detriment of the threatened species and unique areas they were established to protect.
‘Despite overwhelming opposition, in NSW the environmentally destructive Snowy 2.0 development in Kosciuszko National Park and the Light-to-Light exclusive commercial tourism development in Ben Boyd National Park have been given the green light by government.
‘It’s time for all our politicians to listen to their constituents and put the long-term protection of nature over the short-term financial gains made from inappropriate developments in national parks’ Mr Dunnett concluded.
ENDS
Media Contact: NPA CEO, Gary Dunnett (02) 9299 0000
The research was released by the National Parks Australia Council (NPAC), a national coalition of state based national parks associations and community conservation organisations from across Australia. And was conducted by Lonergan Research in accordance with the ISO 20252 standard.
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