New South Wales Labor calls for suspending parliament, as bushfires rage

‘Suspend parliament’ as NSW bushfires rage, Herald Sun,

Jodie Stephens and Hannah Higgins, Australian Associated Press

November 10, 2019 NSW Labor is calling for the upcoming week of state parliament be suspended so politicians can be with the communities they represent while they battle devastating bushfires.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while any MP who wants to be in their community should stay there, parliament will continue as planned.

Labor’s manager of opposition business Ryan Park on Sunday wrote to Speaker Jonathan O’Dea to ask that the reserve week instead be used to finalise any legislation…….

As the sitting week begins on Tuesday, activists are planning to rally outside parliament over a bill relating to mining approvals and greenhouse gas emissions. ……

The state government’s bill, due to be debated this week, would prevent the regulation of overseas emissions in mining approvals.

A Facebook page for the protest links mining and the burning of fossil fuels with climate change, and the intensity of extreme bushfire events such as bushfires.

Protesters are calling for politicians to reject the bill and instead increase funding to emergency services.

But Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the bill simply provided procedural certainty about how “extraterritorial impacts” could be dealt with in the conditioning of NSW planning approvals.

“The NSW government’s climate policy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 has not changed,” he said in a statement on Sunday. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/suspend-parliament-as-bushfires-rage/news-story/90684426c441cba9c51a81b77d3ce028