Wishing you all a Happy Festive Season
and thankyou to all our readers - those who come
straight to this blog & those that read us on Twitter |
Tuesday 25 December 2018
****Happy Festive Season 2018 From North Coast Voices****
North Coast Voices takes an annual
break at this time and will be begin posting again on New Year's Day
Labels:
holidays
Monday 24 December 2018
A letter foreshadowing a politically unstable world in 2019
In the early hours of 20 December an increasingly unstable US President Donald J. Trump without consulting his own government tweeted; We have defeated ISIS in
Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.
He followed that some some nine hours later with a series of tweets as a surprised world began to react.
Getting out of Syria was
no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I
very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria
& others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there work. Time to
come home & rebuild. #MAGA
Does the
USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending
precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all
cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever?
Time for others to finally fight.....
....Russia, Iran, Syria & many
others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says,
because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us.
I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they
are doomed!
Trump's own Secretary of Defense, former General commanding United States General Command James Norman Mattis, resigned within hours.......
Secretary of Defence
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC
20301.1000
December 20 2018
Dear Mr. President:
I have been privileged
to serve as our country's 26th Secretary of Defense which has allowed me to
serve alongside our men and women of the Department in defense of our citizens
and our ideals.
I am proud of the
progress that has been made over the past two years on some of the key goals
articulated in our National Defense Strategy: putting the Department on a more
sound budgetary footing, improving readiness and lethality in our forces, and
reforming the Department's business practices for greater performance. Our
troops continue to provide the capabilities needed to prevail in conflict and
sustain strong U.S. global influence.
One core belief I have
always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the
strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships.
While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot
protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong
alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the
beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the
policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to
provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our
alliances. NATO's 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment
to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat-ISIS
coalition of 74 nations is further proof.
Similarly, I believe we
must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose
strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that
China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their
authoritarian model - gaining veto authority over other nations' economic,
diplomatic, and security decisions - to promote their own interests at the
expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all
the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.
My views on treating
allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and
strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of
immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an
international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and
values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.
Because you have the
right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours
on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my
position. The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should
allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as
to make sure the Department's interests are properly articulated and protected
at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO
Defense Ministerial meeting in February. Further, that a full transition to a
new Secretary of Defense occurs well in advance of the transition of Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability Within
the Department.
I pledge my full effort
to a smooth transition that ensures the needs and interests of the 2.15 million
Service Members and 732,079 DoD civilians receive undistracted attention of the
Department at all times so that they can fulfill their critical, round-the-clock
mission to protect the American people.
I very much appreciate
this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.
James N. Mattis
Two days later
it was reported that Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to
Counter ISIL Brett H. McGurk had
also resigned in protest.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
international affairs,
US politics,
war
Clarence Valley Council gets its just deserts - a $300,000 fine
Every member of council staff who signed off on the desecration of this scar tree should be demoted a pay grade.
The Daily Examiner, 22 December 2018:
The removal of an
Aboriginal scar tree in Grafton has resulted in a $300,000 fine for Clarence
Valley Council.
The judgment was passed
down on yesterday in the Land and Environment Court of NSW, prosecuting the
council for the destruction of the registered culturally modified tree that
stood on the corner of Breimba and Dovedale Streets, Grafton.
The offences occurred in
two increments, in 2013 with a severe lopping that “exacerbated the decline in
the health of the tree” and the complete removal of the remaining trunk in
2016.
The council potentially
faced fines up to $1million for its actions.
The news provoked a
backlash against the council on social media.
Ratepayers were
disgusted at the thought their money would be used to pay the fine and court
costs.
Many wanted the
individuals who made the decisions that led to the tree’s removal to take on
some of the costs of paying the legal bill.
The Daily Examiner will
present more on the scar tree findings and reactions from Clarence Valley
Council and the Aboriginal Lands Council in a special report next week.
Japanese Government to withdraw from International Whaling Commission and recommence commercial whaling?
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
20 December 2018:
Japan is to withdraw
from International Whaling Commission by the end of the year, giving it the
freedom to resume commercial whaling, Japanese news agency Kyodo has reported.
Kyodo quotes a
government source as saying that Japan is unlikely to catch whales in the
Antarctic Ocean after its withdrawal.
The government is
considering allowing commercial whaling only in seas near Japan as well as the
country's exclusive economic zone, the source said.
The decision will be
announced by the end of this year, Kyodo said.
Humane Society
International (HSI) said in a statement that, if the reports were confirmed,
they would mark a welcome end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.
However, Nicola Beynon,
from HSI in Australia, believes that Tokyo's decision to leave the rules-based
order of the IWC would place Japans' North Pacific whaling program completely
outside the bounds of international law.
She also fears that
Japan may recruit other pro-whaling nations to leave the IWC, "leading to
a new chapter of widespread and unauthorised killing of whales for
profit".
"This is the path
of a pirate whaling nation, with a troubling disregard for international rule.
We're going to continue to press the international community to bring an end to
the unjustified persecution of whales for commercial profit wherever it
occurs," she said.
The IWC was established
in 1948 under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Japan
joined the organisation in 1951.
Kyoda
News, 20
December 2018:
The following is a
chronology of events related to Japan's whaling.
1948 - The International
Whaling Commission is established under the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling.
1951 - Japan joins the
IWC.
1982 - The IWC adopts a
moratorium on commercial whaling.
1987 - Japan starts
hunting whales in the Antarctic Ocean for what it calls "scientific
research" purposes.
1988 - Japan halts
commercial whaling.
1994 - Japan launches
research whaling in the Northwest Pacific.
2005 - Anti-whaling Sea
Shepherd starts obstructing Japan's research whaling in the Antarctic.
2014 - The International
Court of Justice issues an order to halt Japan's research whaling in the
Antarctic.
2015 - Japan resumes
research whaling in the Antarctic by reducing the number of whales it hunts.
September 2018 - The IWC
rejects Japan's proposal to resume commercial whaling at an annual meeting in
Brazil.
Dec. 20 - Japan's plan
to withdraw from the IWC comes to light.
Japan has
until 1 January 2019 to notify the International Whaling Commission of its
intention to withdraw.
Labels:
Antarctica,
Australia-Japan relations,
IWC,
whales
How the Turnbull & Morrison Coalition Governments suspended legal principle and stooped to extortion in order to pursue vulnerable welfare recipients
In July 2016
the Department of Human Services (DHS) - Centrelink launched a new online
compliance intervention (OCI) system for raising and recovering debts.
Its aim was
to raise up to $1 billion dollars allegedly owed by welfare recipients.
This
compliance intervention became known colloquially as robo-debt.
Current
Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison was federal treasurer for the first two years of the
ongoing robo-debt scheme.
During this
time the suicide of welfare recipients being pursued for so-called debt
recovery began
to be reported.
Since 2016 only a small number of welfare recipients have brought their robo-debts before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for adjudication. It has reportedly set aside 34 per cent of these robo-debts (or one in every three) and varied another 2,4 per cent.
Most welfare recipients don't have the resources to fight these alleged debts.
The
Guardian, 18 December 2018:
Centrelink’s “robo-debt”
system is a form of illegal extortion allowed by failings across a “plethora”
of democratic and legal institutions, according to a former member of the
administrative appeals tribunal.
Prof Terry Carney, a
long-serving member of the AAT, has penned an extraordinary attack on the
institutional failings that allowed the
robo-debt program.
It’s the second time
Carney, who helped oversee the writing of Australia’s social security laws, has
used academic journals to condemn the
system as illegal this year.
Carney’s last
paper said robo-debt involved the enforcement of “illegal” debts that
in some cases were inflated or nonexistent, an allegation that was forcefully
rejected by the Department of Human Services. Hank Jongen, the department’s
spokesman, said at the time that the department “strongly refutes any claims
that it has conducted its compliance activities in a manner which is
inconsistent with the legislation”.
This time, Carney used a
piece in the Alternative Law Journal to map out the numerous shortcomings that
allowed the system to come into being and operate for 18 months without
challenge.
“The pivot for this article is not so much
that Centrelink lacks legal authority for raising virtually all debts
based on a robo-debt ‘reverse onus’ methodology rather than use its own
information gathering powers – for this remains essentially uncontested,” he
wrote. “Rather it is extraordinary that this went unpublicised and uncorrected
for over two years.”
Centrelink has long used
a system of automated data-matching to detect discrepancies in income reported
by welfare recipients, to detect and claw back overpayments. But it introduced
significant changes from July 2016, reducing human oversight and expanding the
system considerably in a bid to recover more debts and improve the budget. The
new system effectively
shifted the onus onto the welfare recipient to prove they owed no debt
to the government.
The system spat out
letters to individual welfare recipients as soon a discrepancy was detected in
their reported income to Centrelink and records held by other agencies, like
the tax office.
A flawed process
was used
to calculate their debt if they did not respond or could not produce
evidence of their previous pay, which involved averaging out their yearly
income across all 26 of Centrelink’s fortnightly reporting periods. The process
often led to the false assumption that a welfare recipient had worked across an
entire year and was ineligible for social security, thereby creating a debt.
Carney argues the rushed
design of what he described as a “machine-learning budget ‘savings measure’”
trumped good design standards. He says inquiries by the auditor general and the
commonwealth ombudsman into the system had failed to consider whether it was
raising debts on a lawful basis.
Carney also argues that
Centrelink, by pursuing debts raised through the controversial “income
averaging” technique, has failed to adhere to ethical administration. He says
Centrelink has continued to use this method, despite knowing AAT rulings that
it is invalid…….
The privacy safeguards
in the first tier of the AAT mean that most legal challenges against welfare
debts are not publicised, he writes. That means that “rulings overturning
Centrelink reasoning remain hidden from the public”…..
TERRY
CARNEY AO, Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney, Centre for Health
Governance, Law and Ethics, 2018:
* Alternative
Law Journal, Robo-debt illegality: The seven veils of failed guarantees of the rule of law?
* Australian
Public Law, Robo-Debt
Illegality: A Failure of Rule of Law Protections?
* UNSW Law
Journal Forum, The
New Digital Future For Welfare: Debts Without Legal Proofs Or Moral Authority?
* University of
New South Wales Law Journal, Vulnerability:
False Hope For Vulnerable Social Security Clients?
Sunday 23 December 2018
Castillo Copper Limited operations suspended on exploration leases in the Clarence Valley NSW
Clarence Environment Centre brings welcome news as 2018 ends.
Castillo Copper Limited operations at Cangai, in the Mann River Catchment, Clarence Valley NSW have been suspended on the grouns that there is: a lack of sediment and erosion controls; poor management of drill cuttings/waste materials; clearing and excavation works undertaken outside of approved limits; the drilling of five bore holes without approval; and a failure to progressively rehabilitate in approved time frames.
Castillo Copper Limited Ope... by on Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/document/396200281/Castillo-Copper-Limited-Operations-Suspended-at-Cangai-NSW-21-December-2018
Labels:
Clarence Valley,
environmental vandalism,
mining,
water wars
Australia 2018: State of the Climate
Australian Bureau
of Meteorology, State of the Climate 2018,
December 2018:
“Australia's
weather and climate are changing in response to a warming global climate. Australia
has warmed just over 1 °C since 1910, with most warming since 1950. This
warming has seen an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events and
increased the severity of drought conditions during periods of below-average
rainfall. Eight of Australia’s top ten warmest years on record have occurred
since 2005.
The
year-to-year changes in Australia’s climate are mostly associated with natural
climate variability such as El Niño and La Niña in the tropical Pacific Ocean
and phases of the Indian Ocean Dipole in the Indian Ocean. This natural
variability now occurs on top of the warming trend, which can modify the impact
of these natural drivers on the Australian climate.
Increases in
temperature are observed across Australia in all seasons with both day and
night-time temperatures showing warming. The shift to a warmer climate in
Australia is accompanied by more extreme daily heat events. Record-warm monthly
and seasonal temperatures have been observed in recent years, made more likely
by climate change.”
Report
at a glance
The Bureau of
Meteorology and CSIRO play an important role in monitoring, analysing and
communicating observed changes in Australia's climate.
This fifth,
biennial State of the Climate report draws on the latest monitoring, science
and projection information to describe variability and changes in Australia’s
climate. Observations and climate modelling paint a consistent picture of
ongoing, long term climate change interacting with underlying natural
variability.
These changes
affect many Australians, particularly the changes associated with increases in
the frequency or intensity of heat events, fire weather and drought. Australia
will need to plan for and adapt to some level of climate change. This report is
a synthesis of the science informing our understanding of climate in Australia
and includes new information about Australia’s climate of the past, present and
future. The science underpinning this report will help inform a range of
economic, environmental and social decision-making and local vulnerability
assessments, by government, industry and communities.
Key points
Australia
·
Australia's climate has warmed just over 1 °C since 1910
leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events.
·
Oceans around Australia have warmed by around 1 °C
since 1910, contributing to longer and more frequent marine heatwaves.
·
Sea levels are rising around Australia, increasing the risk of
inundation.
·
The oceans around Australia are acidifying (the pH is decreasing).
·
April to October rainfall has decreased in the southwest of
Australia. Across the same region May–July rainfall has seen the largest
decrease, by around 20 per cent since 1970.
·
There has been a decline of around 11 per cent in April–October
rainfall in the southeast of Australia since the late 1990s.
·
Rainfall has increased across parts of northern Australia since
the 1970s.
·
Streamflow has decreased across southern Australia. Streamflow has
increased in northern Australia where rainfall has increased.
·
There has been a long-term increase in extreme fire weather, and
in the length of the fire season, across large parts of Australia.
Global
·
Concentrations of all the major long-lived greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere continue to increase, with carbon dioxide (CO2)
concentrations rising above 400 ppm since 2016 and the CO2 equivalent
(CO2-e) of all gases reaching 500 ppm for the first time in at
least 800,000 years.
·
Emissions from fossil fuels continue to increase and are the main
contributor to the observed growth in atmospheric CO2.
·
The world’s oceans, especially in the southern hemisphere, are
taking up more than 90 per cent of the extra energy stored by the planet as a
result of enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations.
·
Global sea level has risen by over 20 cm since 1880, and the
rate has been accelerating in recent decades.
·
Globally averaged air temperature has warmed by over 1 °C
since records began in 1850, and each of the last four decades has been
warmer than the previous one.
Future
Australia is
projected to experience:
·
Further increases in sea and air temperatures, with more hot days
and marine heatwaves, and fewer cool extremes.
·
Further sea level rise and ocean acidification.
·
Decreases in rainfall across southern Australia with more time in
drought, but an increase in intense heavy rainfall throughout Australia.
Labels:
Australia,
BOM,
climate change,
CSIRO
US President Donald Trump ends 2018 as he began it....
Still under investgation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, still misusing family 'charities', still tweeting his venom and spite and still on a semi-permanent golfing holiday while his administration falls into chaos.
HuffPost, 18 December 2018:
WASHINGTON ―
President Donald Trump, clad in a golf shirt and golf hat under a warm
South Florida sun, hitting a drive off the tee while Secret Service agents
protecting him are forced to work without paychecks, possibly for weeks,
because Congress wouldn’t pay for Trump’s “Great Wall.”
Such is the nightmare
public relations scenario facing the White House less than a week before the
Department of Homeland Security and other key government agencies run out of
money at midnight Friday while Trump is scheduled to fly that day to his
Mar-a-Lago resort for a 16-day vacation.
The U.S. Secret Service
is among the half-dozen agencies in the quarter-million-employee DHS, which also
includes the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration.
Other major agencies facing a shutdown include the departments of state,
treasury and interior. Many of the affected employees would be deemed essential
and be forced to work anyway. None would be paid during the shutdown and would
have to get by on savings or short-term loans.
Rick Tyler, a former
aide to the man who engineered the last extended government shutdown in 2013,
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, said that Trump will cave in the days to
come.
“The only leverage in
shutting down the government is who gets the blame for it. And he’s already
taken the blame for it,” Tyler said, predicting that Trump will approve
whatever Congress gives him.......
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Saturday 22 December 2018
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
“Weighed down by
sex and sleaze, the Coalition ends the year the way it started” [The
Sydney Morning Herald, 21 December 2018]
Labels:
right wing politics
Still no hope of a genuine national energy policy as crew on the sinking liner SS Liberal Party brawl on deck
Financial
Review, 19
December 2018:
NSW Climate and Energy
Minister Don Harwin vowed to push on with his crusade to "end the Canberra
climate wars" after federal minister Angus Taylor derailed his proposal to
plot a national pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 at an acrimonious Council
of Australian Governments' meeting.
Tempers flared at
the meeting of energy ministers in Adelaide after Mr
Taylor used an obscure procedural rule to block Mr Harwin's motion for a net
zero emissions pathway. A furious Mr Harwin said that if Mr Taylor was going to
use obscure procedural rules to block a motion supported by most state and
territory energy ministers "be it on your own head".
The bitter split between
the NSW and federal coalition governments comes as Gladys Berejiklian's NSW
Coalition government faces a March 23 election in which climate policy looms
large after voters sharply rejected the Morrison government's climate change
agnostic energy policies at the Wentworth byelection in October and the
Victorian state election in November.
Mr Harwin said in a
statement after the meeting: "I am very disappointed by the actions of the
federal government at COAG Energy Council in Adelaide today.
"The refusal, on
procedural grounds, to let the vital matter of restoring an emissions
obligation into national energy policy be discussed is extraordinary. NSW will
continue to pursue this critical matter with COAG Energy Council."
…..the NSW-federal
government stoush dominated the aftermath of the meeting as Mr Harwin told
reporters he was furious that "the Commonwealth used the rule book to try
and shutdown a discussion on emissions".
"As a sign of how
out of touch they are, they wouldn't let us have the discussion," Mr
Harwin said. "NSW is not giving up on this. It's absolutely imperative
that we end the Canberra climate wars. "
Pet care in the home at during the festive season
https://www.123rf.com |
The Daily Examiner, 18 December 2018, p.7:
We’d like to make sure
your pet stays happy and healthy this silly season. Here’s a list of potential
pet hazards to watch out for:
1. Christmas dinner and
leftovers are too rich for our pets and can cause nasty tummy upsets and even
pancreatitis. Stick to “pet approved” treats.
2. Macadamia nuts are
popular at Christmas and can be toxic for dogs, leading to muscle weakness,
vomiting and tremors.
3. Sultanas and raisins
can cause kidney failure in dogs.
4. Barbecue skewers can
be catastrophic for pets so take care to ensure your pet doesn’t accidentally
ingest a skewer (which falls on the ground for example) and never feed your pet
cooked bones - both can lead to the need for emergency intestinal surgery.
5. Chocolate – dogs
can’t metabolise the theobromine in chocolate, and ingestion can lead to an
increased heart rate, tremors, seizures and even death. The darker the
chocolate the more toxic and the size of the dog and amount ingested also plays
a part in the severity of the symptoms.
6. Decorations such as
tinsel and fairy lights are very attractive to pets but can lead to a gastric
obstruction if eaten.
7. Ribbons from presents
are super attractive to cats and if ingested can lead to a nasty gastric
obstruction requiring emergency surgery.
8. The Christmas tree
might be an attractive indoor “pee tree” but can also be a falling hazard.
9. Lots of guests can
cause your pet to become stressed and even lead to them trying to escape – make
sure they have a safe and quiet place to retreat to.
10. Christmas lilies can
cause kidney failure in cats. The stamen, leaves and stems are all potentially
toxic as is the water they are stored in, so it’s best not to have them in the
first place.
11. Snakes are out and
about and will be all summer so take care in long grass, around water or areas
where there are rodents (grain sheds and chook pens).
12. Heatstroke – never
leave your pet in the car during the warmer weather. Even on a mild day the
temperature inside a car can reach a dangerous level in minutes. Leaving a
window down will not help either, so don’t risk it! If you have any questions
about the health/safety of your pet, we are always here to put your mind at
ease.
CREDIT: Riverbank Animal
Hospital
Labels:
companion animals,
holidays
Friday 21 December 2018
State of Play December 2018: Adani Group and the proposed Carmichael Mine in Queensland
Financial
Review, 20
December 2018:
Ten of the world's top
insurance companies, including Australian groups Suncorp and QBE and global
insurer AXA, say they won't insure Indian energy group Adani's controversial $2 billion Carmichael
coal mine in Queensland, an activist group says.
Market Forces, an
anti-fossil fuel activist group backed by Friends of the Earth, also said AXA
had indicated it would not renew its current insurance covering the Carmichael
rail line when it comes up in March 2020.
Market Forces executive
director Julien Vincent said the Paris-based global insurer had said in
response to inquiries that: "Regarding the Carmichael mine, we confirm
that: 'We do not currently cover the Carmichael mine's assets, neither directly
nor through packages, and we do not intend to do so in the future; We currently
have a multi-year policy to partly cover the railway asset which will lapse in
2020 and which we shall not renew.'"
AXA also said Adani's
Carmichael project "is a banned investment both for our equity and fixed
income holdings"…..
Market Forces asked
global insurers about their attitude to the Carmichael project, after a successful campaign to dissuade Australian and global banks
from backing the mine resulted in it being shrunk to a fraction of its
original $16.5 billion size and self-financed by Adani.
Other companies that
explicitly refused to insure the mine or previously pledged not to provide
cover for new coal projects include the world's biggest insurers and
reinsurers, Allianz, AXA, Swiss Re and Munich Re; the first major US insurer to
take action on coal, FM Global; and major European insurers Generali, Zurich
and SCOR.
Other major insurers
have not ruled out insuring the project, including many American insurers, so
Adani will still likely be able to secure insurance. These include Hannover Re,
Berkshire Hathaway and AIG......
ABC
News, 18
December 2018:
The CSIRO has found
serious flaws in Adani's key water management plan to protect an ancient
springs complex near its proposed Carmichael coal mine, threatening to further
delay the controversial project.
The ABC can reveal
Australia's peak scientific body has raised concerns about Adani's Groundwater
Dependent Ecosystem Management Plan (GDEMP), which is designed to minimise
impacts on ecosystems including the nationally important Doongmabulla Springs.
The Federal Department
of Environment and Energy asked the CSIRO and Geoscience Australia for an
independent scientific review of Adani's GDEMP.
The ABC understands one
of the CSIROS's key concerns is the level of groundwater draw-down that could
be caused at the springs by the mine's operations.
Conservationists and
some scientists warn the springs could permanently dry up under Adani's plan to
drain billions of litres of groundwater a year for its proposed mine.
The source of the
ancient springs remains in doubt…..
Other concerns include
the possible groundwater impacts from Adani's water bores
at the mine site.
The CSIRO also found
that some of the data used by Adani in its plan was not verified.
The CSIRO has told the
federal environment department that Adani needs to do more work on its GDEMP
and to verify its data.
The ABC understands
Queensland's Department of Environment and Science (DES) wrote to Adani last
week saying it will not look at the company's GDEMP again until the concerns
raised by the CSIRO are resolved.
In August the ABC
revealed the mining giant's most recent draft plan to protect the Doongmabulla
Spring failed to address regulator demands to protect the
oasis.
"The GDEMP needs to
identify the source aquifer of the Doongmabulla Spring Complex and mitigation
measures to protect the springs," the DES told the ABC in statement.
"Preliminary advice
from CSIRO requires Adani to update the plan.
"Two environmental
plans still need to be approved before significant disturbance can commence at
the Carmichael Coal Mine.
"These plans are
the Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem Management Plan and a Black Throated Finch
Management Plan.
"The Queensland
Government has been clear that the [mine] project must stack up on its own
merits, both financially and environmentally."
Last month Adani announced construction would begin on the
Carmichael mine, with company chief executive Lucas Dow saying the project
would be "100 per cent financed" from within the Adani conglomerate.
But the mine would be
significantly scaled back, with production expected to peak at 28 million
tonnes compared to the projected 60 million tonnes under the original plan.
Labels:
coal,
environmental vandalism,
mining,
multinationals,
water
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