Pine Creek Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuo7ZZ5NZ9A
Showing posts with label Minns Labor Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minns Labor Government. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 November 2024
STOP state or private contract logging within and around the proposed boundaries of the NSW Great Koala National Park
Friday, 13 September 2024
Talking 'zombie developments' with the NSW Government & Parliament in 2024
Excerpt from Tweed Shire Council's 17-page submission to the NSW Parliament, Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning, Inquiry into Historical development consents in NSW , dated 16 May 2024:
"(a) The current legal framework for development consents, including the physical commencement test.
The current legal framework requires an impact assessment in accordance with the objects and requirements of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the "Act") prior to granting a consent.
Consents do not expire if they are commenced and for developments approved before 15 May 2020 it is too easy to prove commencement under the Act. This allows a consent approved decades ago and therefore assessed against decades old conditions to remain valid today.
As site conditions change and scientific knowledge advances, the impact assessments for these consents fall further apart from reality. As long as consents can continue to sit on land without expiration, the Act's objects are impossible to meet.
(b) Impacts to the planning system, development industry and property ownership as a result of the uncertain status of lawfully commenced development consents.
In failing to meet the Act's objects, historical development consents fail to achieve ecological sustainable development or consider climate change. The current legal framework requires authorities to explain to the community how such developments are
legally allowed to proceed (subject to procedural requirements) even while causing environmental damage that would be highly unlikely to be approved today. The balance between protecting private interests against confidence in the public planning system
and protection of the environment falls squarely in favour of the former.
Our understanding of disaster risk has improved through experience and is now considered with each assessment. Lacking this assessment in the past, historical development consents can place people and property at risk.
The extent of historic development consents that exist is unknown. Even recent development consents may become historical development consents in the future as site conditions and scientific knowledge change.
Local councils and communities are often unaware of a historical development consent in their backyard until a developer seeks to recommence that consent. Current register searches and prescribed documents for the conveyance of land do not allow for communities to factor potential developments into their purchase. In addition, whether a consent is a danger of recommencing is often beyond the knowledge of even the local council.
Approvals-based reporting faces the same concerns. The ability to effectively landbank and delay indefinitely results in reporting mechanisms being unable to adequately predict or rely on housing and development delivery by virtue of existing approvals
(c) Any barriers to addressing historical development consents using current legal provisions, and the benefits and costs to taxpayers of taking action of historical development concerns.
The barriers to addressing historical development consents and preventing new historical development consents lie primarily with a lack of funding, a lack of legal mechanisms that exist in other jurisdictions and a lack of certainty in the effect of existing legal provisions.
The Act contains a power to revoke a development consent in return for compensation.
No funding exists for this power and having never been tested, the extent of compensation owed is uncertain. Local councils can also acquire land. A similar lack of funding applies here by way of opportunity loss.
It may be possible to challenge a consent on grounds that it was not commenced.
However, before 15 May 2020, works as minor as inserting survey pegs into the ground were sufficient to show commencement. Accordingly, it is unlikely such a challenge would be successful.
Local councils can require developers comply with existing conditions of consent.
Conditions framed to the effect of "to Council's satisfaction" may be of assistance in barring consents from proceeding. Similarly, local councils can notify relevant authorities of developments that require additional approvals subject to savings provisions.
Local councils may be able to utilise the power under the Act to impose conditions on new consents to limit the period that consent may be carried out. This power's reach has not been tested in Court and may not extend to effectively imposing a quasicompletion date for construction and subdivision consents.
The Federal Government has the ability to require an approval for developments if they would harm certain threatened species. It does so by imposing an offence for proceeding without an approval. This requires action on behalf of the Federal Government and only applies to a selection of species set out in the Environment Protection and Biodivers;ty Act 1999 (Cth) (the "EPBC Act").
Zoning of land can be reviewed to ensure land is correctly zoned for development.
Insufficient resources are available to regularly undertake such reviews with sufficient depth and frequency. ......"
[my yellow highlighting]
Tweed Shire Council's full submission can be read at:
It is noted that Clarence Valley Council did not make a submission to this parliamentary inquiry. Even though, like many other local government areas having a extensive coastline, it has also been under sustained pressure to continue an historic practice of inappropriately developing floodplain land.
ECHO, 12 September 2024:
‘The 2022 floods in South-East Queensland and NSW are the costliest natural disaster for insurance costs in Australian history. As of June 2023, the ICA (Insurance Council of Australia) estimates the February-March 2022 floods in South-East Queensland and NSW have caused $5.87 billion in insured damages,’ according to the Australian Treasury. And that doesn’t include all those who were uninsured or the $5 billion that modelling showed the 2022 floods cost the economy.
So why are we continuing to allow developers to build on floodplains using development applications (DAs) that are ten or twenty years old and we know will cause significant future costs to our communities and governments – costs that will be in the billions of dollars and that ultimately we are paying for via our taxes and rates?
This was the question under discussion in Brunswick Heads on September 5 as concerned residents and community groups, CLAI Wallum, Friends of the Koala Inc, MPs and committee members of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Historical Development Consents in NSW – aka ‘zombie’ developments met.
Zombie developments
A key part of the discussion is how to deal with legacy, or ‘zombie’ developments and their future impacts on flooding, fire and the environment. These are DAs that have been approved and have sat idle for years with only minimal work done in the first five years that then allows the DA to remain active indefinitely into the future. That is, they can be activated and developed under the original DA that does not have to take into account current legislation and learning, like the heights of the 2022 floods, and in the cases of Gales Holding in Kingscliff and Iron Gates in Evans Head they can fill floodplains and build on them with no reference to the impact these developments will have on existing and future housing, businesses and infrastructure.
‘This scourge on coastal communities along the entire NSW coast, has been very well documented in the report “Concreting our Coast: The developer onslaught destroying our coastal villages and environment” by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann,’ Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRPA) explained in a submission to the inquiry.
Following the meeting KRPA President Peter Newton told The Echo that: ‘Kingscliff and other areas of the Tweed Shire remain under threat from these historic approvals on the floodplain and in ecologically sensitive areas. The association welcomed the opportunity for a full and frank dialogue on the risks we are facing and the potential for planning reforms.’
Some recommendations from those attending the roundtable included potential buybacks or land swaps for these historically-approved DAs.
‘The financial cost of recovery to communities and governments is eye-watering,’ said KRPA in their submission.
‘We need to shift the emphasis from spending on flood recovery to spending on flood prevention and mitigation. This may require billions in, for example, compensation/land swaps to acquire such historically approved land from developers, but we need to start somewhere. Governments are spending billions on each flood event – this at least would be a one-off cost. This cost cannot be met by councils (and therefore ratepayers) and needs to be addressed at the state and federal government levels.’
Don’t use it, lose it
Stricter regulations around how long a DA can remain active were also put forward with president of the Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development Incorporated (EHRSDI), Richard Gates, saying that ‘fixed use-by dates for commencement and completion of DAs’ need to be implemented....
Read the full article at:
https://www.echo.net.au/2024/09/what-can-be-done-about-dangerous-zombie-das/
Tuesday, 6 August 2024
The cost of living in New South Wales may have risen but so has the cost of dying thanks to Minns Government cost shifting
In June 2024 Local Government NSW issued the following media release:
Another ‘nail in the coffin’ for family budgets as cemetery tax confirmed
Local Government NSW has criticised the State Government for pushing ahead with its controversial “cemeteries tax” as families across the state struggle with the cost of living crisis.
Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW (CCNSW) has confirmed that the new tax of $156 per burial, $63 per ash interment and $41 per cremation will be levied on large operators from 1 July 2024, just under a month away. Large operators are those who carry out more than 50 interments per year. For smaller operators the levy will commence from 1 July 2025.
LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said the levy was just the latest example of cost-shifting onto local government.
“Across NSW, council cemeteries undertake more than 40 percent of all burials. This rises to more than 80 percent of all burials in rural and regional NSW, so this unnecessary new tax will hit our rural and regional communities the hardest.
“The announcement of this new impost on councils and communities also makes a mockery of the NSW Government’s commitment to seriously consider the impacts of cost shifting, and comes at the same time the NSW parliament is undertaking hearings for its review of local government financial sustainability.”
The State Government announced the levy just before Easter this year, advising that the costs were to fund the increased regulation of the interment industry. At the time, LGNSW called on the Government to fund the regulation from its core budget rather than seek to recoup cost from operators, including local councils. Now, with the imminent implementation of the tax confirmed, the local government sector says the timelines are simply unworkable.
“Our councils will not have time to properly exhibit and approve any fee increase to cover this, as required under the Local Government Act,” Cr Turley said.
“At the same time, we simply cannot absorb this levy into current operational budgets. Whether this year or next, councils will therefore have to pass on the levy to their residents and community members, making interment services more expensive for grieving individuals and families who are going through one of the most challenging circumstances of their lives.
“Quite frankly, the announcement of this levy is premature and ill-considered, with key design and implementation features remaining unresolved.
"Chief among those concerns is that CCNSW still has not provided any information to address the GST treatment queries that councils have raised. Also, there is a significant concern that for pre-need purchased interments already sold by councils, CCNSW advice confirms that the cemetery operator – including councils – is now liable for paying the levy.
"Respectful and affordable interment services are a critical public service provided by local government cemetery operators. LGNSW calls on the Premier to step in and reverse this Government decision to impose a burial and cremation tax on the community, particularly during a cost of living crisis." [my yellow highlighting]
According to Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW the purpose of the Internment Services Levy is as follows:
Funds raised through the levy are used to improve protections for customers, maintain fair and consistent standards for the sector, monitor and enforce compliance, and deliver continuing education for operators and their staff to help them meet the new standards.
The levy was to have applied in the Clarence Valley Local Government Area since 1 July 2024, because Clarence Valley Council is considered under this new cost shifting measure by the Minn Labor Government to be a "large operator" as it has 13 cemeteries available to the Clarence Valley community at:
• Clarence Lawn
• Copmanhurst
• Coutts Crossing
• Eatonsville/Mylneford
• Glenreagh
• Grafton
• Iluka
• Lawrence
• Maclean Lawn
• Nymboida
• Maclean
• South Grafton
• Ulmarra
The levy will commence for local governments which are considered "small operators" around 1 July 2025.
However, there has been enough push back by cemetery & crematoria operators for Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW to have announced:
Delayed commencement of 3 licence conditions to 1 October 2024
The start date for the consumer contract, pricing transparency and maintenance licence conditions will be amended from 1 July 2024 to 1 October 2024 to allow more time for industry adjustment. We encourage operators who are ready to implement these conditions now to maintain their positive momentum and begin complying from 1 July. For those operators who are not yet ready this extension allows additional time to prepare.
Operators who hold a licence will receive notification of their amended conditions prior to 1 July. The Interment Industry Scheme page will be updated to reflect this change.
It is uncertain if Clarence Valley Council will avail itself of this minor 'concession'.
However, at its last Ordinary Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, 24 July 2024 Clarence Valley Council unanimously resolved to:
1. note that the NSW Government has announced a new cost shift onto Council and our community, by imposing a new tax on burials, cremations and ash interments.
2. write to the NSW Premier and Minister for Lands and Property asking that they urgently reverse their decision to impose a new tax on all burials and cremations.
It would appear that, unless the Minns Government relents, valley residents and ratepayers will be forced to pay the bill for a chronic shortage of metropolitan burial plots.
The former Berejiklian Coalition Government and subsequent Perrottet Coalition Government never gave a thought as to how metropolitan cemeteries in particular would cope with the growing numbers of deaths occurring on their watch or, if either premier did they expected to pass the problem — of an ageing population combined with ongoing SARS-CoV-2 related excess deaths — on to those state governments following them, which in the first instance is the Minns Labor Government.
The Minns Government then decided that regional areas such as the Clarence Valley would be among the first to subsidise its band-aid solution, with all 96 regional councils operating cemeteries/crematoria having the levy imposed by mid-2025.
Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Youth crime and crime generally are always good ways to scare rural and regional communities and a scare campaign has been running hot and cold in 2024
Youth crime and crime generally are always good ways to scare rural and regional communities and a scare campaign has been running hot and cold since the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) released the state's 2023 December quarter crime statistics.
The National Party members of the NSW Parliament have been beating up these figures and supporting any group who will drink the political Kool-Aid.
On 23 February 2024 the NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley in Budget Estimates described the Country Mayors Association calls for an inquiry into regional crime as calling for nothing more than a “talkfest”.
By 14 March 2023 the political situation but not the statistics had changed.
The mayors' law and order concerns were somewhat recent given the last annual survey conducted by the CMA saw the 69 rural and regional local governments who answered this survey placing law and order low on their priority lists.
Readers of Murdoch media and local Northern Rivers newspapers may also have noticed the sudden flurry of journalistic and National Party concern about local crime rates.
The Clarence Valley Independent of 13 March 2024 was a case in point:
News of an escalation in youth crime in the Clarence Valley has gone right to the top of the Coffs Clarence Police District, with the Commander, Superintendent Joanne Schultz involved in implementing prevention and intervention strategies to prevent re-offending....
Last month, Member for Clarence, Richie Williamson joined calls by the Country Mayors Association of NSW for the Minns Labor Government to launch a parliamentary inquiry into rural and regional crime, following a spike in crime in the Clarence and Richmond Valley’s.
“The most recent data from the authorities show that youth crime continues to rise, especially for stealing motor vehicles and break and enter offences,” Mr Williamson said.
So what had changed for the Minns Government?
Well, firstly the state electorate is now only six months away from the NSW Local Government elections on Saturday, 14 September 2024 and both incumbent governments and their political opposition like to play the 'laura norder' card in an election year which sees party politics playing a significant but rarely openly stated role in council elections.
Secondly, the NSW Premier has announced new punitive legal measures aimed at youth offenders when it comes to matters like consideration of bail applications and certain increased penalties and, what better way to win support for this move and a policy of "proactive policing" of vulnerable groups than to further demonise young offenders.
Thirdly, a 'helpful' study was released by BOSCAR this month titled "Crime in Regional and Rural NSW in 2023: Trends and Patterns".
While this study openly admitted that in the last 20 years property crime had fallen by 48 per cent in regional NSW, this was seen as deficient because property crime had fallen by 67 per cent in Greater Sydney over the same period and as due to the different rates of decline, in 2023 the rate of recorded property crime was 59 per cent higher in Regional NSW compared to Greater Sydney. A most unfortunate statistical clash.
The study also stated: In 2023 the aggregate rate of recorded violent crime in Regional NSW was equivalent to the recorded rate in 2004. In Greater Sydney, however, violent crime declined significantly in the two decades to 2023 (down 20% from 2004 to 2023). The long-term decline in violence in Sydney and relative stability in Regional NSW has increased the disparity between the rate of violent crime in the regions versus the capital city. In 2023 the rate of recorded violent crime was 57% higher in Regional NSW compared with Greater Sydney.
Leaving a distinct impression that the comparisons being made are beginning to resemble the apple and orange variety and are unhelpful to anyone except state and local government politicians on the make in a local council election year.
The icing on the cake was the following paragraph, which totalled five years of crime statistics to achieve impressive numbers which are broken down in red annotations:
Four major offences, however, significantly increased in Regional NSW over the five years from 2019
to 2023:
o Motor vehicle theft (up 20% or 1,239 additional incidents) An est. average increase of 248 offences per year across 95 regional local government areas. In this category and unspecified number of youth offenders are alleged to be found.
o Non-domestic assault (up 14% or 1,825 additional incidents) An est. average increase of 365 offences per year across 95 regional local government areas. On a yearly average est. 204 were youth offenders.
o Sexual assault (up 47% or 1,505 additional incidents) An est. average increase of 301 offences per year across 95 regional local government areas. In this category it is solely adult offending.
o Domestic violence related assault (up 24% or additional incidents)
An est. average increase of 659 offences per year across 95 regional local government areas. On a yearly average est. 86 were youth offenders.
For those interested BOSCAR released a set of graphs which breakdown the trends into more specific crime categories at:
As for "stealing motor vehicles and break and enter offences" the Nationals MLA for Clarence points to in relation to youth crime, BOSCAR data for January to December 2023 show NSW Police proceeded against a total of 27 vehicle thefts in the Clarence Valley LGA, with 9 of these thefts alleged to be by young offenders aged between 10-17 years of age. While break and enter offences proceeded against totalled 33 offences, with 9 of these break and enters alleged to be by young offenders aged between 10-17 years of age.
As for motor vehicle theft and break and enter statistics for the Coffs Clarence Police District, BOSCAR shows Coffs-Grafton statistical district was considered "stable' over the last five years. With the change in motor vehicle theft being +113 thefts between 2019 and 2023 totals. While break and enter dwelling fell by -145 incidents and break and enter non-dwelling fell by -9 incidents between 2019 and 2023 totals.
From a personal perspective - yes let's all insist on higher numbers of police in all regional areas to improve crime clear up rates and because police are often spread thin on the ground during emergencies and, in the Northern Rivers region in particular we now have such events far too often.
However, does the desire to have more police in our towns mean that we need to endorse a more punitive response to young offenders by a state government and its police force?
ABC News, 18 March 2024:
Some of the country's top legal and criminal justice experts have written to NSW Premier Chris Minns about proposed bail changes. Sixty organisations signed the letter, including the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Sydney Institute of Criminology....
Amnesty International, Save the Children and the Human Rights Law Centre are also signatories to the letter, which states the premier's bail changes will "make crime worse in regional communities, not better".
"Your new policy to increase youth incarceration is a betrayal of your Closing the Gap commitments," they tell the premier....
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos has written to 128 councils urging those who use ticketless parking fines to address shortcoming in their approach. Requests councils to provide an on the spot, written notification to drivers
 |
| 9 News, 11 March 2024 |
ECHO, 11 March 2024:
The days of receiving ticketless council parking fines in NSW are to end thanks to new directions from the Labor state government.
Half of all fines processed by Revenue NSW are reportedly council parking fines, with 48 councils issuing ticketless fines including the Tweed, Ballina and Lismore local government areas (LGAs).
Some councils have abandoned the use of on-the-spot paper fines altogether.
The former coalition state government introduced the ticketless scheme as a trial in May 2020 before expanding it to more councils in December 2020.
Local governments included in the scheme can lodge parking infringements directly with Revenue NSW, along with photographic evidence, rather than by leaving a ticket on the offending car.
Drivers are in most cases unaware they’ve received a fine until it arrives by mail or the Service NSW app.
NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos says the scheme has eroded trust in the state’s parking fine system.
Minister pushes for photographic evidence in parking fines
The minister on Sunday issued a media release saying she’d written to all 128 councils across the state asking them to return to the practice of issuing on-the-spot written notifications, such as small pre-printed cards left on the windscreen.
While leaving a note isn’t mandatory under state regulations, the minister says drivers who know they’ve been booked may want to collect evidence such as photos and details of where they parked in case they want to seek a review.
‘This note does not necessarily need to form part of the infringement notice but at a minimum it should inform the driver they will soon receive an infringement notice via post or the Service NSW app,’ Ms Houssos wrote in her letter, included in Sunday’s media release.
The minister also requested councils using ticketless fines to review processes to make sure photographic evidence is captured and sent to Revenue NSW.
Lismore council issues nearly $130K in ticketless parking fines
Concerns were also raised about the timeliness of notifications to drivers, with some people said to have received multiple ticketless fines before being told.
The scheme is further accused of having a reduced impact in terms of immediate parking offence deterrence and driver behaviour influence.
On the Northern Rivers, the Lismore City Council is recorded as issuing the most ticketless parking fines in 2023 at 898, followed by the Ballina Shire Council at 473 and the Tweed Shire Council at two.
Ticketless fines in the Lismore LGA were valued at more than $127,000.
The local figures paled in comparison to some metropolitan councils, where fines in the tens of thousands were recorded.
The North Sydney Council issued 52,251 ticketless fines, for example.
The Byron Shire Council wasn’t included in the list.....
NSW Government, Minister for Finance, 10 March 2024 media release at:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/ticketless-parking-fines-must-meet-community-expectations
Sunday, 18 February 2024
Does NSW Premier Chris Minns, his Environment Minister Penny Sharpe or Agricultural Minister Tara Moriarty ever wonder just whose interests the forestry brands that lobby them conceal from view?
“Put the foresters back in charge of the forests.”
Malcolm David McComb, Pentarch Group, quoted in The Monthly, November 2020
According to the 'privately-owned' Melbourne-based PENTARCH GROUP it commenced business in 1984, combining the expertise of five individuals with diverse commercial backgrounds. In the early 1990s, the group’s primary focus was on three key businesses - representing major international manufacturers of military hardware, exporting containerised hay to Japan, and exporting softwood logs to South Korea - through its Industrial, Forestry and Agricultural divisions.
By 2019 the Group was managing over 8,000ha of land - with est. 30 per cent of the defined forest area being native forest.
That year NSW Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry John Barilaro announced Pentarch Logistics Pty Ltd was receiving a $3 million grant to drive innovation and technology advancements in the NSW forestry industry.
In August 2021 the Group purchased the assets of Dormit Pty Ltd which operated two sawmills and associated operations located at Dandenong South and Swifts Creek in Victoria. That same year Boral divested its timber business to the Group in October 2021. Allen Taylor & Company, Duncan’s Holdings and their subsidiaries (collectively known as Boral Timber) now trade under the brand Pentarch Forestry. This acquisition saw Pentarch add eight sawmills, including part ownership of the Highland Pine mill at Oberon, to allegedly become the largest hardwood processor in NSW.
Pentarch Forestry exports in excess of 800,000tn per annum of plantation softwood and hardwood from Australian and New Zealand ports. This division is actively involved in forestry harvesting and haulage; port logistics including marshalling, storage and stevedoring; and international marketing and shipping.
These days its forestry division boasts that its key woodchip and logs export destinations are; China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East. While its sawn timbers are listed as being sourced from; Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.
By 2022 the Pentarch Group operated 20 sites nationally with a high concentration of timber mills in NSW.
The Pentarch Group clearly states:
Timber sustainably sourced from our native forests is our most valuable and precious resource and Pentarch Forestry™ takes pride in finding ways to better use every part of that resource.
In particular Pentarch Forestry harvests Tasmanian hardwood logs from the north-west of that state and timber from native forests (including privately-owned native forest) on land around Nungatta, Mila & Delegate in NSW, as well as from Combienbar, Murrangower & Bendoc in Victoria and, apparently sees itself as helping to protect and manage a large permanent native forest estate.
[Mapping at https://pentarchforestry.com.au/sustainability-environment/sustainable-forest-management/]
The Group's milled native timber is ending up as everything from solid timber floor boards through to mass produced wooden pallets for industry and woodchips as a secondary product.
Its offices can be found at 18 different locations across five states. [See list & details at end of this post]
In its April 2022 submission to the NSW Legislative Council's INQUIRY INTO LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE OF THE TIMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, Pentarch advocated for the permanent retention of multiuse State Forest. Also expressing a sense of frustration that the forestry industry had not been allowed carte blanche to clear the 2019-20 native forest fire grounds of all suitable timber. Apparently a firm believer in a forest restoration harvesting process. Leaving this reader with the suspicion that the Pentarch Group belongs to the 'lets keep the forest floor tidy' brigade.
2022 was also the year that Pentarch Forestry Pty Ltd had its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainability certification (first obtained in 2017) suspended when a renewal audit found that Pentarch’s due diligence system was out of date, regrowth native forest and plantation wood were at risk of being mixed together, and threatened species assessments were not being done.
 |
Prime Minister Scott Morrison & Chairman Pentarch Group Malcolm McComb. IMAGE: Merimbula News Weekly, 23 June 2020 |
Despite the apparent ease of access to political decision makers large forestry corporations appear to enjoy at federal & state government level, this apparently doesn't satisfy all in the industry that their voices are the loudest.
The Pentarch Group chairman also reportedly co-founded Forest and Wood Communities Australia which has a dedicated website, a Facebook page and an X/Twitter account with the less than subtle principal aim of pushing back against so-called "environmental extremists", "ideological idiocy", criticising the Victorian Government and pressuring the NSW Minns Labor Government. The social media accounts in particular have a tendency to mislead.
The faces fronting the Pentarch Group are on display at:
http://www.pentarch.com.au/pentarch_team.html.
However, the principal corporations in this group are very careful to conceal shareholder identities - all shares in the following three registered companies are beneficially held by the companies on behalf of unnamed individuals/corporations.
Although it is not hard to imagine that the Sedger, McComb, Yuncken, Cuthbertson and Dadd families might properly feature heavily on the shareholder list - along with a discreet number of self-managed super funds, investment entities and trusts. It is also not hard to imagine that the 'hidden' nature of such shareholder lists might potentially contain conflicts of interest for state and local governments dealing with the forestry industry.
It is noted that the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW and the NSW Treasurer were meeting in 2023 with members of the forestry industry concerning what was loosely described as "forestry industry reform" and "forestry matters".
~~~~~~~~~~
PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD
ACN: 064 165 635
ABN: 21064165635
Registered in: Victoria
Registration date: 31/03/1994
Registered address & principal place of business:
'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,
SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
Directors:
MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)
IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)
FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)
STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)
Company Secretary:
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN
Shares issued:
Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid
838 Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD
600 Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD
Current roles in the following organisations:
PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD
ACN: 661 995 035
ABN: 98661995035
Address: Unknown
OCEAN2EARTH PTY LTD
ACN: 663 110 629
ABN: 71663110629
Address: Unknown
Current shares and interests in:
*675,000 CLASS I SHARES & 1,125,000 CLASS
N_SHARES Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: SOUTH EAST FIBRE EXPORTS PTY LTD
ACN: 000 604 795
ABN: 85000604795
Address: Unit 1, 250 Charman Road, CHELTENHAM VIC 3192
*600 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD
ACN: 064 165 635
ABN: 21064165635
Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD ENTERPRISES PTY LTD
ACN: 607 144 089
ABN: 65607144089
Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551
*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: SAPPHIRE FORESTS PTY LTD
ACN: 607 256 780
ABN: 85607256780
Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551
*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD EXPORTS (TAS) PTY LTD
ACN: 619 876 345
ABN: 23619876345
Address: Jews Head, EDROM NSW 2551
*1,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: FORESTS IN PERPETUITY PTY LTD
ACN: 639 068 732
ABN: 84639068732
Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
*73,740 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD
ACN: 094 390 271
ABN: 88094390271
Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD
ACN: 661 995 035
ABN: 98661995035
Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
~~~~~~~~~~
PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD
ACN: 064 165 635
ABN: 21064165635
Registered in: Victoria
Registration date: 31/03/1994
Registered address & principal place of business:
'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,
SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
Directors:
MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)
IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)
FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)
STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)
Company Secretary:
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN
Shares issued:
Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid
838 Beneficially Held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD
600 Beneficially Held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD
Ultimate holding company for:
PENTARCH FOREST PRODUCTS PTY LTD
ACN: 059 465 879
ABN: 57059465879
Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181
ARI LEASING PTY. LTD
ACN: 072 963 798
ABN: 77072963798
Address: Unknown
PENTARCH LOGISTICS PTY LTD
ACN: 075 432 254
ABN: 99075432254
Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181
PENTARCH AGRICULTURAL PTY LTD
ACN: 101 274 613
ABN: 45101274613
Address: "KINGS GARDEN ESTATE", Level 1, 99 Coventry
Street, SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205
SAPPHIRE HAULAGE PTY LTD
ACN: 132 292 436
ABN: 55132292436
Address: Unknown
NARROGIN HAY PTY LTD
ACN: 104 157 593
ABN: 73104157593
Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
PENTARCH STEVEDORING PTY LTD
ACN: 108 439 185
ABN: 53108439185
Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
MALLEE HAY PTY LTD
ACN: 123 956 089
ABN: 78123956089
Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
PENTARCH FARMS PTY LTD
ACN: 123 956 105
ABN: 97123956105
Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
~~~~~~~~~~
TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD
ACN: 094 390 271
ABN: 88094390271
Registered in: Victoria
Registration date: 06/09/2000
Registered address & principal place of business:
Registered address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006
Directors:
MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)
IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)
Company Secretary:
SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN
Shares issued:
Ordinary Shares - 73,740 Fully Paid
Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD
~~~~~~~~~~
Pentarch Group offices current as of 17.02.24:
TASMANIA
Massy Greene Drive
South Burnie, Tas, 7320
PO Box 3033
Ph: 03 6430 7333
VICTORIA
Level 1, 99 Coventry Street
Southbank, Vic, 3006
Ph: 03 9621 7900
Great Alpine Road,
Swifts Creek, Vic, 3896
Ph: 03 5159 4438
98 Indian Drive
Keysborough, Vic, 3173
Ph: 1800 818 317
96-106 Ordish Road,
Dandenong, Vic, 3175
Ph: 03 9706 5744
QUEENSLAND
838 Nudgee Road
Northgate, Qld, 4013
Ph: 1800 818 317
Suite 12 Level 1,
84 Wises Road
Maroochydore, Qld, 4558
PO Box 5561
Ph: 1800 818 317
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
176-178 Magill Road
Norwood, SA, 5067
Ph: 1800 818 317
NEW SOUTH WALES
Eden Log Export Facility
Lot 2, Edrom Road
Eden, NSW, 2551
Ph: 02 6496 0252
Eden, NSW
Eden Chip Export Terminal
Edrom Road, Jews Head
Eden, NSW, 2551
Ph: 02 6496 0222
420 Herons Creek Road
Herons Creek, NSW, 2443
Ph: 02 6585 7188
43 Mill Road
Koolkhan, NSW, 2460
PO Box 437
Ph: 02 6644 7280
13056 Summerland Way
Kyogle, NSW, 2474
PO Box 187
Ph: 02 6632 1866
148 Tweed Valley Way
Murwillumbah, NSW, 2484
PO Box 56
Ph: 02 6670 8700
6016/6018 Princess Highway
Narooma, NSW, 2546
PO Box 75
Ph: 02 4476 7908
Unit D1, Regents Park Estate
391 Park Road
Regents Park, NSW, 2143
Ph: 1800 818 317
50 BTU Road
South Nowra, NSW, 2541
PO Box 5014
Ph: 02 4447 8262
PRINCIPAL SOURCES:
- ASIC company extracts retrieved 16.02.24
- The Pentarch Group website at http://www.pentarch.com.au/
- Industry news media
- Submission 233, NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Long term sustainability and future of the timber and forests products industry.
- Pentarch Forestry, Forestry Management Plan, September 2019.
- NSW Government, 2023 Ministers' Diary Disclosures at https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/the-cabinet-office/access-to-information/ministers-diary-disclosures/2023
- The New Bush Telegraph, NSW Biggest Native Forest Logger Loses Sustainability Certification, 10 September 2022.
- Michael West Independent Media, Big logging company Pentarch pinged for shifty forestry practices, 7 September 2022.
- Forest and Wood Communities Australia at https://fwca.org.au/news/ https://twitter.com/woodcommunities & https://www.facebook.com/WoodCommunities/
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