$20 million revamp for loved gardens
Josephine Tovey The pyramid glasshouse at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens will be knocked down and replaced by a new $50 million "Biome" structure, the state government will announce on Monday.
Beaches closed as shark refuses to be herded off
Josephine Tovey Search and rescue teams will continue to scour beaches after sightings of a 2.5-metre shark closed two popular swimming spots.
Nile claims win on fisheries shutdown
Josephine Tovey The closure of the Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence has been put on hold after lobbying from Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile.
Sacking call over fisheries closure
Josephine Tovey THE Premier, Barry O'Farrell, should seriously consider sacking the Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, over the ''shameful'' handling of the closure of the Cronulla Fisheries...
350 jobs to be cut from NSW Environment Office
Ben Cubby and Josephine Tovey At least 350 jobs will be cut from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage over the next three years, amounting to more than 10 per cent of the organisation's staff.
O'Farrell's 10% of parks for hunting is 40% of total area
Josephine Tovey ALMOST 40 per cent of NSW's national parks, including several containing World Heritage areas, are on the list provided by the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, as being under consideration for feral animal...
Macey wows bear pit as MP makes plea for koalas
Josephine Tovey The bear pit went gaga over a visit from a koala today as the opposition called for the animals to be added to the national threatened species list.
Malabar headland becomes national parkland
Josephine Tovey A rugged and windswept parcel of land just 12 kilometres from the city centre will be handed to the people of NSW today to become the state's newest national park.
Fisheries research centre staff given marching orders
Josephine Tovey One in five staff members at the Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre is being offered a new job in Sydney, as the O'Farrell government pushes ahead with plans to close the centre as part of its...
Minister dismisses critical report on chemical leak response
Josephine Tovey The NSW Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, has dismissed as ''unnecessary'' a parliamentary inquiry which damned her response to the Orica chemical leak.
'Unacceptable delay': damning report into Orica leak
Josephine Tovey Premier Barry O'Farrell should issue clear guidelines to his ministers about giving the public warning when their health or safety is at risk, a damning new report into the Orica chemical leak at...
Scepticism over Hazzard's audit of wind farm noise
Josephine Tovey THE state government will conduct a six-month noise audit at three wind farms, despite protests from the industry and opposition that doing so is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer money.
Atrocity abattoir had passed many audits
Josephine Tovey The NSW government is under pressure to tighten the regulation of abattoirs after it was revealed that a slaughterhouse shut down this week over animal cruelty concerns had passed recent inspections...
Cruelty video: 'rogue' abattoir checked four times in a year
Josephine Tovey The Hawkesbury abattoir shut down following the release of shocking animal cruelty footage had been checked by the government regulator four times last year but no breaches had been detected.
Backlash halts bid to increase effluent in river
Josephine Tovey, Kelsey Munro Sydney Water has abandoned a proposal to release up to 10 times more nitrogen and phosphorus into the Hawkesbury River from its Brooklyn sewage plant following a backlash from locals and fears about...
Bid to close research centre faces new hurdles
Josephine Tovey The state government's plan to close and decentralise the Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre is flailing, according to staff, with the overwhelming majority indicating they do not want to move and...
Stink over coal seam leak
Josephine Tovey The state government may prosecute a coal seam gas miner after it admitted releasing 10,000 litres of saline water into a state forest near Narrabri more than six months ago, which was not reported...
Harbour Bridge resurfacing in hands of weather experts
Josephine Tovey THE state government will receive final advice from the weather bureau today as to whether it can go ahead with a major resurfacing project on the Sydney Harbour Bridge this Saturday, which would...
Patches of carcinogen seen after Orica leak
Josephine Tovey A government officer saw splotches of a carcinogenic chemical on cars, a letterbox and next to a table used to clean fish in the Newcastle suburb of Stockton a day after hexavalent chromium had...
Orica shutdown calls after another leak
Josephine Tovey Emergency crews were again called to the Orica chemical complex near Newcastle yesterday after tens of thousands of litres of a low-hazard substance overflowed, sparking more calls for the plant to...
