State of Play for Women and Girls in Australia, 2024

 

The very ordinary street in which the first murder of a woman occurred in 2024. IMAGE: yahoo! news, 3 January 2024 

To date this year 2024, one woman is murdered every four days somewhere in Australia.

By 23 April, 25 women had died of gender-based violence, with 10 of these murders occurring in New South Wales - sadly five being killed in the same place on the same day in Bondi Junction and one being a 60 year-old woman found bundled into the boot of a car outside her home at Evans Head in the Northern Rivers region. Her son has been charged with murder and interfere with corpse.

The year before in New South Wales there were 15 adult women who were a victim of a Domestic Violence (DV) murder in the 12 months to December 2023. While DV assaults recorded by NSW Police increased significantly over the two and five years to December 2023, up by 6.7% over two years and up 3.6% per year on average over five years.

The year-on-year increase was higher in Regional NSW than Greater Sydney (7.6% vs 6.0%), and substantially higher over five years (5.5% vs 2.0% average annual change).

In the Clarence Valley, NSW, from January through to December 2023 there 320 domestic violence related assaults recorded, of which 276 involved female victims of which 250 were aged between 18 and 40+ years and 26 were aged between 0 to 17 years of age.

The gender of offenders across all domestic violence assaults is overwhelmingly male.

According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) since 2019 the Clarence Valley rate of domestic violence related assaults has risen in the last five years from 354.3 per 100,000 persons to 686.0 per 100,000 persons in 2023. In the wider NSW Police Coffs Harbour-Clarence District the 2023 domestic violence relate assault rate was 816.1 per 100,000 persons, making the rate more than 50% but less than double the NSW average.

The response of federal and state governments to this increase in gender-based violence has been announced.

*******************

Dept. of Prime Minister and Cabinet, PM Transcripts, 1 May 2024:

Released by The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia

Meeting of National Cabinet on gender-based violence

National Cabinet met virtually today to discuss the national crisis of gender-based violence.

First Ministers are committed to stopping the homicides and achieving our shared goal of ending violence against women and children in a generation.

National Cabinet agreed to a number of priorities for all our governments, building on efforts under way under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, including:

• Strengthening accountability and consequences for perpetrators, including early intervention with high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders, and best practice justice responses that support people who have experienced violence.

• Strengthening and building on prevention work through targeted, evidence-based approaches.

• Maintaining a focus on missing and murdered First Nations women and children, and the impact of domestic and family violence in First Nations communities.

First Ministers heard from Commonwealth Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin. Ms Cronin reflected on her work as Commissioner, including discussions with people with experience of violence, and key priorities for shared effort to address gaps in the current system.

Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Jacinta Allan also shared lessons from the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.

National Cabinet noted the importance of housing reforms in supporting women and children escaping violence.

National Cabinet agreed to strengthen prevention efforts through targeted, evidence-based approaches and to be informed by an expert led rapid review of best practice approaches. This will allow further and effective action on preventing gender-based violence, building on the considerable work under way.

The Commonwealth will deliver the Leaving Violence Payment to help people experiencing intimate partner violence with the costs of leaving that relationship. This acknowledges financial insecurity is closely linked to violence, and can prevent women leaving a violent relationship.

The Leaving Violence Payment builds on existing measures being delivered to improve financial security of women, including expansion of the single Parenting Payment, 10 days paid domestic violence leave, and investment in crisis accommodation and affordable housing for women and children escaping violence.

The Commonwealth will also deliver a range of new measures to tackle factors that exacerbate violence against women, such as violent online pornography, and misogynistic content targeting children and young people.

New measures will include legislation to ban deepfake pornography and additional funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age assurance technologies.

First Ministers agreed that system responses need to be strengthened, with a focus on high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders to prevent homicides. This will involve work across governments and jurisdictions. First Ministers have agreed to undertake a range of work that will report back to National Cabinet later this year.

• Police Ministers Council and the Standing Council of Attorneys-General will be tasked to develop options for improving police responses to high risk and serial perpetrators, including considering use of focused deterrence and fixated threat strategies.

• First Ministers agreed to improve information sharing about perpetrators across systems and jurisdictions, led by the Commonwealth Minister for Women.

• First Ministers agreed that States and Territories will explore opportunities to strengthen national consistency and drive best practice approaches across jurisdictions, including relating to risk assessment and responses to sexual assault, led by Victoria and South Australia.

We will continue to listen and learn from those with lived experience of violence. We recognise they have intimate first-hand knowledge of services, systems, and structures that are meant to support. They know from experience the weaknesses and strengths of interventions in practice.

First Ministers are listening to the experts, identifying where the gaps are, and acting with urgency. We want violence against women and children to stop.

This media statement has been agreed by First Ministers and serves as a record of meeting outcomes.

*******************

What is yet to be revealed is the degree to which federal and states governments are willing to address the legislative inadequacies demonstrated within the Commonwealth Criminal Code & state laws covering personal and domestic violence.

Here are a number of points currently being discussed in the wider community:

1. The advisability of legislating a) increases in fines and prison sentences for crimes identified as falling within the range of crimes of violence against women and b) making a prison sentence mandatory for repeat offenders;

2. Reviewing legislation covering Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) & Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) to ensure the conditions contained therein reflect the gravity of crimes of violence against women;

3. Reassess with a view to strengthening bail eligibility criteria & specific conditions, so as to avoid a) police failure to refuse bail or failure to set appropriate police bail at time of arrest before first appearance in local court and b) magistrates allowing bail for repeat offenders - particularly when the charges asserted violence or threats;

4. By way of legislation, a mandatory precautionary measure be established requiring all persons charged to wear a monitored ankle bracelet until the matter is progressed through the courts to a final judgment.

5. Where residential occupancy of the shared home's title is in the name of both parties or where the rental lease is in the name of both parties then a legal obligation be established by legislation requiring the offending party to immediately vacate the premises and find alternative accommodation.

6. That serious consideration be given to removing the relationship between the current amount of parenting payments received by the primary caregiver and a partner's income, setting a new across-the-board base rate and making it tax free for unpartnered parents on low to middle incomes. Thereby giving women with children more certainty and flexibility when seeking to leave violent relationships.

So what is happening on the rain front as NSW enters May 2024

 

In the last week of April 2024 coastal New South Wales was warned about a high pressure system building over southern Australia which could cause a "blocking high", the name given to a high-pressure system that stalls from several days to several weeks, and blocks the typical eastward movement of weather.

This could lead to 10 days of rain falling on coastal NSW.

ABC News reporting: The showers initially will not generate heavy falls or severe weather, however when combined with a developing trough later this week, an area of rain will form across western NSW on Thursday and Friday, shifting to the coast during the weekend.

Modelling indicates the event could bring anything from 50 to 200 millimetres to the NSW coastline, and possibly over 50mm across pockets of the west, potentially enough to trigger flood watches and warnings.

Although rainfall since 30 April has not yet resulted in flooding (with the exception of of continuing minor flooding in a section of the Warrego River in north-west of the state), the initial Bureau of Meteorology modelling forecasting this expected rainfall spread by Sunday 5 May 2024 is:

Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Issued 7:03pm AES 1 May 2024

So far this year the NSW Government has declared two natural disaster periods.

The first for Clarence Valley NSW Bushfires, 21 January – 13 February 2024 and the second NSW East Coast Flooding from 1 April 2024 which covered 33 local government areas - including the Clarence Valley, Lismore City and Byron Shire.

Fingers crossed that situation does not escalate beyond current meteorological predictions.

And the War on Gaza continues into its 207th day........

 

The Palestinian civilian death toll over the last 206 days of the State of Israel's war against Gaza has now reached at least 34,535 people, with another est. 77,704 injured. Approx. half of all those killed are thought to have been Palestinian women & children.

In that count is the premature infant rescued from her mother’s womb shortly after the woman was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah. Baby Sabreen Jouda died in a Gaza hospital on Thursday, 25 April after her health deteriorated & medical teams unable to save her [Al Jazeera, 26 April 2024]

While at least 66 people were killed and 138 others were injured in Israeli attacks that took place last Saturday, 27 April.

That comes to a crude average of 545 civilians killed or injured every single day. 

GENEVA, April 24 (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality in six weeks, an official from the World Food Programme said on Wednesday.

"We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation," said Gian Caro Cirri, Geneva director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

"There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds -- food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality -- will be passed in the next six weeks."

Israel's military response, to the Hamas militia terrorist attack on Israeli soil on 7 October 2023, ceased to be a proportionate response within a week of the commencement of aerial bombardment of northern Gaza.

TheGuardian, 30 April 2024:

The Israeli government believes that the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague is about to file war crimes charges against Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. We can’t know for sure – the ICC has kept its plans close to the vest – but the Israeli prime minister has good reason to worry, and the defenses he has offered so far are unlikely to help him.

The ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s most likely target is Netanyahu’s starvation strategy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Because the Israeli government has refused to let ICC staff enter Gaza, it will take time for Khan to complete the detailed investigation required to demonstrate other possible Israeli war crimes, such as indiscriminately bombing civilian areas and firing on military targets with foreseeably disproportionate civilian consequences. But the facts surrounding Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid are readily available.

During his two recent visits to the region, Khan stressed that, as international humanitarian law requires, Palestinian civilians in Gaza “must have access to basic food, water and desperately needed medical supplies, without further delay, and at pace and at scale”. He warned the Israeli government: “If you do not do so, do not complain when my Office is required to act.” The standard he cited is endorsed by virtually every government in the world including Israel, Britain, the United States, and, as a United Nations observer state, Palestine.

For much of the war Israel has allowed just enough food into Gaza to avoid widespread death, but not enough to prevent pervasive hunger and, in some parts of Gaza according to the USAid administrator, Samantha Power, “famine”. Oxfam calculated that hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza were receiving on average only 245 calories a day, about one-tenth of normal requirements. At least 28 children younger than 12 were reported to have died of malnutrition as of 17 April.....

Read the full Guardian article here.

Ballina Shire Council has commenced preminary work required to duplicate Fishery & Canal bridges & raise River Street & Tamarind Drive road elevations in sections leading to these bridges to bolster evacuation capabilies during flood events & any future challenges.

Following the February-March 2022 flood event across the NSW Northern Rivers region which saw floodwaters from two saturated catchments converge on the town, Ballina’s evacuation routes were inundated, unsafe and, remained closed for a significant period.

This meant that the safety and well being of what was then a town of almost 47,000 residents had to be reviewed and rethought.

"The Evacuation Route Raising (including bridge duplications) project will be completed across three years and has been funded by $40 million from the Australian Government through the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program (NRRRP), which is administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority." [Ballina Shire Council, April 2024]

Ballina Shire Council, Major Projects, 17 April 2024:

Concept designs

Fishery Creek Bridge

Canal Bridge

Ballina Shire Council has started preliminary investigation works at Fishery Creek Bridge, on River Street, and Canal Bridge, on Tamarind Drive, as part of their plan to duplicate both bridges.

The project also involves raising portions of the roadway on sections of River Street, between Teven Interchange and Ballina Island, and Tamarind Drive, between Ballina Island and Cumbalum Interchange.

Duplicating the existing bridges and raising these sections of road will improve evacuation options during flooding events and build a more resilient road network.

Once constructed, the duplicated bridges will provide dual lanes in and out of Ballina Island, improve traffic flow and increase the roads' capacity to comfortably cater for future traffic demands.

Pre-construction work has started and will continue during 2024. This will include gathering geotechnical samples using barges and from the roadway at both Ballina bridges. These early investigations will involve:

• Footpath closures and pedestrian detours. Please follow on site signage.

• A marine barge will be present within both waterways. The boat ramp and navigation of the creek will remain open. Please follow on site navigation markers.

• Construction noise between 7am- 6pm, Monday to Friday and 8am – 1pm Saturdays.

Council will then move into the design and approval phase, with bridge construction anticipated to start in 2025.

This Council project will be completed across three years and has been funded with $40 million from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority’s Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-2023.

The duplication of the bridges will increase the traffic capacity of these roads and improve their ability to support evacuations in response to major flood events. As well as duplicating the bridges, this project will provide the initial stages of a road raising program which also improve the resilience of these arterial roads when they operate as evacuation routes.

Project includes:

• Construct two new bridges adjacent to the existing Fishery Creek Bridge and Canal Bridge to create four-lane accesses to and from Ballina Island.

• Expand the approach roads to match the four-lane bridges.

• Improve pedestrian and cycleway links to cater for more active transport across the waterways.

• Raise sections of roadway between River Street at the Teven Interchange and Tamarind Drive at the Cumbalum Interchange.

Ballina Shire Council will continue to inform the community at each project phase. For more information or to sign up for updates visit ballina.nsw.gov.au/BallinaBridgesDuplications

When political & business interests compete with environmental & societal needs, there is usually only one winner and in this case the Nimble Estates P/L-NSW Minns Government urban release proposal is shaping up to be just that

IMAGE:  REA Group 

Lismore City Council is in the process of progressing an urban release proposal on land at 1055 and 1055A Bruxner Highway, already given the preliminary nod by a Delegate of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully on 13 September 2023.

The site is being put forward for mixed-use development, expected to deliver est. 320 dwellings and 150 commercial/industrial lots.

It is worth noting that in November 2022 a planning proposal was received by Lismore City Council from Nimble Estate Pty Ltd (Qld) landowners at 1055 and 1055 Bruxner Highway, Goonellabah (lots then identified as State Significant Farmland) and, it sought to amend the land zones, minimum lot size and height of building controls within the Lismore Local Environment Plan 2012 to enable future residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational development across the 75 hectares of this site.

Note: Nimble Estates Pty Ltd (registered 24 December 2021) is jointly owned by shareholders BG GRANT PTY LTD and EJUPI ENTERPRISES PTY LTD - Nimble Estate directors being BRIAN GERARD GRANT and NAGIP EJUPI. [ASIC, April 2024]

There is no firm undertaking for the provision of affordable lots or affordable house land packages on the residential section of this site.

Of the site as is, a Lismore City Council document has stated:

The site contains two small patches of Lowland Rainforest EEC under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, 2016. But these areas would not meet threshold requirements under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. Similarly, there are patches of vegetation that could be recognised as ‘Lowland Rainforest in the NSW North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregions – Endangered Ecological Community’. Council’s ecologist notes that the majority of the vegetation on the site is unmapped and that there is a high chance that scattered paddock trees are rainforest remnant trees and recommends that the scattered trees assessment of the BAM 2020 should be applied when assessing impacts on clearing any native vegetation at the Development Application stage....

A Council-owned strip of land adjacent to the site (which will provide access into 1055 Bruxner Highway) and the Tucki Tucki creek corridor are identified in the NSW Biodiversity Values Map, see Figure 11 in Part 4 Maps. It is considered that the Biodiversity Offset Scheme will be triggered due to a combination of a minor impact to the Biodiversity Values Mapping (approximately 260m2) and the native clearing threshold likely being exceeded due to clearance of native paddock trees. Based on the current proposal, the associated DA will be required to undertake a Biodiversity Development Assessment Report and calculate offset requirements in accordance with the NSW Biodiversity Assessment Method (2020).

The attached ecological report also identifies that a targeted survey for Hairy Joint Grass (Arthraxon hispidus), will be required as part of any future development application process and that Tucki Tucki Creek is mapped as habitat for the Purple Spotted Gudgeon (Mogurnda adspersa) which is a threatened freshwater species. Whilst not identified on the site, future restoration along Tucki Tucki Creek may assist with local recovery of the species.

This was the site 2014-2018.

            IMAGES: REA Group

Although the relevant planning documents were obliged to be on public exhibition from 3 March until 1 May 2024, there was an express statement that a public hearing is not required to be held into the matter by any person or body under section 3.34(2)(e) of the Act.

Echo, 25 April 2024:

Locals from Goonellabah and Lindendale have called out the proposed Goonellabah industrial precinct at 1055A Bruxner Hwy (Lot1 DP957677) and 245 Oliver Ave (Lot1 DP 1285218) as being the wrong use of the site.

Residents have told The Echo that they don’t oppose development of the site (Precinct 5) but that it should be developed for housing, not as an industrial precinct.

‘We support a residential development on this site, providing much needed housing for Lismore’s flood impacted residents as well as new workers and families to the area,’ said concerned residents of Goonellabah and Lindendale who contacted The Echo.

The Lismore City Council (LCC) Affordable & Diverse Housing Strategy (2022) forecasts a 13.6 per cent increase in the number of houses required in the next 20 years. There were also around 1,800 houses either destroyed or damaged in the 2022 floods that need replacing or moving to higher ground.

‘The 350 houses proposed in the Harmony Estate development is a good start, but we could do so much more.’

In a residential area

Residents have pointed out that the proposed industrial precinct is in the middle of the suburban growth corridor for Lismore and Goonellabah saying they expect the entire area up to Alphapdale Road could all become an extension of the Goonellabah residential community, as flood free housing is needed.

‘Why risk land use conflicts now and in the future including noise, odour, dust, smoke, heavy vehicle traffic, biosecurity and more?’ they asked.

They also point out that the proposed site is on the most elevated area and is positioned along an elevated ridge so it will be visible by surrounding residential areas as well as from the Bruxner Highway.

‘Surely this will create a shameful eyesore at the gateway to Goonellabah and completely contradict the council’s intent as stated in the Harmony Estate Urban Release Area DCP… “provide a positive scenic vista along the Bruxner Highway” (1.2.1 Harmony Estate Urban Release DCP). Why not retain the high ridge across Precinct 5 for much needed housing and community green space offering vistas across Goonellabah and out to the ranges?’ suggest residents. ....

Read the full article at:

https://www.echo.net.au/2024/04/housing-not-industrial-precinct-say-lismore-locals/

for further community opinion on potentially polluted/toxic surface water runoff during high rainfall from the industrial section of the proposed development and the three areas of potential Aboriginal Cultural Heritage significance with the 74ha site.

State of Play Yamba NSW, April 2024: community meetings on the the subject of flooding and overdevelopment in the town & environs

Only road into Yamba in the Clarence Valley cut by flood waters at Shallow Channel, 3 March 2022 flooding. IMAGE: Clarence Valley Council

Yamba Road during February-March 2022 flooding. IMAGE: The Daily Telegraph

Shores Drive, Yamba, March 2022. IMAGE: YambaCAN

Yamba suffered unprecedented flooding earlier this year, particularly in Golding, Cook and Endeavour streets (lower left-hand corner of pic). Meanwhile, amid the arguments put by Yamba residents that this flooding was caused by poor planning for development on the West Yamba floodplain, the West Yamba Landowners Consortium’s WYURA Flood Impact Assessment notes that “Golding Street … is already shown to be largely filled … such, that the majority of the site is above the 1 in 100 annual exceedance probability flood level. Photo: Contributed [Clarence Valley Independent, 24 October 2022]

Clarence Valley Independent, 24 April 2024:

Greens MLC Sue Higginson says Grevillea Waters Yamba residents are in the “fight of their lives” against an “intolerable” development proposal for 16 townhouses on adjacent flood prone land which was claimed may put the lives of the 200 plus residents at risk.

Ms Higginson, who is the chairperson of a current NSW parliamentary current inquiry into the planning system and impacts of climate change on the environment and communities visited the Hometown Australia owned village on Sunday to hear the residents’ concerns about the development proposal for 30 Golding Street, Yamba.

She said she was extremely impressed by how organised the Grevillea Waters community were and how they have “forensically analysed” the development proposal to make comprehensive submissions to council addressing their concerns.

“They have applied their lived experience, that local knowledge to the DA that is before them, and I believe their concerns are very clear, very real, and very accurate…they’re in the fight of their lives,” she said.

Touring the site on the village bus gave Ms Higginson first-hand perspective of the impact of the 2022 flood, viewing photos of the development site 90 cm under water.

“You can’t say that land that was impacted like that in 2022, with that volume of water, is not going to impact this site, and the problem is that the development application documents say there will be no adverse flooding impacts,” she said.

“I don’t think that conclusion can be accepted, and I don’t think that it can be supported.”

Ms Higginson, former senior lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office, said she advised residents to continue on the active and proactive engagement they are having with the development proposal, and they are appealing to every possible person who may be able to influence the outcome of this development proposal.

“Really, the best thing that can happen here is that the council refuses this development,” she said.

“It won’t be the best thing for the proponent, and I accept that, but the reality is this is not the kind of development that should go on that site…placing as many townhouses as possible on that site to maximise the return is not in the best interests of this local community.”

Ms Higginson said the planning system was at a junction where we need to respond to the real-life threats to the community and our environment, now that our climate is changing.

“The reality here is that we’re talking about 200 or more members of our community that are among the most vulnerable, and we are considering whether we should pose an intolerable risk on their lives, their wellbeing, their homes, and the physical environment in which they live and that’s a real concern,” she said.

Ms Higginson said she will be immediately writing to NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully, and Clarence Valley Council, and informing her parliamentary inquiry committee of the plight of Grevillea Waters residents.

Grevillea Waters Residents Committee Focus Group GWRCFG spokesperson David Robinson thanked Ms Higginson for her helpful and informative discussion with the group.

He said Ms Higginson explained the new planning methodologies being developed to help Councils decide on whether or not to proceed with marginal flood plain developments – particularly when there was a high risk to life and property, but said councils were under pressure to address the state housing shortage.

“She was aware of a November 2023 Canberra Times article – in which Planning Minister Paul Scully had claimed to be considering scaling back high-risk flood plain developments in NSW (including in the Clarence Valley) – especially where there would be a risk to life in the case of a mass evacuation,” Mr Robinson said.

“Ms Higginson believes that Grevillea Waters Village deserved special consideration, given the age and medical condition of the many residents in the Village.”

Clarence Valley Independent, 24 April 2024:

It was standing room only at Yamba Golf and Country Club on Sunday as more than 250 Clarence Valley residents proactively engaged in a flood awareness and resilience meeting, leaving with vital knowledge to help them survive and conquer the next stormwater and Clarence River flood event.

The Yamba Community Action Network Yamba CAN Inc. and Valley Watch who hosted the meeting invited politicians, council’s GM, councillors, the SES, NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW, and NSW Ambulance to attend.

Clarence Valley Deputy Mayor, Jeff Smith, Cr Greg Clancy, and potential council candidate, Cristie Yaeger attended.

Yamba CAN Chair Col Shephard opened the meeting, defining awareness and resilience before advising attendees to study two important clauses in the Clarence Valley Council Local Environmental Plan 2011, 521 relating to flood planning, and 522 about Special Flood Considerations.

Valley Watch Treasurer Graeme Granleese then spoke about the State Disaster Mitigation Plan, encouraging locals to have input to help create a Disaster Adaptation Plan for the area.

Keynote speaker, Greens MLC and chair of a current NSW parliamentary inquiry into the planning system and impacts of climate change on the environment and communities, Sue Higginson said the NSW planning system which was developed in the 1970s is archaic and “broken” and the inquiry aims to help reform the system.

She said after the 2022 floods both the Prime Minister and Premier both said we need to stop any further developments on floodplains.

“The system facilitates these developments

… it’s a planning system of the past,” she said.

“It often goes against the wishes of local people, with local knowledge.”

Ms Higginson commended Yamba CAN Inc. and Valley Watch for their proactive actions and advocacy in educating and informing the community about floods.

“You are the key to your future in developing your preparedness for the next flood event,” she said.

After an informative and graphic slideshow of images and videos of the 2022 flood, Yamba CAN Inc. executive member and long-term Yamba resident, Craigh McNeill, who has spent hundreds of hours researching councils new flood model, presented valuable information on flood awareness, how Yamba floods, Australian Height Datum AHD and how it is calculated.

According to council’s new flood model, Mr McNeill discovered in a 1 in 100-year flood most houses with a 2.5 metre floor level AHD between the Angourie Road roundabout to Oyster Channel, Yamba, would flood.

Mr McNeill said Lake Wooloweyah significantly impacts Yamba flood behaviour, in the 2022 flood the lake continued to fill for 28 hours after the flood peak at Yamba, and Oyster Channel holds back floodwater, exacerbating and extending effects on Yamba.

SES Community Capability Officer, Tracey Doherty clarified that Yamba Bowling Club isn’t the designated flood refuge for Yamba, and flood refuges are determined by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

Mrs Doherty encouraged everyone to develop an Emergency Plan, have an Emergency Kit prepared, and to download and understand the Bureau of Meteorology, Hazards Near Me and Emergency Plus smartphone apps so they are prepared for the next event.

In the event of a flood, Mrs Doherty encouraged everyone to watch the Clarence Valley SES Facebook page for alerts, to listen to ABC radio 94.5 the official emergency broadcaster, and she advised people to have a location to evacuate to rather than relying on a designated flood refuge......

Ms Higginson said the event was a “remarkable” meeting, she was overwhelmed by how many people attended and the clear message that locals delivered was “we have got to stop development on the Yamba floodplain”.

“People want to be prepared for floods and they don’t feel they have the information they need to be prepared, so it was fantastic that the SES were here to start that conversation,” she said.

“What was clear, is that everyone in this room feels as though their council are letting them down at the moment.”......

The two rather unpalatable faces of a former Liberal prime minister clinging onto the limelight

 

Janus

THE POLITICAL BRAGGARD RETURNED TO THE BACKBENCH IN 2022

WWSG EXCLUSIVE THOUGHT LEADER

The Honorable Scott Morrison

30th Prime Minister of Australia

Australia’s 30th Prime Minister, Scott Morrison is the true definition of a leader with a 360º worldview. During his tenure, Morrison was tasked with several difficulties that required unique and innovative solutions. From managing the public safety of Australians during the pandemic to mitigating an economic crisis, controlling natural disasters, and leading the country while others were at war—Prime Minister Morrison led Australia with his particular brand of calm decisiveness and rationale. A globalization mastermind, Morrison lends his boundless influence and experience to audiences around the world.

SPEECH TOPICS

* COVID-19: The Great Disruption

* Navigating the Indo-Pacific

* The Future of Globalism

* The Net Zero Global Emissions Economy

* Faith, Religion, and Technology in Liberal

Democracies

[US-based conservative Worldwide Speakers Group, 19 August 2022]

THE HISTORICAL REVISIONIST IN SEARCH OF BOOK SALES

'Eventually he sought help from his doctor in Canberra....

"Without this help, serious depression would have manifested. What impacted me was the combination of pure physical exhaustion with the unrelenting and callous brutality of politics and media attacks,....

He says he is trying to forgive his political enemies although he admits this is still a work in progress....

He says he is much more interested in exploring questions of faith than raking over the legacy of his time in The Lodge....

“Most politicians write books about what they’ve done; this story is about what I believe God has done for me,” he says” '

[The Australian, 26 April 2024]