Great Southern Forest proposed, a tsunami of data centres, good news from the Illawarra, NSW outdated guidelines for coal assessments, AusAlert test and more.
Great Southern Forest
The National Parks Association recently launched a proposal for the Great Southern Forest (GSF).
Someone who has been closely involved in the proposal is Joslyn van der Moolen, who is a National Parks Association Convenor and a member of the Knitting Nannas for Native Forests (South Coast). This week she made presentations to the Sydney Knitting Nannas and a meeting of NSW regional Nannas to tell us more about this forest.
The plan is for one very large and connected reserve that will protect wildlife and preserve diverse ecosystems and at the same time allow people to experience the natural environments on offer. The benefits to local communities will include improved regional economies flowing from boosting the tourist industry, which will in turn support existing industries, such as oyster farming and bee keeping.
Brooman State Forest, between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla, would be one of the state forests to be protected by inclusion in the GSF. There has been a concerted campaign to stop logging in this forest, which is home to Big Spotty, a tree believed to be the tallest spotted gum on Earth.
The campaign produced a petition with 30,000 signatures calling on the government to stop the logging. The campaign has been successful in bringing local state ALP MP, Liza Butler, on board to save Big Spotty and the Brooman State Forest.
Onine petition Protect Big Spotty’s Forest
Brooman State Forest Conservation video
Locals are working on other ALP MPs in the region, Michael Holland (Bega) and Steve Whan (Monaro), hoping to gain their support for the GSF.
Glenbog Forest, west of Bega, would be another forest protected by the GSF. Glenbog has been a focus for the work of citizen scientists. They have saved many of the animals and their habitat by recording sightings, so that loggers have to maintain exclusion zones around their trees and burrows.
It is shocking that wombat burrows can be legally collapsed by logging operations, crushing or burying wombats alive, often with their joeys.
Online petition — Stop Squashing Wombats
Stopping logging saves forests, saves taxpayer dollars and keeps the carbon in the trees.
‘End Native Forest Logging’ signs available
Greater gliders are losing the tree hollows where they sleep. Koalas are losing the forests they depend on for food and shelter. Wombats are being buried alive with their joeys. These animals cannot speak out against logging, but you can. Will you put up a sign showing your support for an end to native forest logging? You can order one from the Nature Conservation Council.
Hey Bunnings: Stop Selling Out Australia’s Special Forests
Bunnings sells products from destructive logging operations in Australian native forests — which might even include illegally logged timber. (Wilderness Society)
Coffs Harbour Nannas continue to campaign for Pine Creek
The Knitting Nannas of Coffs Harbour are part of the intense campaign to protect the Pine Creek Forest and the forest corridor between the Bongil Bongil and Bindari National Parks.
Clear fell logging has commenced, but local activists are not giving up while the forest corridor is still standing and it’s still possible to save it. The Nannas are contacting government Ministers by letter, email and pleading the case for the saving the forest. They are also maintaining their weekly vigils outside Forestry Corporation offices in Coffs.
For the past four weeks, they have also been focused on monitoring and reporting on the destruction of compartments 32 and 33 of the forest. The government has deemed these compartments to be plantations, but they are koala habitat and indistinguishable from the adjacent Bongil Bongil National Park.
It has been an exhausting time for local forest protectors, with a camp in the forest for ten days before logging started on 23 June. On that day National Parks and Wildlife Service, police and Forestry Corporation removed a person who was tree-sitting and ordered the disbandment of the camp. Nannas were shocked at the way they all ignored Gumbaynggirr nation senior lore woman, Aunty Allison’s plea for the forest, and by their disrespect for her.
But the resistance goes on, with Nannas working closely with the Forest Ecology Alliance in monitoring truck movements and how the logs are being used.
Data Centres
“It’s like a tsunami of data centres!” Nannas are trying to get our heads around noisy data centres, which are bringing new threats to our neighbourhoods, water resources and energy supplies.
We are concerned that neither state or federal governments have regulations in place to meet the tsunami, and they seem to be relying on foreign corporations to do the right thing. We know how that’s gone in the past — we’re thinking about what’s happened with the gas industry.
Data centres may say they will use renewable energy, but they must create their own additional supplies, which will take longer than building the data centres. New demand for electricity will come from growing EV sales which will significantly reduce our transport emissions. New demand for renewables from data centres must not be allowed to hold up or slow down electrification or the retirement of old coal fired power stations.
We’re also worried about where all the water will come from to cool the many hot data centres being planned or already in operation. Even if they are made to recycle the water they use, this is likely to be a big issue.
Regional locations are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Small regional data centre proposals are submitted to council planning panels and have a very short time on public exhibition.
A data centre planned for the Blue Mountains was withdrawn by the applicant after residents raised concerns about its location. We may not have seen the last of this proposal though. (Blue Mountains City Council)
Currently two projects of one gigawatt have applied for connections. The one-gigawatt facility in NSW called the Mamre Road Data Centre Campus at Kemps Creek will have the energy consumption of ALL domestic use in Australia, not just in New South Wales or one part of Australia, ALL households in Australia.
How is the gas industry involved? Data centres are being proposed near gas lines, and gas-fired power stations are part of at least one development proposal. For more on this: Mega data centres in bed with big gas: how fossil fuels are powering the AI boom. (7am Podcast)
Search for data centres on NSW Planning Portal — major projects.
Clouded future: Managing the risks of the data centre boom (Climate Council)
Digital demand surge: Preparing Australia’s power systems for the rise of data centres (AEMO)
For an international perspective on the development of AI and the growing resistance to it: Naomi Klein & Karen Hao: The Empire of AI and the Fight for Our Future | Chan Centre Insights. It’s long, but it takes the discussion to a different level.
Nannas say: A moratorium on data centre approvals is needed until proper regulations are in place.
Illawarra News
Gas
The Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed cheered the result of an energy transition debate at Wollongong City Council’s June meeting. The council passed no new gas connections to new builds.
If the irrepressible Knitting Nannas Against Greed give their seal of approval to something, it generally means it’s good for the city, region, nation and planet. (Illawarra Flame)
Water
The Illawarra Nannas wrote to the Minister for Planning, Paul Scully, and the Minister for Water, Rose Jackson, asking them to protect their water catchment. Scully’s response was, “The NSW Government is committed to protecting the state’s drinking water catchments.”
It’ll be great to have this quote when Metropolitan and Dendrobium apply for coal expansions, and for the lead up to the NSW election when the campaign will focus on water quality.
Coal
Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reveals NSW’s outdated guidelines skew assessment of coal mine approvals.
Key findings:
- The NSW government bases its economic assessment of coal mines on outdated guidelines that almost entirely overlook the cost of emissions.
- The economic benefits of coal projects are therefore significantly overstated.
- The guidelines for the economic assessment of coal mining projects should be updated to align with the NSW government’s legislated targets.
- Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) was examined as a case study: IEEFA assessed that the cost of emissions from HVO would be in excess of $2.2 billion — about 580 times more than reported.
HVO Campaign
Latest information about the campaign to stop the approval of the biggest coal project in NSW history is posted here. Latest updates are:
- Link to live streaming of Public Hearings on 16, 17, 22 July.
- Saturday 8 August — Raise your voices against coal expansions 10am Martin Place
AusAlert
AusAlert is an emergency warning system that uses the latest technology to send alerts directly to compatible mobile devices during disasters. It will be ready to use in October 2026.
A test alert will be sent on Monday 27 July 2026 to all mobile devices in Australia at 2pm (AEST). Devices will vibrate and play a siren-like warning sound for about 10 seconds. An AusAlert message will appear on device screens clearly saying it is a test.
Vale Eve Sinton 20/11/52–30/06/26
We were sad to hear of Eve Sinton’s passing last week. She was a journalist who joined the Lismore Knitting Nannas and compiled and edited The Fossil Fool Bulletin. She kept Nanna loops up to date with the impact of coal and gas projects, such as Santos’s Narrabri Gas Project during 2017-2018. (Echo)
Nannas are reading
Entire NSW Labor left calls for controversial anti-protest laws to be scrapped ahead of party conference (The Guardian)
NSW spent almost $500,000 on court cases they lost against pro-Palestine protest groups (The Guardian)
AUKUS waste is a toxic topic. The Albanese government wants it kept quiet — One of the few things we know about the AUKUS deal is Australia will have to deal with the submarines’ radioactive waste when they are decommissioned. Details about that plan are being kept under wraps. (Crikey)
Mass fish deaths feared as Minns government promise to restore Murray-Darling rivers in doubt (The Guardian)
INPEX safety shortcuts exposed Ichthys LNG workers and ocean to mercury (Boiling Cold)
Forthcoming Events