More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers - in June 2022 that included approx. 16,045 NSW Northern Rivers employees believed to be owed stolen wages of est. $4.8 million

 

“Australian workers are dealing with the rising cost

of living, housing market pressures, a rental crisis,

and stagnant wage growth.

Unpaid earnings harm people who worked in good faith for their pay packet and - right now - people are having to carefully count every dollar…

More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers, or

about 11.5 per cent of the employed Australian workforce”

[McKell Institute, “Unfinished Business: The Ongoing Battle Against Wage Theft”, August 2023]

Smart Company, 22 August 2023:

Wage theft is costing Australian workers $850 million a year, demonstrating an “ingrained culture” of deliberate underpayment and the need for criminalisation at the federal level, according to a damning new report from the McKell Institute.

A fresh analysis of Fair Work Ombudsman audits stretching back to 2009 shows more than a quarter of audited businesses failed to observe the monetary obligations set out by industry awards or enterprise agreements, according to the think tank.

Its calculations show nearly 27,000 businesses were found to have underpaid approximately 1.3 million Australian workers over that time frame.

The real level of wage underpayment is likely higher, McKell Institute CEO Ed Cavanough said, as the analysis did not cover the underpayment of penalty rates, or circumstances where payment under a different award would have been more appropriate.

“This is an extraordinary amount of money being stolen and it’s unacceptable,” Cavanough said in a statement.

Wage underpayment hits businesses big and small

The report arrives against a backdrop of high-profile wage underpayments claims, with Coles, Target, and Bunnings just a few of the major brands to have revealed significant wage underpayments in recent years.

Wage underpayment also stretches deep into the small business sector, with the Fair Work Ombudsman on Tuesday revealing it has levelled nearly $85,000 in penalties against two Victorian businesses accused of underpaying young workers, as a result of its latest investigation.

The Ombudsman recently launched a spate of undercover campaigns targeting small restaurants and food court vendors deemed to offer suspiciously low-cost fare.

The McKell Institute argues laws criminalising wage theft across the board are necessary to discourage employers from deliberately withholding earnings and entitlements.

The report throws its weight behind the federal government’s upcoming industrial relations reform package, which is expected to contain legislation making wage theft a criminal offence across the board….

Read the full article here.

In the NSW Northern Rivers region there are two federal electorates, Page and Richmond.

According to the McKell Institute 29-page analysis of the economic impact of wage theft in Australia, as of June 2022:

• In the electorate of Page there were est. 1,366 non-compliant business which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 7,023 employees with a total minimum value of $4,289,664.

• In the electorate of Richmond there were est. 1,754 non-compliant businesses which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 9,022 employees with a total minimum value of $5,510,65.

Ray White Yamba is to be congratulated for deciding to not use the Ailo app in its rental business model

 

Ailo app 1.0 was released in or about April 2020 and has had nine iterations up to 25 July 2023.

From the beginning this app appears to have had stability issues – eg., app crashing, failure to load (Loading Error, Server Timeout Error, Connection Reset Error, Connection Failed Error) – and raised some general concerns about security of personal information due to potential third-party data sharing, possibly including photographs of occupied rental interiors.

This post in a Reddit thread appears to encapsulates renter unhappiness:

I've had nothing but problems since being forced to use this god awful app. Incorrect due dates for rent, incorrect amounts being charged for rent, receiving repeated emails stating my rent is $5 overdue ( this one lasted for months). Not to mention the annoyance of trying to pay rent without being charged a fee.

While a Whirpool forum show tenants are fighting back:

I successfully complained to the Dept of Fair Trading NSW and Ailo have now offered a 'fee-waiver form' as a way to stop fees being charged for direct debit rent payments.

It does sound like you only avoid paying fees if you know about the fee-waver form.

In my view the wording of the current legislation is too open to abuse, which is what Ailo have done (see Residential Tenancies Act 2010, Sect 35.) Fair Trading and others are putting pressure on Ailo and it seems to be working; make your voice heard if this is affecting you.

Fair Trading recommended contacting policy @customerservice.nsw.gov.au, who review legislation reforms, and Tenants Advice or Advocacy Services (TAAS) at www.tenants.org.au

Hope this helps.

So Ray White Yamba is to be congratulated for deciding to not use the Ailo app in its rental business model.

Clarence Valley Independent, 16 August 2020

Increasing cost-of-living pressures have led Ray White Yamba to elect not to use the Ailo mobile app, introduced by the company across its network of agents as a property management system, for tenants to pay and landlords to collect rental payments.

Recently, some Ray White agents, along with other real estate brands, across Australia emailed tenants and landlords inviting them to use Ailo, a third-party property management app to pay their rent, which was founded by former Ray White Director Ben White.

Ray White Yamba Managing Director, Daniel Kelly said after piloting and testing the Ailo property management system they decided against implementing it for their clients.

“The Ailo technology is not exclusive to Ray White, there’s other brands around the country that are using it as well,” he said.

“Based on our experience in using it, we feel as though it is not the right fit for us.”

The Ailo app charges 0.25 per-cent for an automated direct debit from a bank account, 0.95 per-cent for debit card payments and 1.5 per-cent for credit card payments, while also offering a fee-free method of payment as required.

In NSW, a law was passed in 2011 that every real estate agent must offer a fee free means of paying rent.

Mr Kelly said convenience and increasing cost-of-living pressures were reasons why Ray White Yamba chose not to use the Ailo app.

“Predominantly one reason was convenience for our clients, tenants in particular, because it’s a system that largely would have been accepted, I believe by landlords, but, from a tenancy perspective the feedback that we have had is that it removed a level of convenience for them in paying the rent,” he said.

“The decision we came to was, obviously cost-of-living is a big issue at the moment, and we don’t want to be inflicting further pain on people, so it wasn’t the right fit for us.”

The NSW coastal drought continued to grow in July 2023

 

As of 23 July 2023 – Day 53 of the 92 day official Australian Winter – an est. of 97.7 % of the land area of the NSW wider North Coast is identified Non Drought, 2% Drought Affected and 0.3% in Drought , according to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

SEE: https://edis.dpi.nsw.gov.au/

The DPI Combined Drought Indicator mapping currently indicates that in the seven Northern Rivers local government areas of north-east NSW at rough estimates:

Est. 7% of the Clarence Valley is In Drought, est. 57% is Drought Affected and 36% Non Drought;

Est. 8% of the Richmond Valley is In Drought, est. 72% is Drought Affected and 20% is Non Drought;

Est. 7% of Lismore is Drought Affected and 93% Non Drought;

Est. 21% of Kyogle is Drought Affected and 79% Non Drought;

Est. 56% of Tweed is Drought Affected and 44% Non Drought;

Est. 100% of Ballina is Non Drought; and

Est. 100% of Byron is Non Drought.

Rainfall deficiencies, Australia, December 2022 to June 2023:

Click on image to enlarge

In north-east New South Wales, an area of serious deficiency extends inland from the west of the ranges, with pockets of serious and severe deficiency east of the Divide and in the Hunter District. [Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 6 July 2023]

Very little of what has been built in in the NSW North Rivers coastal zone appears to have a long habitable lifespan - so it's buyer beware

 

What is fascinating about this development application set out in the following article is that the Byron Bay local government area coastal zone generally, including Clifford Street, Suffolk Park, is expected to be impacted by ongoing storm surges, tidal incursion and then permanent sea level inundation beginning sometime between 2027 to 2030 – roughly four to seven years from now. With 9-15 Clifford Street being one of the last addresses to be affected in that street.

Most of the sea level rise scenarios indicate that 9-15 Clifford Street as a habitable dwelling space may only have a life of around 37 to 47 years if Australian east coast and global air and sea temperatures keep rising as steeply as they have in the last 40 years.

Barely enough time to pay off the mortgage before the unit/apartment becomes worthless.

The Echo, 7 June 2023:

The company behind a controversial mixed-use development in the heart of Suffolk Park has quietly submitted revised plans for the proposal as part of the ongoing court battle over the matter.

Sydney-based developer, Denwol Pty Ltd, took Byron Council to the Land & Environment Court after it refused their plans to build two new three-storey buildings, containing 16 units, seven town houses and 300m2 of commercial space at 9–15 Clifford Street.

Council had set out 17 separate reasons for refusing the development application when it was originally submitted last year, including factors related to the environmental impacts, design, bushfire risk and affordable housing claims.

With the formal court hearing getting underway last week, Denwol made an application to the court to submit amended plans for the project.

This followed an amended DA that was submitted in April which involved a significant reduction in the size of the development.

Published on Council’s website, these amended plans involve reducing in the number of residential apartments from 16 to seven, and the number of town houses from seven to six. There would be two retail tenancies.

Both buildings are reduced to two-storeys in the amended plans, though there is little difference in the overall height of the development.

There is also a significant increase in how far the buildings will be set back from the road, though this will require more trees to be cut down.

Resident, Lynne Richardson, said that the amended plans represented little change in practical terms because the overall footprint of the development was ‘much the same’.

Community excluded

She also said that the process by which the most recent amendment had been submitted had excluded the community.

‘I was enraged by the process,’ Ms Richardson said.

‘The only community members who were actually told were those who were due to give evidence during the hearing, and we were only given a few days’ notice to get our heads around the plans before doing that.

‘[Council’s lawyers, Marsdens] only told us a few days before we were due to give evidence, and they asked us to respect the confidentiality of the developer by not disseminating the new plans more widely. In my opinion, the newly modified plans should have been more widely circulated to the community. This affects all of them so they should have been told.’

The Echo understands that Council will continue to contest the matter in court, despite the submission of the modified plans by the developer.

BACKGROUND

Byron Shire Council - List of Applications Submitted, excerpt, retrieved 12 June 2023:

Original Development Application.

10.2022.137.1

Development Application 13/07/2022 15 Clifford St, Suffolk Park 2481 NSW

15A Clifford St, Suffolk Park 2481 NSW

9-13 Clifford St, Suffolk Park 2481 NSW

Demolition of Nine (9) Dwellings, Removal of Twenty Five (25) Native Trees and Construction of a Mixed Use Development Comprising of Two (2) Buildings including Commercial Premises and Multi Dwelling Housing being Twenty Three (23) Dwellings of which Twelve (12) will be Affordable Housing and Swimming Pools.

Details here including latest modification submitted this year.

Existing dwellings

Byron Shire Council flood mapping showing part of Clifford Street

So this Australian Winter was expected to be drier and warmer than the median mark, but now it seems twice as likely a rainfall suppressing El Niño event will also start this year

During the multi-year Millennium Drought from 1997 to 2010, south east Australia experienced its lowest 13-year rainfall record since 1865 over the years 2006 to 2010.

Temperatures were also much hotter than in previous droughts and temperature extremes peaked during the heatwave and bushfires in early 2009. This culminated in the loss of 374 lives in Victoria and many more over the larger southeast in the heatwave leading up to Black Saturday. There were 173 lives lost in the fires.

The years 2015 to 2016 saw El Niño combined with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole in the second half of 2015 further suppressing rainfall, so that rainfall was the equal fourth-lowest on record for Australia during September, Tasmania had its driest Spring on record and mean temperatures were also highest on record for October to December 2015. This El Niño also contributed to an early start to the 2015-16 southern fire season.

By 2017 Australia was again in the grips of a multi-year drought. Very dry conditions in the cool season were followed by only a limited recovery in the October–December period in 2017 and 2018. This meant record-low rainfalls over various multi-year periods.

By June 2018 more than 99% of NSW was declared as affected by drought. The most extreme rainfall deficiencies over multi-year periods occurring in the northern half of New South Wales.

In June-July 2019 New South Wales began a trial by mega bushfires, as did other east coast states, that lasted through to January 2020.

Widespread drought was not an issue for the remainder of 2020 through to the present day, given La Niña visited three times in three years bringing high rainfall events and record floods in the eastern states.

However, the Australian Dept. of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (ABARE) is now drawing attention to this:

All but one international climate model surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology suggest sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific will exceed El Niño thresholds in June. [ABARES Weekly Australian Climate, Water and Agricultural Update, 25 May 2023] 

[ABARES, 25 May 2023] Click on image to enlarge

Suggesting in its climate update that there is now twice the risk of an El Niño event this year, with a likelihood of it making itself felt sometime between August and October.

The overall outlook for this Australian Winter continues to be below median rainfall and warmer median temperatures. 

The main urban centres in the Clarence Valley have a chance of unusually warm temperatures over the winter months of between est. 55-60% (Maclean-Yamba-Iluka) and 59-65% (Grafton). While elsewhere in the Northern Rivers region unusually warm temperatures are expected in Lismore with est. 58-59% chance, Tweed Heads est. 59-62% chance, with Byron Bay & Ballina at est. 60-61% chance. [BOM, Climate outlooks—weeks, months and seasons, June-September 2023]

How this developing scenario affects agricultural growing seasons over the next twelve months is anyone's guess.

In New South Wales only the parishes of Newbold and Braylesford in the Clarence Valley are showing Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) at “Drought Affected”. 

Nevertheless, root-zone soil moisture has been falling across north-east NSW so that by end of April 2023 it was very much below average in from the coast. 

Remembering that drought 'safety net' Shannon Creek Dam, which supplies urban town water to both Coffs Harbour City and Clarence Valley resident populations (total 134,538 persons, June 2022) is currently at 92.6% capacity or 27,677 megalitres, perhaps we may see increased water restrictions by the next Christmas-New Year period. Given the tourist-driven seasonal population rise increases water consumption and that 80% dam capacity is the increased restrictions trigger.

It doesn't take a genius to suspect that should a drought develop, the 2024 and 2025 bush fire seasons might also be highly problematic for rural and regional areas across Australia.

Single mega complex for Murwillumbah public schools gone for good as Saffin fulfils her election promise of demerger

The Echo, 26 May 2023:

The significant issue of a merger of several Murwillumbah schools has been ongoing since 2020 when the then State Government announced via Sarah Mitchell MP that four public schools would be amalgamated into a single Kindergarten to Year 12 campus at Murwillumbah High.

It was clear from the outset that this was not something that any of the school communities wanted, yet the government continued to foist it upon students, teachers and families in the Murwillumbah area, but the government was determined to push ahead saying there was plenty of support for the project.

An election promise

Murwillumbah High School the site of the mega campus.
Image supplied

The new Labor Government said that if elected they would stop the merger and yesterday they announced their intention to do just that.

Deputy Premier of New South Wales, Prue Car, who is also Minister for Education and Early announced that the Minns Labor Government is committed to the demerger of the Murwillumbah Education Campus in consultation with the community. ‘The Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, and I have had an initial, fruitful and clarifying meeting with the NSW Department of Education about the needs of each of the four school sites.

‘The Department, in collaboration with myself and the Member for Lismore, is finalising plans for consultation with the community….

P&C President at Murwillumbah East Public School, Kylie Rose, said she was very pleased to see this confirmation from the Minister. ‘Our beautiful public schools will be staying open!’

‘Our community fought so hard to save our schools.

‘This statement from the Education Minister will be a great relief to many.

‘Labor went to the last election promising to keep these schools open if elected. We didn’t get a say in the previous government’s decision to close these schools but my goodness didn’t we have our say at the ballot box!’

Thank you Janelle

‘Thank you to Janelle Saffin MP for honouring her election commitment to keep all four of our public schools open.’

Ms Car said the department has stopped infrastructure-related activities on the Murwillumbah Education Campus project and will work with the community on supporting the four schools into the future….. 

COVID-19 NSW 2023: Counting Dead People - Part 6

 

NSW Dept. of Health, @NSWHealth, 19 May 2023

In the 7 days up to 18 May 2023 the national COVID-19 death toll was in excess of 114 people.

Between Friday 12 May to Thursday 18 May 2023 61 of these confirmed COVID-19 deaths occurred in News South Wales.

There have been no 7-day reporting periods in 2023 where NSW deaths have been recorded in single digits – according to Covid Live weekly deaths over the last 20 NSW reporting periods have ranged from a low of 22 deaths (17, 24 March & 14 April 2023) to a high of 131 deaths (20 Jan 2023).

As NSW Dept. of Health no longer publishes the COVID-19 fourteen-day tables which include deaths by gender, age group and health district, there is now no way to break down current COVID-19 publicly available death data for the state or for the Northern Rivers region.

The last published table recording COVID-19 deaths by NSW local health district was for the week ending 22 April 2023 and the last published table including a Northern Rivers COVID-19 death was for week ending 15 April 2023.

From January 2023 to 15 April 2023 there have been est. 40 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the Northern Rivers region.

All that can be stated from published tables from then on is that; as of 18 May there were 252 confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded that 7-day reporting period for the Northern NSW Local Health District, spread across all 7 local government areas and, that as of the preceding 6 May the health district was recording on a “Week To Date” and “Year To Date” basis more confirmed COVID-19 cases than confirmed Influenza and RSV cases combined.

The Australian Department of Health and Aged Care released the following information on 19 May 2023:

As at 8:00 am 18 May 2023 there are 3,132 active COVID-19 cases in 453 active outbreaks in residential aged care facilities across Australia. There have been 207 new outbreaks, 38 new resident deaths and 2,751 combined new resident and staff cases reported since 11 May 2023.

[my yellow highlighting]

New South Wales had the highest number of aged care facility COVID-19 outbreaks during 12-18 May period. As well as the highest number of aged care residents & staff with active COVID-19 infections. 

Sadly, compared to other states and territories New South Wales at 14 residential facilities also had the highest number of aged care facilities reporting COVID-19 deaths among their residents. Resulting in this state having possibly the highest number of residential aged care deaths* across all Australian states and territories.

Note: 

* The actual number of NSW aged care deaths in the 7 days to 18 May 2023 is problematic as the Dept. of Health for privacy reasons reported deaths in aged care facilities in blocs of “<6”. So deaths at the 14 individual facilities involved ranged from 1-5 elderly people per facility.

See: COVID-19 outbreaks in Australian residential aged care facilities: National snapshot, 19 May 2023, APPENDIX 1

AUSTRALIA EMPLOYMENT STATE OF PLAY APRIL 2023: monthly figures reveal fewer people have full time jobs & 528,000 workers are in the unemployment queue

 

The latest Labor Force Australia: Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey was released on Thursday, 18 May 2023.

This survey reveals that:

In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2023:

• unemployment rate increased to 3.7%.

• participation rate decreased to 66.7%.

• employment decreased to 13,882,100.

• employment to population ratio decreased to 64.2%.

• underemployment rate decreased to 6.1%.

• monthly hours worked increased to 1,974 million.

• full-time employment decreased by 27,100 to 9,726,500 people.

• part-time employment increased by 22,800 to 4,155,600 people.

So to recap:

Seasonally adjusted a total of 13.8 million workers remain in employment across Australia, with est. 4.8 million working less than 35 hours a week and 4.1 million classified as part-time employees.

 

While the national monthly seasonally adjusted unemployment figure stood at 528,000 persons and the unemployment rate at 3.7%. The gender breakdown for that number was 301,900 males (unemployment rate 4.0%) and 226,100 females (unemployment rate 3.3%). 

In NSW the monthly seasonally adjusted unemployment figure was 151,500 persons, being 85,200 males (unemployment rate 3.6%) and 66,300 females (unemployment rate 3.1%).

REGIONAL ESTIMATES COVERING THE NORTHERN RIVERS REGION IN APRIL 2023:

Coffs Harbour-Grafton

Employed Full-Time — 40,100 persons

Employed Part-Time — 28,100 persons

Unemployed Total — 2,800 persons

Not in the Labour Force — 55,100 persons

Unemployment rate for 15-64 years of age — 4% 

Youth Unemployment Rate 15-24 years — 6.3%.

Richmond-Tweed

Employed Full-Time — 79,800 persons

Employed Part-Time — 50,400 persons

Unemployed Total — 3,600 persons

Not in the Labour Force — 86,500 persons

Unemployment Rate for 15-64 years of age — 2.7% 

Youth Unemployment Rate 15-24 years — 5.4%.

NOTE: NSW regional estimates for all SA4 employment areas in April 2023 can be found at:

https://labourmarketinsights.gov.au/regions/all-regions-abs-sa4/. 

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), media release, 18 May 2023:

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point (rounded) to 3.7 per cent in April, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "with employment dropping by around 4,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 18,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 per cent.”

“The small fall in employment followed an average monthly increase of around 39,000 people during the first quarter of this year.”

Similarly, the employment-to-population ratio fell 0.2 percentage points to 64.2 per cent and the participation rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to 66.7 per cent.

“Even with these falls, both indicators were still well above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels and close to their historical highs in 2022,” Mr Jarvis said.

Hours worked

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked increased by 2.6 per cent in April.

“This was because fewer people than usual worked reduced hours over the Easter period,” Mr Jarvis said.

“The last time Easter and the survey period aligned like this was in 2015, when around 60 per cent of employed people worked fewer hours than usual. This Easter it was only around 55 per cent of employed people.

“This may reflect more people taking their leave earlier or later than usual, or that some people were unable to, given the high number of vacancies that we’re still seeing employers reporting….

Underemployment and underutilisation

The underemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 6.1 per cent (seasonally adjusted), following a 0.4 percentage point increase in March.

"The underemployment rate is still low in historic terms, around 2.6 percentage points lower than before the pandemic, and underpinned by faster growth in hours worked than employment," Mr Jarvis said.

The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, rose slightly to 9.8 per cent, and remained 4.2 percentage points lower than in March 2020.

NOTE:

The April survey reference period was from 2 April to 15 April 2023.

The May survey reference period is from 30 April to 13 May 2023.

Is everyone with any authority still playing Pass The Parcel with the health and safety of communities on NSW coastal floodplains? Will the Northern Rivers see effective state planning legislation amendments before the next big flood? Will local governments across the region stiffen their spines & act?

The Echo, 11 May 2023:

Development site at 60 Tringa Street, Tweed Heads, on Cobaki Creek.

Both the Tweed District Residents Association (TDRA) and Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRPA) have recently called for a moratorium on existing legacy or zombie development approvals (DAs) on floodplains. The state government continues to say that councils have the ability to deal with these problematic DAs, but the evidence seems to say otherwise.

The failure of current legislation to stop legacy DAs is of particular concern to the TDRA which has been seeking stop work orders on the recent activity by MAAS Group Holdings at Tweed on Cobaki Creek. MAAS bought the property, with a 27-year-old legacy development approval on it, last year for $20M+ and have started clearing the sensitive site. The Tweed Council have asked MAAS to ‘cease work’, but MAAS have declined leaving both Council and locals frustrated with their inability to stop the work and have the site reassessed in relation to flood and environmental impacts of the DA.

NSW Premier

Responding to The Echo NSW Premier Chris Minns, who spoke to community representatives on the issue of legacy developments in the lead-up to the NSW election said, ‘My office will be working closely with the planning minister as the government works on new rules to stop new developments on dangerous floodplains – having been on the ground in the region over the past couple of years, I know how important it is to get this addressed.’

The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) told The Echo that, ‘The government is committed to drafting new rules and streamlining planning processes to stop new developments on dangerous floodplains’ yet they have thrown responsibility back to councils saying they already have the legal power to look at legacy developments.

‘Councils already have legal power under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to take action against existing zombie developments, and DPE tightened planning rules in 2020 to clamp down on new ones,’ a DPE spokesperson said.

‘Councils also have powers to investigate and take enforcement action if they are concerned whether physical commencement has occurred, or if any part of the development does not comply with the relevant consent….

Action needed now

Peter Newton from KRPA responded to the DPE’s statement saying ‘it’s disappointing that the department has thrown this on Council’s shoulders given that it is obvious the legislation is not strong enough for Council to actually prevent legacy developments from proceeding, such as Cobaki, where the Council “cease” orders have been disregarded. The legislation is not working and needs the state government to step in and commit to reform.’

Tweed Council’s General Manager, Troy Green also highlighted the current failures in Council’s powers to take action on these types of DAs.

‘There has been no change in Council or state policy concerning floodplain development post the 2022 floods. The NSW State Government Flood Inquiry made various recommendations concerning floodplain development from which there have been no subsequent directions from the government,’ Mr Green told The Echo…...

Read the full article here.