Showing posts with label NSW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NSW. Show all posts

Thursday 2 November 2023

BUSHFIRE STATE OF PLAY NORTH-EAST NSW & NSW-QLD BORDER REGION: Last two days of October 2023


 


 


Glens Creek Rd bushfire at night
Nymboida, Clarence Valley
IMAGE: NSWRFS


 

Bushfire lit night sky
 Coutts Crossing, Clarence Valley
IMAGE: supplied





 


 


 


 


 

1 November 2022:

The Bush Fire Danger Period is now in place for all local government areas around New South Wales, including along the southern border. If you’re planning on using fire on your property, you’ll need a permit. For more information, visit the #RFS website: http://rfs.nsw.gov.au/BFDP


Sunday 23 October 2022

It appears that the rot set in at the Bureau of Meteorology within a few months of Scott Morrison becoming prime minister and sadly when BOM was needed most it is alleged in had become highly dysfunctional


There absolutely needs to be a royal commission into what happened at Lismore. I saw grad mets barely off course in charge of things they would never have been in charge of up until that point. Lismore happened right in the short-staffing period. We go into that event, everyone is already fatigued and working long hours.” [The Saturday Paper, 22 October 2022]


The Saturday Paper, 22 October 2022:


The workplace culture at the Bureau of Meteorology is so toxic that a man was hospitalised twice for psychiatric care, another had a heart attack while working extreme overtime, and was asked to come back earlier than a doctor advised, and at least five more staff took stress leave because of panic attacks and anxiety regarding management oversight.


More than 20 staff have left the media and communications division at the BoM in the past 18 months. The entire marketing team at the agency was “bloodlet” and removed during a restructure and rebranding effort that consumed the time and resources of the weather office during a period of intensifying calamity relating to climate change and natural disasters. Senior meteorologists have also left.


Since June last year, the bureau has spent more than $260,000 with Elm Communications Canberra Pty Ltd, just trying to plug gaps in its public affairs workforce.


Although many of the concerns relate to the media division, meteorologists and other staff have complained of “the severe dysfunction” in this area infecting other parts of the service. Gag orders have been issued to prevent forecasters from speaking to journalists unless their comments are pre-approved. Media managers have explicitly banned the mention of climate change in connection with severe weather events.


In one case during major New South Wales flooding in March last year, an edict was issued that BoM forecasters and other specialists were not to speak to any media after a meteorologist was accused of “fluffing” his lines on climate change.


A spokesperson for the BoM denies this.


In addition to the above concerns, The Saturday Paper can reveal the Commonwealth agency admitted some months ago to staff that it has not been paying overtime correctly and has so far failed to reimburse employees. Indeed, it stopped communicating with them in August about the issue.


The bureau says, in a response to The Saturday Paper, that a “discrepancy” was identified and “an audit of overtime payments is currently under way and all payments made dating from 1 June 2021 are being reviewed”.


The Saturday Paper has spoken with 20 current and former staff members at the bureau to establish a distressing and farcial account of a government agency’s response to a changing climate.


Details in this account that do not appear within quotation marks have nevertheless been provided by individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals…..


There is so much focus on rebranding efforts like this and all of this window dressing and, in the meantime, the staff are really struggling to get the work done. We have lost so many people due to the [public service] transition to national production.”


Under these reforms, which began after the appointment of Andrew Johnson as director of the BoM, regional forecasting centres in every state and territory have been shuttered. State managers have been sacked and a national desk has been created instead. Johnson has pushed the project with fervour. The new branding, complete with public insistence that the Bureau of Meteorology be referred to respectfully as the Bureau, was, according to sources at the BoM, “completely driven by him”……


The Saturday Paper can reveal that the planned name change and new “corporate presence” began more than three years ago and cost far more than has been reported. In December 2018, the BoM paid almost $90,000 to brand specialists The Contenders for work on the new “positioning project” between then and April 2019. When a new general manager of communications – Emma Liepa – took over in April 2020, she “canned the project” and restarted it using her preferred contractor, The C Word Communications Agency Pty Ltd, owned and operated by Jack Walden. The BoM has characterised this contract as a “preliminary analysis” of perceptions about the agency and its “position in the marketplace” and not part of the “Brand project”.


Walden’s The C Word agency won a $70,000 contract in September last year in a “limited tender” to progress this project. Walden is now a senior manager of communications delivery at the BoM, having started in late November last year.


The Saturday Paper understands that Walden was hired as an EL2 “upper”, the same pay band as his boss Liepa, and is an ongoing public service employee. Walden also worked with Liepa in her previous role at the Victorian Healthcare Association. The Saturday Paper is not suggesting there is anything inappropriate in his employment.


In this case, a conflict of interest was advised,” a BoM spokesperson said.


There was no overlap between the work as a consultant and work when he [Walden] commenced as an employee with the Bureau.”


Internally, the rebranding has been prosecuted with fervour by Liepa and her colleagues but resisted and mocked by more junior staff. This is at odds with a BoM statement that says the sentiment, and feedback, from employees has been “overwhelmingly positive”.


Recently Andrew Johnson launched the new 2022-2027 strategy and rounded off the presentation by telling us all that we had to print off the strategy, read it and he would be testing us if he bumped into us in the office,” a staff member says. “He was dead serious.”


A forecaster who cannot be identified because they still work with the BoM said the “reaction around me on shift over the last few weeks to the new branding announcements has been somewhere between exasperated laughter and anger”.


They continue, “That this is prioritised by management, over severe long-term understaffing of mets [meteorologists] – seemingly not of management and consultants – combined with a huge top-to-bottom restructure of the public service hitting the really hairy stages.


All of this at the tail end of three La Niñas in a row with the potential for most of the east coast to flood so easily. Meteorologists are tired and overworked. The public reaction today was honestly wonderful and heartwarming. I’m so happy the public saw the bullshit instantly.”


Neither Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, whose portfolio includes the BoM, nor her office, was aware the agency was about to launch its controversial edict and new look publicly in the middle of a flooding crisis across Victoria. When she demanded an urgent briefing, the response from senior bureau managers was “cagey” and “unsatisfactory”, according to people familiar with the exchange. Internally, BoM staff were told that they were to move full steam ahead and that the minister’s office was happy.


But what the minister’s office did not know, because the BoM did not tell them, was that the full cost of this rebranding was closer to $750,000, with some of that cost completely unnecessary after the banishing of The Contenders and early work done by that firm.


When Plibersek’s people demanded a full list of contracts, this was not mentioned. The Saturday Paper has confirmed this separately using information provided by concerned employees. Bizarrely, the BoM hired EY Sweeney on a $93,000 contract in March to conduct market research regarding the rebrand. What the consultants found was that just 15 per cent of people recognised the Bureau of Meteorology as “the Bureau” – the preferred name for brand recognition in the now-failed repositioning. More than 60 per cent, however, associated “BoM” with the agency.


What matters, according to every staff member who spoke for this piece, is that this side quest isn’t just a bad look. While these dramatic restructures and fiddly public relations exercises unfolded, some of the worst flooding in Australian history happened in northern NSW.


Residents in Lismore in particular were trapped after catastrophic flooding appeared to catch officials off guard. While the SES, itself struggling with a new centralisation plan, is responsible for issuing evacuation orders, they rely on information from the national meteorologists and hydrologists at the bureau.


The BoM went into this PST [Public Sector Transformation] understaffed, and only lost countless more staff during PST, not realising that not everyone wants to uproot their lives and move to Melbourne or Brisbane,” a meteorologist said.


There absolutely needs to be a royal commission into what happened at Lismore. I saw grad mets barely off course in charge of things they would never have been in charge of up until that point. Lismore happened right in the short-staffing period. We go into that event, everyone is already fatigued and working long hours.”


At this time – when a meteorologist was due to speak at a press conference about the unfolding flooding emergency in NSW, next to Premier Dominic Perrottet – there was a particular sensitivity within the agency about the warnings provided to the public. This forecaster was told they could speak only from pre-approved lines.


A separate source, who is no longer with the BoM, told The Saturday Paper that the organisation was “down 24 or 25” meteorologists and there were “no meteorologists in management”. The source said good people were slowly forced out, especially meteorologists: “There is such a strangled culture there now.”


After being appointed by the former Coalition government to head the BoM, Johnson set about an aggressive reform program, parts of which former employees concede were much needed. But it happened so fast it caused serious issues across the business.


The rate of change, ineffective change, that has happened has been a huge problem because there are so many conflicting priorities, that the bureau basically just ground to a halt,” a source says.


All the money just got funnelled into [PST] and squandered through massive use of contractors and people who didn’t have core knowledge of the bureau, so it took lots of time to ramp up to speed and the like.


Really important projects like ours just got buried and not funded because all the money just got funnelled off into these other areas.”


One of the projects that was delayed and underfunded was the upgrade of the bureau’s warning systems – a multi-part program with many moving parts – which was left in disarray.


As science was censored or relegated to the sideline and messages became more tightly controlled, the culture at the BoM deteriorated even further. In July and August this year, tens of thousands of dollars were paid to the conflict resolution firm Momentum, which promised to mediate workplace disputes and teach staff how to get along…….


The full article can read here.


Friday 30 October 2020

Just what one would expect from a Lib-Nats government - a decision with minimum community consultation to herd at least 1,500 regional kindergarten to high school students in the one campus with likely teacher losses


Doesn’t this sound grand? A $100 million mega campus for all of the Murwillumbah area, merging students from kindergarten to high school……


Echo NetDaily, 28 October 2020:


Murwillumbah’s four public schools will be amalgamated into a single Kindergarten to Year 12 campus at Murwillumbah High, the state government has annouced.


Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell announced today that Murwillumbah Public School, Murwillumbah East Public School, Murwillumbah High School and Wollumbin High School will be combined to form a single $100 million Murwillumbah Education Campus.


Ms Mitchell said the new mega school would cater to up to 1,500 students, and follow a four-year rebuilding project.


She pledged that no permanent teaching jobs would be lost, and spruiked the ‘community benefits’ of the plan, including the possible joint use of sporting, arts and health facilities.


The new Murwillumbah Education Campus will truly be at the heart of the community, and I look forward to seeing it take shape over the next few years,’ Ms Mitchell said…..


This announcement of a major school merger in the Northern Rivers took the local community by surprise and this appears to have been the plan all along according to the government's own time table which had the two primary school communities only informed by email on the day of the announcement. 


Possibly the lack of early warning was intended to mute the initial response of the teacher's union to the fact that this merger will inevitably see a reduction in teacher numbers once the school merger is completed. 


NSW Labor MP for Lismore Janelle Saffin, Shadow Minister for the North Coast Adam Searle and Shadow Minister for Education Pru Car are concerned with aspects of this merger, which probably consume more of the Berejiklian Government’s time than the creation of a new campus - the chance to sell off state property assets and the chance to reduce public education staffing levels.


Excerpt for a NSW Labor joint media release, 28 October 2020:


Without warning, the Liberals and Nationals will force Murwillumbah Public School, Murwillumbah East Public School and Wollumbin High School to close and move into a single campus at Murwillumbah High School.


Department of Education documents obtained through the Upper House reveals that the amalgamation of four schools in 2024 will change the staffing allocation and potentially displace teaching and support staff.


The Liberals and Nationals promised an upgrade of Murwillumbah East Public School before the last election. Instead, they will now abandon their promise and close the school completely.


Closing schools is the last thing the Liberals and Nationals should be doing. This is a betrayal of the community. They are robbing future generations of quality public schools in their communities,” Ms Car said.


This announcement will rob the North Coast of three public school campuses, with a mega-school increasing school travel times for residents and reducing green space.”


Shadow Minister for the North Coast Adam Searle MLC said: “Now we know why the Premier and the National Party have been stalling on replacing the library and classrooms lost at Murwillumbah East Public School in the floods.


Despite all their hollow promises, it seems that yet more privatisation is their true agenda, not delivering for students and families in Murwillumbah.


This decision has been made without consultation. It has all the signs of a dirty land deal, and is not about improving educational outcomes.”


State Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin said: “I am seeking a guarantee from the NSW Government that all current teaching and support staff jobs will be retained.


This cannot be a cruel cost-cutting exercise,” Ms Saffin said.


I am also seeking a guarantee that public land stays in public hands and is not flogged off to private developers.”


Ms. Saffin also expanded on her views in another media release on the same day:


...it was a shame Mr Barilaro, as Leader of the NSW Nationals, did not take the opportunity while visiting Murwillumbah to make the following announcements for the town and our region:


A $45-million local business support fund for those impacted by the border closures, as he did for the NSW southern border businesses impacted by border closures.


The Nationals’ election promise to provide 280 more nurses, 32 doctors, 38 allied health staff and 50 more hospital workers with some for Murwillumbah Hospital.


The restoration of major contracts to our local businesses, who recently lost their contracts under Mr Barilaro’s big city-big company procurement policy, to remove waste from our Health, TAFE and caravan parks on Crown reserves.


The upgrade of the Voluntary Buyback House scheme to help with flood protection.


The upgrade to a 24/7 police presence in Murwillumbah.


The reopening of the Murwillumbah Women’s Refuge closed by the Nationals.


The restoration of the Murwillumbah Court services closed by the Nationals.


The announcement of our region’s share of the unspent $1.7 billion Restart NSW Fund, as promised by the Nationals.


Reversing the new practice of Essential Energy ‘gifting’ power poles to farmers and private landholders, which they must pay to maintain if deemed unsafe. 


Sunday 13 September 2020

The Northern Rivers Times goes from strength to strength



An independent newspaper which came into being in the wake of News Corp's shutdown of regional print newspapers, The Northern Rivers Times has well and truly established itself.

The child of Heartland Media's Jeff Gibbs, it is a pleasure to read.

It's good to see the advertisers come onboard and at $2 a copy this weekly newspaper is cheaper than print versions of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph and The Courier Mail.

Not only that, The Northern Rivers Times is free online where it can be read in digital format or downloaded for more leisurely perusal.

The 10 September 2020 issue can be read at  
https://issuu.com/heartlandmagazineaus/docs/the_northern_rivers_times_edition_10

and the newspaper archive is at https://issuu.com/heartlandmagazineaus.

Monday 10 August 2020

A conga line of #COVIDIOTS - Part 2


NSW Police, Latest News, 5-7 August 2020:


A man has been charged after police at a border checkpoint at Albury discovered he was trying to cross into NSW driving a stolen ute.

NSW Police manning the checkpoint stopped the utility on the Hume Highway at Albury about 7am today (Wednesday 5 August 2020).

The 27-year-old driver was unable to produce permits or ID, and further checks revealed the ute had been reported stolen from a business in West Melbourne yesterday (Tuesday 4 August 2020).

The man was arrested and was taken to Albury Police Station where he was charged three offences

Receive property stolen outside NSW

Not comply with noticed direction – COVID-19, and,

Drive conveyance taken without consent of owner.

The man, of no fixed address, appeared in Albury Local Court today, where he was refused bail to re-appear in the same court on Friday 11 September 2020.


A teenager has been charged after allegedly spitting on police, and two people have been issued with Penalty Infringement Notices for alleged breaches of COVID-19 Public Health Orders in the past 24 hours.

In the first incident, about 2.30pm yesterday (Thursday 6 August 2020), police spoke with a 15-year-old girl at a shopping centre in Blacktown and ascertained she was in breach of her bail conditions.

As police arrested the girl, it is alleged she assaulted police by kicking and punching, as well as spitting in the face of an officer.

She was taken to Blacktown Police Station and charged with two counts of assault police in execution of duty, resist officer in execution of duty, and not comply noticed direction re spitting/coughing - COVID-19.

The teen was refused bail and is due to appear before a children’s court today (Friday 7 August 2020).

Meanwhile, on Saturday (1 August 2020), a 31-year-old woman was stopped at a border checkpoint in Albury and presented a permit allowing her entry to NSW, under the provision that she was to self-isolate for 14 days at a Nimbin address.

Subsequent checks revealed the woman was not staying at the address, and following inquiries, police found her yesterday (Thursday 6 August 2020) in a vehicle at Nabiac. She was issued with a $1000 PIN for not complying with a noticed direction and instructed to return to Victoria.

In an unrelated incident, just before 1pm yesterday (Thursday 6 August 2020), police were conducting a walk-through at a licensed premise in Albury, when they spoke with a 50-year-old woman who was playing a gaming machine.

The woman produced a Victorian licence and a permit allowing cross-border travel for work purposes only.

She was issued with a $1000 PIN and removed from the club, to return to Victoria.

Police continue to appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of any ministerial direction or behaviour which may impact on the health and safety of the community.

Qld Police, News, 5 August 2020:

Police take action after border breaches 

A man and woman in their 60s are among several people police will allege entered Queensland after falsely declaring they had not travelled to a COVID-19 hotspot.
Police detained the couple in Nanango yesterday after receiving information that they had allegedly travelled through the Goondiwindi police checkpoint with false declarations on July 27.

The 63-year-old man and 68-year-old woman were issued with notices to appear in the Richlands Magistrates Court on August 19 for failing to comply with the Queensland Border Direction and fraud.

They have been placed into mandatory hotel quarantine outside the South Burnett area.

In a separate matter, a 22-year-old Weipa man was issued with an infringement notice for failing to comply with the Queensland Border Direction after being intercepted in Cairns Airport yesterday.

Police will allege the man flew into Queensland from Canberra and failed to declare he had been in Sydney, a COVID-19 hotspot, on August 2. He was immediately placed into hotel quarantine.

Queensland’s border restrictions mean people who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the last 14 days will be turned away at the state’s border.

Queensland residents who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot can return home but will be required to quarantine in government provided accommodation at their expense.

The Queensland Police Service is committed to ensuring everyone complies with public health directions and will continue to enforce restrictions at the border.

Since July 10, 12 people have been issued with notices to appear in court while 24 people have been issued with infringement notices for providing false information on their border declaration pass…..

Wednesday 29 January 2020

Tree canopy loss in NSW Northern Rivers from Clarence Valley LGA to NSW-Qld border by January 2020


Firegrounds post major fires which were actively burning in September 2019 to January 2020, mapped by https://geo.seed.nsw.gov.au/Public_Viewer/


Southernmost half of coastal Bundjalung National Park showing full canopy loss

Degrees of canopy loss in the Cloud Creek and Guy Fawkes region

Thursday 30 May 2019

The weather is slowly getting colder, but before minds turn to the thought of glowing fire in the hearth remember this....



Sitting before a glowing fire on a cold winter's night is something many people have done at some point in their lives.

However, this has fast become a luxury we as a society can no longer afford.

Because now when we go firewood gathering, sadly we are often taking the last remaining homes in that locality of Australian hollow nesting native birds, small marsupials, reptiles, frogs & insects.

Other things to remember about firewood gathering.......

Fines apply for removing fallen timber or trees from national parks or nature reserves.
Collecting wood from Travelling Stock Reserves is illegal in New South Wales and you can be fined if caught.

If you'd like to collect firewood for personal use from a state forest within NSW you need to apply for a permit and any timber taken must be paid for in advance.

Firewood permits are available online from the Forestry Corporation of NSW at: www.forestrycorporation.com.au/about/permits.  These permits only allow the collection of fallen timber and fines apply if rules are broken.

Removing fallen timber from roadside reserves is prohibited by many councils, so please check with your local council before considering collecting firewood from these areas.


Clearing of native vegetation on rural land is legislated by the Local Land Services Act 2013external link and the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016external link

Clearing of native vegetation in urban areas and land zoned for environmental protection is legislated by the NSW Vegetation SEPPexternal link.

Please report suspected unlawful native vegetation clearing to OEH. 
You can contact Environment Line on 131 555 or send an email to info@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Illegal activity can also be reported to Local Land Services on 1300 795 299 or by contacting your local police station.

Sunday 24 March 2019

NSW 2019 State Election Results in Northern Rivers electorates


At close of ballot counting on Saturday, 23 March 2019:

o   The Green’s Tamara Smith retains the seat of Ballina
o   The Nationals Chris Gulaptis retains the seat of Clarence
o   Labor’s Janelle Saffin gains the seat of Lismore
o   The National’s Geoff Provest retains the seat of Tweed.

Overall the Liberal-Nationals Coalition retains government in NSW for the next four years, with 46 seats at close of counting on Saturday.

At close of ballot counting on Saturday:

o   In the Ballina electorate 888 people (or 3.55% of all ballots) voted for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidates standing for the Legislative Council
o   In the Clarence electorate 2,653 people (or 9.08% of all ballots) voted for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidates standing for the Legislative Council
o   In the Lismore electorate 1,498 people (or 5.54% of all ballots) voted for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidates standing for the Legislative Council
o   In the Tweed electorate 1,559 people (or 6.80% of all ballots) voted for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidates standing for the Legislative Council.

Across the state far-right, openly racist One Nation had attracted est. 36,630 votes or 1.1% of all ballots in the Legislative Assembly (Lower House) and est. 6.1% of all ballots in the Legislative Council (Upper House) by close of counting on Saturday.

Counting recommences today and ballot count updates can be found at https://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/home or https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/nsw/2019/.

Monday 11 March 2019

State of Play 11 March 2019: as both Australian federal election and New South Wales state election grow near



A Newspoll survey of 1,610 Australian voted was conducted between Thursday 7 March and Sunday 10 March 2019.

The Federal Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government suffered its 50th consecutive loss on a Two-Party Preferred (TPP) basis since June 2016 in this latest Newspoll.

50th Newpoll results:

Primary Vote – Labor 39 percent (unchanged) to Liberal-Nationals 36 per cent (down 1 point), The Greens 9 per cent, One Nation 7 per cent.

Two Party Preferred (TPP) - Labor 53 per cent (unchanged) to Liberal-Nationals Coalition 46 per cent (down 1point).

Voter Net Satisfaction With Leaders’ Performance – Prime Minister Scott Morrison -2 points and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten -15 points.

If a federal election had been held on 10 March 2019 based of the preference flow in July 2016 then Labor would have won government with a majority 86 seats (up 2 seats since February poll) to the Coalition's 59 seats (down 4 seats since February poll) in the House of Representatives.

On the basis of these predictions voting in the NSW North Coast electorate of Page held by Nationals MP Kevin Hogan may go down to the wire.

Even the sports betting is favouring Labor over the Coalition.

Meanwhile in New South Wales just 12 days out from a the March 2019 state election and  The Guardian is reporting that that:

A new poll indicates Labor leads the coalition 51% to 49% on a two-party preferred basis with Daley ahead of Berejiklian as preferred premier.

The UComms/ReachTel poll, published in the Sun-Herald, also shows the Coalition’s primary vote has dropped to 28.7% while Labor’s remains steady at 34.1%.

While a YouGov Galaxy poll conducted for The Daily Telegraph shows the NSW Nationals are on the cusp of losing Barwon and Lismore and are also facing battles in the National­ seats of Upper Hunter, Tweed, Murray and Coffs Harbour, and Liberal-held Coogee, East Hills, Penrith and Goulburn.

It is being said that the loss of six of those ten seats would result in a post-election Berejiklian Government being a minority government. The last minority NSW government was voted in from 1991-1995. It was a Coalition Government supported by Independents,