Rous County Council's authoritarian members will ride forth at 9:30 am this morning armed with what can only be described as an anti-democracy revenge motion

Channon Gorge, site of proposed Dunoon Dam.
Photo David Lowe.
Image: Echo, 10 December 2020

It took a long hard campaign on the part of the Widjabul Wia-bal People and the people of Lismore to protect the area known as Channon Gorge and the river which runs though it - rich in cultural heritage as important today as it was thousands of years ago, high in environment values and biodiversity.

However, even when Rous County Council voted to take the proposed Dunoon Dam out of future planning in late 2020, it was obvious that the 'build it it and enough water will fall from the sky' brigade, along with those who appear to take umbrage at the thought of any Aboriginal landscapes escaping destruction, would be returning for another chance to submerge the Channon Gorge.

So the struggle continues and the Widjabul Wia-bal People are not backing down when it comes to protecting the land their ancestors also protected. On 11 February 2022, at their invitation, two members of the NSW Legislative Council met with their representatives at Channon Gorge.

Water Northern Rivers, retrieved from the website 15 February 2022:

Water Northern Rivers Alliance¹

Our region is at a critical point

The current challenge for the Rous region (Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Richmond Valley council areas) is to create a drought-resilient water system without destroying cultural heritage and irreplaceable ecology.

In the face of climate change and projected population growth, the Northern Rivers has become an important testing ground for modern water supply options.

Rous County Council’s revised Integrated Water Catchment Management Plan (revised IWCM 2021) meets the challenge. It is investigating and moving forward with diverse options, instead of the White Elephant Dunoon Dam.

Recent council elections resulted in a new Rous County Councillors being appointed. The new make is predominantly pro-dam, so the time ahead is crucial.

Channon Gorge
Photo David Lowe
Image: Echo, 17 December 2020

Echo, 14 February 2022:

Just when we thought we’d seen the last of the Dunoon Dam, over a year after it was scrapped in 2020, a Rous councillor is moving a motion to put it back on the table.

The 2021 LGA elections saw the Dunoon Dam used as a platform for swaying votes on December 4, often the choice of ‘toilet water’ or the dam the only possibilities offered by candidates.

Now that this term of local government has begun, Ballina, Lismore and Richmond Valley Council have seen pro-dam councillors elected to the Rous Country Council which is made up of eight councillors – two from each of the constituent councils of Ballina, Byron, Lismore and Richmond Valley.

With the swearing-in of this term’s representatives, councils chose Councillors Sharon Cadwallader and Rod Bruem for Ballina, Councillors Michael Lyon and Sarah Ndiaye for Byron, Councillors Andrew Gordon and Big Rob for Lismore and Councillors Robert Mustow and Sandra Humphrys for Richmond Valley.

Ballina’s new Mayor Sharon Cadwallader has been nothing if not desperate to see the dam approved and has gone to extraordinary lengths to see it become a reality.

Ms Cadwallader has been voted on to Rous and she joins at least five other dam supporters on the Council.

Apart from the Byron representation, this group of Councillors have been clear about their support of the dam….

One of the results of this gaggle of duly elected environmental vandals gaining what appears to be a strong foothold on Rous County Council, is the motion set out below authored by a Lismore City councillor with the legal name of Big Rob.^{2, 3} And I have a strong suspicion that this particular motion was not presented (for formal agreement) to a full sitting of councillors on Lismore City Council – the particular local government Cr, Big Rob is legally obliged to represent at Rous County Council meetings.

Rous County Council, Ordinary meeting business paper, Wednesday, 16 February 2022:

Notice of Motion

Council Meeting 16 February 2022

Subject: Dunoon Dam

I hereby move:

That Council:

1. Adopt Revision 7 of the Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) Strategy (Attachment 1) and update Revision 7 of the IWCM to reflect the inclusion of Dunoon dam investigations as part of the Future Water Project 2060

2. Approve the completion of detailed cultural heritage and biodiversity assessments associated with the proposed Dunoon dam in consultation with relevant Traditional Custodians.

3. Defer implementing the resolution associated with the proposed Dunoon dam, resolved by Council at its meeting of 16 December 2020 (resolution [61/20] Item 2), until after Stage 3 options have been determined (Attachment 2)

4. Utilise existing budget allocations for Dunoon dam land management to progress the actions in Item 2.

Signed: Councillor Big Rob

Date: 19 January 2022

The meeting at which this motion will be considered today can be accessed by the wider New South Wales & Northern Rivers general public:

Rous County Council meeting 16 February 2022
Public access, 9.30am – 10.00am: Zoom link.
Council meeting from 10.00am: Zoom link.

A public meeting is being held before the start of Rous County Council proceedings:

NOTE:

1. Water Northern Rivers, retrieved 15 February 2022, excerpts:

Ecological impacts of Dunoon Dam site – cannot be offset

• Internationally significant ecological remnants are our responsibility

• Only 1% of our region’s Big Scrub rainforest remains. 6.7% is in the proposed dam site & would be destroyed or fragmented.

• These rainforests are part of the Endangered Ecological Community Lowland Rainforest of the NSW North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregions.

• Water Gums and Grey Myrtles in The Channon Gorge are the largest on record.

• Loss of flora species is cumulative, relentless and ultimately terminal. 

• 52 ha of critical koala habitat and corridors would be destroyed.

• Extinction already seriously threatens multiple species including the iconic platypus.

Why Dunoon Dam would NOT HELP with DROUGHT RESILIENCE

• A second dam would only receive water from the catchment above Rocky Creek Dam when it overspills. But Rocky Creek Dam currently has no provision for overflow and is full only 30% of the time, so a new dam may take years to fill. (Rous does not measure water flows over the spillway).

• Dunoon Dam is 3.5 x the size of Rocky Creek Dam, but has half the catchment size.

• In drought, when overall rainfall decreases, the runoff decreases even more drastically.

• Dunoon Dam’s relatively catchment would deliver very little in a drought.

• Multi-year droughts, predicted with climate change, mean that after a 4.5 year drought we’d have TWO empty dams.  

2. Big Rob Archives – The Echo at https://www.echo.net.au/tag/big-rob/

3. Cr. Big Rob Archives – The Echo at https://www.echo.net.au/tag/cr-big-rob/

Prime Minister Scott Morrison cannot even give a speech on the 14th anniversary of the historic Apology to the Stolen Generations without causing many to call into question his world view

POST SUBTITLE: In which Scott Morrison's personal philosophy markedly resembles that of those religious institutions which historically assisted successive colonial and state governments to oppress First Nations people within Australia and its island territories whilst pursuing the eradication of First Nations spirituality, cultures and languages.

Apology to the Stolen Generations
A section of the invited guests, 
Australian Parliament, Wednesday, 13 February 2008
IMAGE:Mark Baker/AFP/Getty Images in The Guardian

On 14 February 2022 the Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, rose to his feet in the House of Representatives to acknowledge the 14^th anniversary of the 13 February 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations given by then Prime Minister & Labor MP for Griffith, Kevin Rudd.

In part Morrison’s speech stated:

“Mr Speaker, we are on a journey to make peace with our past. And it’s a difficult journey and it is an important one, to draw together the past, the present, and future, so we can truly be one and free.

We belong to a story - from time immemorial, a continent that contends with us all, and the work of building a strong, sovereign and vibrant democracy that gives us all a voice.

But we don’t seek to sugarcoat this story. We don’t turn aside from the injustices, contentions and abrasions. That’s what successful liberal democracies do. We must remember if we are to shape the future, and to do so wisely.

So as we do this at this time every year, we remember the Stolen Generations. Children taken from their parents. I say it again, children taken from their parents. No parent, no child could fail to understand the devastation of that, regardless of whatever their background is. Children taken from their parents. Families and communities torn apart. Again and again and again.

With that trauma, disconnection, and unquenching pain, came a national shame and a deep wound. Separated from country, from kinship, from family, from language, from identity. Becoming even strangers to themselves.

Fourteen years have passed since we had said sorry here in this place.

Sorry for the cold laws that broke apart families.

Sorry for the brutalities that were masked even under the guise of protection and even compassion.

Sorry for believing that Indigenous people were not capable of stewarding their own lives.

Sorry for the failure to respect, to understand, to appreciate.

Sorry for the lives damaged and destroyed.

So on this day, and every year since, we are right to remind ourselves of times past - not to re-ignite the coals of pain, or to bring division where there are the beginnings of healing, but to be mindful of the lessons learned. To turn again from the great Australian silence, and towards each other.

And to again say: we are sorry.

And as I said when I spoke in support of the original motion here in this place on the other side of the Chamber 14 years ago, sorry can never be given without any expectation of forgiveness. But there can be hope.

I said an apology “involves … standing in the middle ground exposed, vulnerable and seeking forgiveness”.

Forgiveness is never earned or deserved. It can never be justified on the simple weighing of hurts and grievance. Such measures will never rationally tip the balance in favour of forgiveness.

Forgiveness transcends all of that. It’s an act of grace. It’s an act of courage. And it is a gift that only those who have been wounded, damaged and destroyed can offer.

I also said fourteen years ago, “sorry is not the hardest word to say, the hardest is I forgive you”.

But I do know that such a path of forgiveness does lead to healing. It does open up a new opportunity. It does offer up release from the bondage of pain and suffering that no simple apology on its own can achieve.

And nor do I believe that such forgiveness is a corporate matter. It can only begin with the individual. And forgiveness does not mean forgetting. Nor does it mean that there are not consequences for actions, and the need for redress and restitution.

This is a hard conversation. I know that Danny Abdallah, who together with his wife Leila knows a lot about loss and grief, and they have begun this conversation with Indigenous community leaders through the i4Give you foundation that he has established in memory of their children Antony, Angelina and Sienna and their niece [Veronique].

Out of great tragedy and loss there can rise hope. And I wish them all the very best for these conversations.” [my yellow highlighting]

The response to Morrison’s words on "forgiveness" was immediate.

Our official* response to what Scott Morrison said today:

*polite pic.twitter.com/DRsrdGvcV1

— First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria (@firstpeoplesvic) February 14, 2022

News.com.au, 14 February 2022:

“I said 14 years ago, ‘Sorry is not the hardest word to say … the hardest is I forgive you.’”

 Mr Morrison’s statement immediately came under fire, with some people labelling the last six words as “utterly reprehensible”. 

Indigenous Greens senator Lidia Thorpe said Mr Morrison’s statement was “not an apology”. 

“This is outright disrespectful to all those affected by stolen generations in this country,” she said. 

“How dare you ask forgiveness when you still perpetrate racist policies and systems that continue to steal our babies.”

Alleged 70 per cent hazard reduction burn over two days planned for the biodiverse Billinudgel Nature Reserve in June 2021

Echo NetDaily, 11 June 2021:

Local Minjungbal Indigenous leaders are asking the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to consult with them over a planned hazard reduction burn at Billinudgel Nature Reserve but a scheduled meeting was cancelled by NPWS. 

Billinudgel Nature Reserve where the hazard reduction
burn is planned by National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The hazard reduction burn was originally scheduled for the Billinudgel Nature Reserve on 3 June with neighbours being informed by letter on 2 June.

‘We got notification that Billinudgel was going to have a hazard reduction burn which gave me time to get in touch with NPWS to discuss some options and ask them to sit down with traditional owners to look at cultural issues in the reserve,’ said Rachael Cavanagh, a Minjungbal woman and traditional owner that covers the Billinudgel Nature Reserve.

Rachael said a meeting was originally set up but was then cancelled by the NPWS who said that they would only speak to the Tweed Byron Aboriginal Land Council (TB ALC).

‘They are not the traditional owners,’ Rachael pointed out. ‘Everyone deserves a voice. We are on the Native Title claim for the Five Rivers and the Tweed Bundjalung people. We are the traditional owners who hold the cultural knowledge on the land values. We still have fire law that has been continued in our family,’ she told The Echo. 

Billinudgel Nature Reserve.

‘NPWS legislation states that they need to engage with traditional owners and knowledge holders. By their own legislation they are supposed to meet all registered parties.’

Rachael has been a fire fighter for 20 years with the Queensland National Parks and Forestry Corporation and is engaged with the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation.

‘I am in a senior leadership team for National Fire Sticks Alliance. We support and build capacity with Indigenous groups nationally to support cultural fire practices and traditional land management for people on country. We look at the whole picture.’

Having been denied the option to meet with NPWS Rachael told The Echo that their lawyer has now sent a letter to NPWS to seek a meeting between the traditional owners and NPWS in relation to the burn.

‘Pretty much our family are fighting to be at the table and be part the discussion,’ she said.

‘They are planning to for a 70 per cent hazard reduction burn over two days which means it will be very hot, raging and overall health of the forest and the cultural values will be at risk, the understory will be and the canopy will be scorched, the animals will have nowhere to go to.

‘Regardless of whether it is Billinudgel or Cudgen. I will be fighting to have a say over the management of Minyungbal Country.’

‘Regardless of whether it is Billinudgel or Cudgen. I will be fighting to have a seat at the table.’…... 

BACKGROUND

Billinudgel Nature Reserve was created in April 1996. It's current size is 789 ha. Approximately 75% of the Reserve is within Byron Shire with the remainder in Tweed Shire in the NSW Northern Rivers region.

The Reserve protects the following features: 

· a large tract of natural lowland coastal vegetation, a significant remnant in an otherwise highly modified environment; 

· an extensive wetland containing Melaleuca swamp forest; 

· a diversity of habitat which supports a wide range of fauna and flora including rare, threatened, significant and migratory species; 

· Aboriginal sites and landscapes of significance; and 

· features of scientific interest. 

In the 2016 Byron Coast Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management the North Byron Koala Management Area encompasses an area of approximately 2,814ha located to the north of the Brunswick River and includes the Billinudgel Nature Reserve along with the localities of South Golden Beach, Ocean Shores and Billinudgel.

localities of South Golden Beach, Ocean Shores and Billinudgel as indicated by Figure 3 of the

Northern Rivers Region Billinudgel, Marshalls Creek, Jinangong, and Brunswick Heads (north) Nature Reserves Fire Management Strategy (Type 2) 2016 at:

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/Fire-management-strategies/billinudgel-marshalls-creek-jinangong-brunswick-heads-reserves-fire-management-strategy-160705.pdf

Elders and Widjabul Wia-bal people: ‘We are tired of being ‘consulted’ and then ignored. Enough is enough.’

 

Echo NetDaily, 14 December 2020:

Widjabul Wia-bal traditional owners of the area between Dunoon and the Channon have told Rous County Council not to follow Rio Tinto with the destructive Dunoon Dam.

They have told the General Manager of Rous County Council, Phil Rudd, that they will not accept the building of the proposed dam, which would inundate ancient burial sites and extensive evidence of occupation in the past and in recent times.

John Roberts, a Senior Elder of the Widjabul Wia-bal said, ‘I was one of the stakeholders consulted in 2011 about the impact of the Dunoon Dam on cultural heritage.

‘In the 2011 Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment prepared for Rous, we stakeholders said with one voice that no level of disturbance was acceptable to us. We still say that. Nothing has changed. There is no need for another study. Our opinion has not changed.

‘Our cultural heritage is a direct connection to our ancestors. We have been here for thousands of years. These sites provide us with a link to our traditions, our land and our living heritage. They allow us to educate our young ones in their history.’

Unanimous decision

A unanimous decision of Elders and Widjabul Wia-bal people was given to the Rous County Council General Manager last Tuesday, December 8th.

The group insisted that Rous abandon plans for the Dunoon Dam.

‘So many of our cultural sites have been destroyed. To destroy more is unacceptable to the traditional owners,’ said Mr Roberts.

‘We are tired of being ‘consulted’ and then ignored. Enough is enough.’

The Widjabul Wia-bal collective insisted that Rous County Council no longer deals with individuals. They said in future Rous must consult with the whole stakeholder group.

Rous have agreed to provide all correspondence between Rous and the Widjabul Wia-bal representatives since the dam was first mooted in 1995……

Rous County Council, meanwhile, have issued a statement saying they will table their plan to future-proof the region’s water supply at their next ordinary meeting, on 16 December 2020.

Channon Gorge, threatened by proposed Dunoon Dam. Photo David Lowe.

The statement said, ‘The combination of solutions set out by the Future Water Project 2060 include:

• Utilisation of the Marom Creek Water Treatment Plant for the increased use of groundwater from the Alstonville area.

• Further detailed investigations into the viability of the proposed Dunoon Dam.

• Ongoing water conservation and demand management.

• Pioneering investigations into water reuse.

‘Councillors will carefully consider the plan in light of the outcome of a 10-week public exhibition of the Future Water Project 2060. Council acknowledges the community’s concerns and aspirations and greatly appreciates the time invested by those who made a submission.’

Rous have asked people who wish to find out more about the Future Water Project 2060 to please visit www.rous.nsw.gov.au/futurewater.

Dunoon local Jill Hawthorn responded on social media by saying, ‘When the experts say we need back up options for dry times coming – and 30% of our water system should be not rain dependent. This means we need to look seriously at water reuse and solar powered desalination – can you hear your community Rous?