https://edis.dpi.nsw.gov.au/ |
Showing posts with label New South Wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New South Wales. Show all posts
Tuesday 12 February 2019
New South Wales State of Play February 2019: widespread drought
All of New South Wales is drought affected to varying degrees in February 2019, incliuding the Northern Rivers region.
Labels:
drought,
New South Wales,
Northern Rivers
Thursday 24 January 2019
Hard right ideology has so blinded the Morrison & Berejiklian Coalition Governments that water sustainability is at risk in yet another part of New South Wales in 2019
This particular coal mining project below has a long history and each step of the way Liberal and National politicians at state and federal level have supported the interests of foreign-owned mining corporations over those of local communities and ignored the need for intergenerational equity.
The O'Farrell & Baird Coalition Governments went to bat for the coal mining industry in New South Wales in 2014 after Wyong Coal Pty Ltd neglected to gain consent from a landowner, the Darkinjung traditional owners:
Wyong Coal are
not, however, the owners of the land the subject of the DA. Rather, the DA
partially covers land owned by the applicant, the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal
Land Council ("Darkinjung"). Moreover, the DA partially covers land
over which a land rights claim has been made by Darkinjung under the Aboriginal
Land Rights Act 1983…..
The proposed development
is State Significant Development under Section 89C of the Environmental
Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) as it is 'development
for the purposes of coal mining', as specified in the State Environmental
Planning Policy (State and Regional Development) 2011. The Minister for
Planning and Infrastructure is the consent authority for the project. However,
the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) will determine the application under
delegation. In addition to approval under NSW legislation, the project is also
a controlled action requiring assessment and approval under the
Commonwealth's Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Commonwealth will
undertake a separate assessment and determination under its legislation.
The Berejilian Coalition Government in 2018 carried the flag for an amended Wyong Coal development application which bypassed the need for Darkinjung LALC consent:
Environmental Defender’s Office
NSW, November
2018:
Wyong Coal Pty Ltd,
which trades as Wyong Areas Joint Coal Venture, and Kores Australia Pty
Limited, are co respondents. KORES Australia Pty Ltd, a fully-owned
subsidiary of Korea Resource Corporation, is the majority shareholder of Wyong
Coal Pty Ltd.
The case is being fought
on four main grounds: climate change, flooding impacts, compensatory water and
risks to water supply for farmers in the region.
Wallarah 2 involves
construction and operation of an underground coal mine over the next 28 years,
until 2046. It would extract five million tonnes of thermal coal a year. The
total greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the mine will be 264+ million
tonnes of CO2.
In approving the
Project, the PAC chose not to take into account emissions which come from the
burning of coal mined at Wallarah 2. Our client argues that the law wasn’t
followed with respect to climate change impacts. The key ground with respect to
greenhouse gas emissions is that the PAC failed to consider an assessment of
downstream emissions from the project. Under the EP&A Act, the PAC was
required to consider the public interest. ACA argues that in 2018, considering
the public interest for projects such as coal mines mandates the consideration
of principles of ecologically sustainable development, particularly
intergenerational equity and the precautionary principle.
In addition, our client argues that the PAC unlawfully
failed to consider the risks of the flood impacts and the potential loss of
water occasioned by the mining project.
The Project, located within the Central Coast water
catchment, would have significant impacts on the Central Coast water supply and
residents in the surrounding areas.
It would permanently alter the landscape, causing
flooding events that will only increase over time as the impacts of climate
change are realised. The PAC approval proposes dealing with these devastating
flooding events by first requiring the mine to try mitigation measures like
putting people’s houses on stilts, relocating homes or building levees. If
those measures don’t work, then the mine would be required to pay the owners of
the properties for the harm. Our client says this simply is not a lawful way to
mitigate harm from flooding. There is no evidence that the mitigation measures
will work or that compensation is an effective way to remedy harm caused by
flooding.
The mine is also likely to impact upon the Central Coast
water supply and access to water for farmers in the surrounding region.
The mine proposes to construct a pipeline to deliver compensatory water to the
Central Coast Council and provide emergency and long-term compensatory water
supplies to farmers if they lose access to water on their properties. If
compensatory water cannot be provided, the mine can agree to buy those farmers
out. The approval does not cover how the pipeline and the compensatory water is
to be provided. ACA argues that the mitigation measures proposed by the PAC in
the conditions of approval are not lawful, primarily because they go beyond the
power of the PAC to deal with environmental impacts of the Project.
The Morrison Coalition Government by the hand of Minister for the Environment, Liberal MP for Durack and former mining industry lawyer Melissa Price, gave the stamp of approval on 18 January 2018:
This is the second time in the space of days NSW residents have learned that Liberal-Nationals politicians have allowed a new coal mine to progress towards operational capability in New South Wales.
Both of these new coal mines Shenhua Watermark and Wallarah 2 represent threats to regional water security.
Friday 30 November 2018
Call to protect infants from dangerous infectious disease, whooping cough
The Daily Examiner, 27 November 2018, p3:
NSW Health is urging all
pregnant women and new parents to be aware of the symptoms of whooping cough
and to ensure they and their children are vaccinated on time.
Despite almost 95 per
cent of infants in NSW now vaccinated against the disease, outbreaks still
occur every three to four years as community immunity wanes, and recent high
numbers indicate an outbreak might be on the way.
Dr Vicky Sheppeard, NSW
Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases, said that in October 2018 almost
800 people in NSW were notified with whooping cough (pertussis), the highest
number since October 2016.
Acting director of North
Coast Public Health Greg Bell said a similar situation was emerging in Northern
NSW where there have been 36 cases of whooping cough reported in the past four
weeks.
While these levels of
whooping cough across Northern NSW are similar to the averages of the previous
five years, pertussis notifications are trending upwards.
The latest Australian
Immunisation Register quarterly report shows that at September 2018 90.4 per
cent of five-year-olds and 88.9 per cent of 12-month-olds in Northern NSW Local
Health District were fully vaccinated.
These figures represent
an increase on vaccination rates in 2010 under the-then North Coast Area Health
Service, when 84.9 per cent of children aged 5 and 87 per cent of 12-month-olds
were fully vaccinated.
Even in highly
vaccinated populations it is not possible to eliminate whooping cough…..
“The aim of whooping cough control is to
protect infants, who are at highest risk of severe disease or death if they
contract whooping cough. Whooping cough vaccination is effective in preventing
severe infection.”
Labels:
children,
disease outbreak,
health,
New South Wales
Friday 12 October 2018
The past two months have not been great for NSW Police public relations
The Daily Examiner, 8 October 2018, p.3:
Two police officers have
been served with future court attendance notices for alleged offences related
to the use and access of a NSW Police Force computer system.
Police said the
43-year-old male senior constable and the 40-year-old female leading senior
constable, both attached to Northern Region, are alleged to have modified data
in October, last year.
The woman has been
charged with unauthorised access of restricted data and the man has been
charged with unauthorised modification of restricted data.
They are both due to
appear at Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday, November 23.
The
West Australian,
6 October 2018:
A Sydney police officer
has been stood down after allegedly making sickening threats towards a Greens
Senator’s young daughter.
Sarah Hanson-Young was
targeted by what she calls vile, cowardly and intolerable threats at the height
of her public stoush with Senator David Lleyonhjelm.
But Ms Hanson-Young says
the threats went further, targeting her 11-year-old daughter in a call made
five days after her joust with Mr Lleyonhjelm.
“I have spoken to her
about it,” she said.
“Of course it’s a
difficult thing to explain.
“I was very shocked to
know that it was a police officer.
“It's disgusting and no
child deserves this, no young woman deserves this and to do it is not just
cowardly, it's vile.”....
Federal police charged
the 56-year-old cop with using a carriage service to menace, harass, offend
after raiding his south-western Sydney home.
The senior constable has
since been stood down and his employment is under review….
The officer will face
court next month and faces up to seven years’ in prison if convicted.
RELEASE
OF REPORT ON LECC OPERATION BALTRA
The Law Enforcement
Conduct Commission has found that a Leading Senior Constable engaged in serious
misconduct after he punched an intoxicated woman (Ms Z) in police custody on 15
September 2017.*
The Commission’s
Operation Baltra held private hearings to determine whether the officer
involved (Officer A):
1. Used excessive force
when he punched Ms Z to the head with a closed fist whilst her hands were
handcuffed behind her back.
2. [blank]
3. Breached NSWPF
policies and guidelines when he recorded the CCTV footage of the incident on
his mobile phone and subsequently shared that footage with a Snapchat group,
which comprised other police officers from Police Station X.
The Commission has found
that the punch with a closed fist by Officer A to the side of Ms Z’s head was
an unreasonable use of force and that Officer A engaged in serious
misconduct as defined in section 10 of the LECC Act.
The Commission is
satisfied that Officer A was in breach of the NSWPF policies and guidelines
with respect to his filming of the CCTV footage and that the dissemination of
it to other police officers via Snapchat was unauthorised.
Notwithstanding this finding, the Commission is satisfied that Officer A genuinely
believed that he was not breaching any policies or guidelines by sharing the
information with other police officers in his team.
The Commission’s
recommendation, outlined in its Operation Baltra report presented to Parliament
today, is that consideration should be given to the taking of action against
Officer A with a view to dismissing the officer pursuant to section 181D of
the Police Act 1990.
The Operation Baltra
report and associated footage can be found on the Commission website.
Background
The Law Enforcement
Conduct Commission is an independent statutory body. The principal functions of
the Commission are to detect, investigate and expose serious misconduct and
serious maladministration within the NSW Police Force and the NSW Crime
Commission.
The Commission is
separate from and completely independent of the NSW Police Force and NSW Crime
Commission. The Commission will treat all information confidentially and has
powers to protect persons who provide information to it.
* Codenames have
been used in the report to protect the identities of the involved
persons.
The Northern Star, 21 September 2018, p.1:
The Law Enforcement
Conduct Commission has found a police officer who inflicted multiple baton
strikes on a naked 16-year-old boy in Byron Bay used excessive force and should
be considered for prosecution.
The commission’s Operation Tambora arose
out of events involving the arrest of the teenager by four police officers in
Lateen Lane on January 11 this year.
On February 6, Channel
9’s A Current Affair aired mobile phone footage showing police
apprehending the boy in the early hours of the morning. The footage showed at
least one officer using a baton repeatedly to subdue him.
The teenager, referred
to as “AO” in the commission’s report, had been holidaying with his family in
Byron Bay at the time of the incident.
The investigation was
primarily concerned with the conduct of the police officers when attempting to
take AO into custody. This involved consideration of whether the decisions by
the police officers to use OC spray and a taser were justified in the
circumstances. There was also a significant issue as to the need for the use of
a baton on AO and, in particular, the number and force of baton strikes that
were administered to AO, particularly those administered by “Officer E” at a
time when AO appeared to be restrained.....
Labels:
Byron Bay,
Coffs Harbour,
law,
New South Wales,
police
Sunday 9 September 2018
How the NSW Wagga Wagga By-election is playing out for the Berejiklian Government
Darryl William Maguire ceased to be the state Member for
Wagga Wagga on 3 August 2018 when he was allowed to resign in disgrace, after
being identified
by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption as being involved in
corrupt conduct.
The Wagga Wagga State District By-election was
held on Saturday, 8 September 2018.
Electors enrolled
on 17 August 2018 numbered 55,220 with 46,272 people casting their vote in this
by-election.
There was a
field of seven candidates voters could choose from.
By Saturday
night it was evident that the NSW
Liberal Party had likely lost the seat which it has held continuously since 1957,
with an est. 30 per cent swing against the party on first preference voting.
Second
preference ballot counting is now underway and the two remaining candidates are Independent Joe McGirr and Labor's Dan Hayes.
The final result is expected to leave the Berejiklian Coalition Government with 72 members out of a total of 135 upper and lower house parliamentarians, with the Coalition holding 56 per cent of the lower house seats.
The next NSW general election is on 23 March 2019.
Thursday 12 July 2018
One for the history buffs out there
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), The NSW Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board 1883-1969 Map
Labels:
history,
Indigenous Australia,
New South Wales
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)