Three days after Liberal MLA Gladys Berejiklian announced she was resigning as NSW Premier and quitting state parliament so bringing on a by-election in Willoughby, Nationals MLA John Barilaro suddenly announced he was resigning as NSW Deputy Premier and quitting state parliament thus bring on a by-election in Monaro

 

As we emerge from lockdown, we must embrace this time as a new beginning for our State, and welcome the opportunity it presents for a refresh.

I have decided now is the right time for me to hand the reins over to new leadership, and resign as Deputy Premier of NSW. pic.twitter.com/MeWBWMR38P

— John Barilaro MP (@JohnBarilaroMP) October 3, 2021

Rumours are swirling around both resignations, with some recalling past and present corruption allegations and others hinting that Barilaro is considering standing at the forthcoming federal general election. 

The new lineup for NSW Premier, Deputy Leader and Treasurer being favoured by mainstream media punters is that hard right culture warrior, Opus Dei member, current Treasurer & Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, Liberal MLA for Epping Dominic Francis Perrottet, will become Premier;  while current Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney & MLA for Penrith Stuart Ayres will be made Deputy Leader; and current Minister for Energy and Environment and Liberal MLA for Hornsby Matthew Kean will be installed as the new Treasurer.

The Liberal Party Room is expected to vote on these three positions today. 

Literally days away from the problematic first stage of the NSW Government's 'roadmap' to 'living with covid' and an abrupt change of Coalition leadership occurs - what could possibly go wrong?

Have NSW Premier & Liberal MP Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier & Nationals MP for Monaro John Barilaro closed their ears to an earnest cross party plea to protect the residents of Ballina, Byron Bay, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Richmond and Tweed Valley local government areas from COVID-19 infected travellers from Greater Sydney?

The question posed in the heading to this post appears to be yes - apparently neither Liberal leader Gladys Berejiklian nor National leader John Barilaro have listened to our concerns.

On or about 25 October fully vaccinated people - who as statistics demonstrate are still capable of becoming infected and infectious - will be free to travel into regional New South Wales. While from 1 December 2021 it is likely that even unvaccinated people will apparently be able to travel around the state.

Because on 27 September 2021 the NSW Premier & Liberal MP for Willoughby Gladys Berejiklian announced a three stage plan to open up the state once average full vaccination reaches 70 to 80 per cent of the total state population of those 16 years of age and older aka the ‘adult’ population.

The plan's alleged aim is that; Only fully vaccinated people and those with medical exemptions will have access to the freedoms allowed under the Reopening NSW roadmap.

At 70 per cent; Stay-at-home orders for fully vaccinated people will be lifted. Fully vaccinated residents will be allowed to have up to five people in their homes and the reopening of hospitality venues with a booking cap of 20 people per booking, retail, hairdressing and gyms will be allowed to re-open with tight density limits. This is expected to occur on or after 11 October 2021.

At 80 per cent; Fully vaccinated residents will be able to freely travel to the regions, they will be able have up to 10 people visit their home, participate in community sport, and access hospitality venues (where drinking while standing up will be allowed indoors). All premises will operate at 1 person per 4sqm indoors, and 1 person per 2sqm outdoors and, the limit of fully vaccinated guests for weddings and funerals will be lifted. Customer caps for personal services such as hairdressers will also be removed. This is expected to occur on or after 25 October 2021.

From 1 December 2021; Further changes will be introduced including all venues moving to the 2sqm rule, masks will not be required indoors at offices, indoor pools and nightclubs can reopen, and unvaccinated people will have greater freedoms. [my yellow highlighting]

The main problems with this staged plan is that: (i) a state-wide full COVID-19 vaccination average does not reliably denote a safe level of personal or local community immunity from infection, hospitalisation and/or death from this virulent disease; and (ii) not every region or local government area in NSW is likely to have reached 70 or 80 per cent of their resident population fully vaccinated by 11 to 25 October 2021.

Percentage of residents aged 15 years and over fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in North East New South Wales, according to the Australian Government Dept. of Health

As at 19 September 2021:

Ballina – 49% of a LGA ‘adult’ population of 37,124 (full resident population is est. 45,217 in 2020)

Byron Bay – 34.9% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 29,052 (full resident population is est. 35,773 in 2020)

Clarence Valley – 41.5% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 42,953 (full resident population is est. 51,730 in 2020)

Kyogle – 41.2% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 7,285 (full resident population is est. 8,788 in 2020)

Lismore – 38.5% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 35,892 (full resident population is est. 43,667 in 2020)

Richmond Valley – 41.8% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 18,938 (full resident population is est. 23,490 in 2020)

Tweed – 45% of LGA ‘adult’ population of 80,493 (full resident population is est. 98,382 in 2020)

NOTE:

*2021 LGA ‘adult’ population figures was calculated by the Australian Government based on the sreet address recorded for persons enrolled in Medicare.

**2020 resident populations estimations can be found at: https://profile.id.com.au/

BACKGROUND

NORTH COAST VOICES, FRIDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2021

All five NE NSW Nationals, Liberal, Labor & Greens MPs ask Premier Berejiklian and Deputy-Premier Barilaro to adjust COVID-19 public health order by restricting non-essential travel to the region until it too reaches the 70% fully vaccinated target

How does one know that a particular water security solution is probably a bad idea? It is supported by the NSW National Party

 

Rous County Council is the regional water supply authority providing water in bulk to the Council areas of: Ballina (excluding Wardell); Byron (excluding Mullumbimby); Lismore (excluding Nimbin); and Richmond Valley (excluding land to the west of Coraki). A population of around 100,000 is serviced by this water supply system with the actual area of operations being approximately 3,000 sq kms.

Its constituent councils have at least 83,051 person who are eligible to vote in local government elections.

On the basis that allegedly around 10 per cent of of the district population and, 3 out of a total of 43 councillors in the 4 constituent local government areas, supported further investigation of the now rejected Dunoon Dam proposal, NSW Nationals MLA for Clarence & Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry Chris Gulaptis is yelling about the democratic process.

The Daily Telegraph, 26 July 2021:

ROUS County Council needs to use some common sense in developing its future water strategy according to Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis.

Mr Gulaptis, who was also the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, said he was disappointed the majority of Rous councillors ignored the overwhelming wishes of the community at Wednesday’s extraordinary meeting and abandoned investigations into Dunoon Dam as an option.

Councillors voted 5-3 to keep Dunoon Dam out of the region’s future water strategy and instead tap into groundwater aquifers in Alstonville and Tyagarah, which Mr Gulaptis said the most recent studies showed was very limited.

“I applaud councillors Robert Mustow, Sandra Humphrys and Sharon Cadwallader for supporting the wishes of over 11,000 petitioners and written submissions who were in favour of the Dunoon Dam proposal being further investigated,” he said.

“The five opposing councillors showed a complete disregard to the community consultation process and the community has every right to lose confidence in them and the democratic process. It quite rightly is a slap in the face to local democracy.

“Water is one of the most basic elements we need to survive, and I acknowledge the vision of past Rous councillors who recognised this and purchased land for a dam to secure the water needs for a growing population.

“I find it staggering the majority of current councillors are prepared to ignore this longstanding strategy along with disregarding the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the community whose submissions supported investigating the dam as an option.

“I acknowledge that desalination, recycling and extraction from the aquifers is an option, but so too is the dam.

“I strongly believe all options should all be on the table, including the dam, for investigation to assure the community that Rous has been thorough in arriving at the best option for the region’s future water needs. “It is often said that local government is the government closest to the people. Clearly that is not the case of the five elected councillors in this instance, who are ignoring the will of more than 10,000 constituents.”

Deputy Premier John Barilaro and the National Party continue laying waste to regional New South Wales

 

NSW Deputy Premier, leader of the 18 member parliamentary National Party and Minister for Regional New South Wales, John Barilaro, sits atop a portfolio which holds in its departmental domain an est. 40 per cent of all NSW residents, in around 99 local government areas which produce approximately one-third of the total NSW gross state product.

Barilaro has gathered his own party members as minsters with responsibilities within the department - Nationals MLA for Northern Tablelands and Minister for Agriculture and Western New South Wales Adam Marshall and Nationals MLC and Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women Bronnie Taylor.

There does not seem to be a NSW Liberal Party politician within cooee of the relatively new 'purpose built' regional department.

The only function NSW Premier and Leader of the much larger parliamentary Liberal Party, Gladys Berejiklian, appears to now have with regard to those regional areas of the state is to act as a rubber stamp of approval for Barilaro's wishes - apparently out of fear he may still follow through on his threats to destabilise the state government.

There is little doubt that Berejiklian was weakened by the barely disguised guerrilla war Barilaro conducted (after losing the battle to amend the Land Services Act) using mainstream media as his weapon.

This is the current state of play à la Barilaro when it comes to forests and biodiversity in regional NSW.....

Michael West Media, 19 February 2021:

More than 62% of harvestable native forests were damaged in the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires, according to the NSW government’s own records. Up to 10% of native hardwood forests were lost. Nearly 3 billion animals were killed or displaced, with about 8,000 koalas incinerated on the mid north coast of NSW alone. Some 113 animal species were identified as the highest priorities for urgent management intervention.

Despite this unprecedented damage to forests and wildlife, Deputy Premier John Barilaro is determined that industrial-scale logging will continue in NSW’s burnt and unburnt forests.

When the Environment Protection Authority sought a voluntary halt to logging in a number of state forests in March last year, after intervention by John Barilaro, the NSW Forestry Corporation rejected the request. Barilaro also holds the portfolio of Regional New South Wales, Industry and Trade, which covers the timber industry.

The EPA report says logging continued “because John Barilaro asked the [Forestry Corporation] to deliver on contractual obligations”.

Moreover, in the latest round of bushfire recovery pork barrelling announced by Barilaro, he awarded more than $38 million of the $177 million to timber/forestry projects.

These grants came on top of some $46 million that Barilaro’s Department, Regional NSW, awarded to the Forestry Corporation under bushfire recovery measures for urgent infrastructure repairs, nursery expansions and replanting the forest.

Barilaro’s Department of Regional NSW claims that forestry and related industries are responsible for more than 22,300 jobs.

Yet a 2016 report by The Australia Institute estimated that just 600 people were directly employed in the industry. The TAI report also put the economic losses of the native forest industry in NSW at $79 million over the past seven years, meaning that not only are taxpayers propping up an unviable industry, they are also propping up an industry that is adding to environmental destruction.

The Forestry Corporation also rejected a plea from the EPA for extra site-specific conditions to protect koalas.

Environment Protection Authority review

Four months ago, in September 2020, the EPA published a review it had commissioned from Dr Andrew Smith, an acknowledged expert in forest planning and management.

His review was the result of a consultation between the EPA and the Forestry Corporation to develop a suite of site-specific operating conditions to manage environmental risks associated with timber harvesting in burnt landscapes – a result of a “critical shortage of timber” after the bushfires.

Dr Smith’s findings were concerning. In particular Dr Smith noted:

• Recovery times are likely to be up to 45 years for the koala and 20-120 years for the Greater Glider and Yellow-bellied Glider.

• Fauna populations are at risk of elimination by timber harvesting under the normal Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals and cause catastrophic population decline in species such as the Koala, Greater Glider and Yellow-bellied Glider.

• There should be a halt to logging of all unburnt and lightly burnt forests within the net harvest area for 12 months.

But the Forestry Corporation rejected his recommendations and advised the EPA that it intended to return to harvesting in September 2020 as it is “legally obliged to do so in order to meet supply commitments”.

Scientists, conservation organisations, and local communities are appalled by ongoing logging of burnt forests at a time when NSW native forests and wildlife need time to recover. Indigenous rights of native title holders whose land includes forests are also  ignored.

Vulnerable and endangered species

The Forestry Corporation also approves its own harvest plans and is responsible for reporting non compliance.

An analysis of the harvest plans on the Forestry Corporation’s website demonstrates that almost every wildlife species included in logging plans for the north-east forests is either listed on the schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act or the Commonwealth EPBC list as vulnerable and endangered species.

Recommended recovery plans have not been developed as required and a significant number of affected species are under consideration for upgrading to endangered status by the Federal Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

NSW shuts down opposition

The Berejiklian government has also gone to great lengths to ensure no legal challenges can be mounted to prevent this industrial scale logging of NSW forests and the loss of biodiversity. The Premier’s actions strike at the heart of democracy…..

Read the full article here.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian slammed for slashing at least 28 TAFE jobs in Northern Rivers region

 

Office of the NSW Labor Member for Lismore, media release, 22 February 2021:

LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin has condemned the axing of up to 28 TAFE NSW jobs on the Northern Rivers as a betrayal by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who gave an iron-clad promise in 2019 that there would be no public service job cuts in regional and rural New South Wales.

 

“Deputy Premier John Barilaro and his Nationals are just as responsible here too; not lifting a finger as the Liberals continue with their deliberate actions in dismantling TAFE,” Ms Saffin said.

 

“How many cuts can our TAFE system take before it is completely decimated?”

 

TAFE NSW late last week advised the Community Public Sector Union of NSW that the Berijiklian-Barilaro Government is slashing almost 700 frontline TAFE NSW jobs, including 470 regional jobs.

 

“Figures provided to me by the CPSU-NSW show that we are looking at up to 28 local jobs going under two major restructures – in educational support and in student services, facilities management and logistics,” Ms Saffin said.

 

“In our Electorate of Lismore, six positions could be cut at the Lismore campus and one at the Murwillumbah Connected Learning Centre.

 

“In the neighbouring Electorate of Tweed, Kingscliff TAFE will be hardest hit with the Government targeting 12 positions, and in the Ballina Electorate, eight positions at Wollongbar TAFE and one position at Ballina TAFE are under threat.

 

“I will stand with the TAFE staff and their union, and with TAFE students, to fight these cruel job cuts because local communities cannot afford to see their TAFE campuses run down as the NSW Liberal-Nationals pursue their privatisation push, at the expense of local jobs and economy.

 

“Enough is enough.”

NSW Deputy Premier & Nationals MP for Monaro John Barilaro proves once again that he doesn't understand that mining & overdevelopment has marked downsides for communities in north-east NSW

On 3 February 2021 NSW Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Nationals MP for Monaro and apologist for unrestrained land clearing, logging of our remaining native forests, barely regulated urban development and mining in sensitive water catchments, John Barilaro, relaunched the government’s three-year-old 20-Year Economic Vision for Regional NSW at Sanctus Brewing Company, in Townsend in the Lower Clarence Valley.

Now that so-called economic vision for the North Coast originally relied heavily on expansion & diversification of tourism and agriculture – but with Barilaro’s ‘vision refresh’ of this 20-year plan he is now pushing the barrow for his mineral ore mining, coal seam gas drilling, native timber logging and land developing mates.

Under the guise of a state government response to the CVOVID-19 pandemic the push to overturn the moratorium on coal seam gas mining in the Northern Rivers region from the Clarence Valley up to the NSW-Qld border no longer talks of “gasfields” but hides the intent behind the terms “resources for regions” and the stealthy push to divert Clarence River catchment water is secreted behind the term “water security” and a Mole River dam.

Last year north-east NSW discovered one of the legislative mechanisms Barilaro plans to use to lay waste to this region and it wasn't pretty - involving as it does the possible extinction of a unique Australian species, the Koala.

His speech of 3 February 2021 confirms he still intends to lay waste.

Clarence Valley Independent, 10 February 2021:

Deputy Premier John Barilaro kindly allowed the Independent to ask two questions before he adjourned to the media wall, where the press corps awaited.

GH: In November 2020, Clarence Valley Council resolved to, and I quote, “oppose mining in the Clarence River catchment [and] … seek the support of both state and federal governments, to impose a moratorium on further mining exploration licences and to cancel existing licences”, largely due to the threat it poses to the Clarence River (the lifeblood of the valley’s key industries, tourism, agricultural and fishing): how will the NSW Government protect the valley’s tourism, fishing and agricultural sectors from any potential mining disaster if the government continues encouraging miners to explore for minerals that will be in demand as we transfer towards renewable energy?

JB: If you were listening to what I said earlier, that is going to happen naturally. We’ve always had coexistence with mining, agriculture [and] our coastal and environmental habitats – we’ve always done this, protect the environment and find ways to do it. The whole mining world is going to change in time; we’ll go with that. We’ve identified where coal mining will continue in this state; other areas have been ruled out. It was our party that ruled out coal seam gas.

GH: The minerals of interest in the Clarence Valley are those you spoke about regarding renewables.

JB: And it’s very possible, but you talk about mining in a way that it is bad, that it can’t be done in a safe way. So my answer is we’ll continue to do what we’ve always done: work with the communities, work with the mining sector and make sure that we only mine in areas we are comfortable with.

GH: But I said it was Clarence Valley Council that made the [no mining decision] decision.

JB: Sorry, I missed that.

GH: And soon there will be a 10,000-plus signature petition tabled in parliament on the issue, from local people.

NOTE: Mr Barilaro made no comment regarding the petition.

GH: You also talked about keeping kids in the community. Your ‘Economic Vision for Regional NSW’ emphasises moving more people into the regions, however, yesterday’s ABS figures show there has been a record amount of city to region migration. This, in turn, has exponentially increased property prices (as MC Mat Moran alluded to in his speech), which, in turn, increases the cost of rental properties. Given that people in the regions earn substantially less than their city counterparts, how will the government address the property market imbalance as cashed-up city dwellers purchase properties and make it harder to find affordable accommodation or purchase property in certain regions?

JB: With property comes jobs, with industry comes jobs. You want to attract more people into the regions; councils have got to unlock more Greenfield sites, more supply, to put downward pressure on prices. What we’ll do and have always done…. And I’ve been speaking with the planning minister about his work with local government, about the supply side of the development arm of residential property. The reality here is we want to see the future of the regions grow; to do that you have to attract the people to the regions. Otherwise, government services are cut, or government services are not invested in – this is the fine balance. I’m not going to limit the opportunities for the regions because we have an issue around the price of property, when we know we can resolve that through more Greenfield sites. Again, good planning gives better outcomes.

GH: So it’s a long-term strategy?

JB: Yes, long-term, thank you.

Nationals MP announces $3,900 grant to help protect Clarence Valley koalas. WARNING: quotes are heavily laden with hypocrisy and political spin

 

IMAGE: The Chronicle

Former surveyor, property developer and one-time consultant to mining corporations, Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis (right), who last year fully supported his party's blackmailing of the senior partner in the NSW Coalition Government, who backed Deputy Premier John Barilaro to the hilt when he managed through political threats and intimidation to destroy the new Koala Protection SEPP and tried to destroy what little legislated protection was left to native forests on Crown and private land by - an ultimately unsuccessful - bill to amend the Local Land Services Act.

This member of the NSW Legislative Assembly who never saw a timbered block of land he didn't want to clear fell and who was rightly labelled 'Koala Killer' during the Northern Rivers fightback against the threat to koala habitat he, his party and their political donors represent, now has the hide to wave a pitifully small amount of money in front of the electorate's eyes in an attempt to paint himself as very concerned for the fate of Clarence Valley koalas.

It's enough to make one nauseous.

Clarence Valley Independent, 13 January 2021:

Clarence Valley Council has secured a $3900 grant from the NSW Government to help protect local koalas from dog attacks, Clarence Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis has announced.

“This is part of a comprehensive Government strategy to boost the local population with the help and support of local landholders who are ultimately the koalas’ best friends,’ Mr Gulaptis said.

“Preventing these injuries to koalas and other native wildlife will help the recovery of koalas and other native wildlife following the devastating 2019-20 summer bushfires.

“The smallest mouthing or bite by a dog can cause serious injury or death, and the situation is always very distressing for koalas, carers and dog owners alike,” Mr Gulaptis said.

“This funding will ensure dog owners are aware of the risk of injury their dogs can cause to koalas and other native wildlife, and prevent these injuries from happening in the first place.”......