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Showing posts with label environmental vandalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental vandalism. Show all posts
In
2020, the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Koalas found that koalas
will become extinct in the wild before 2050 if urgent action isn't taken to
protect their habitat. 2050 is a mere 25 years away......
FORESTRY
REGULATION 2022 - SECTION 6 & 7 CLOSURE
OF PART TUCKERS NOB STATE FOREST
FORESTRY
CORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES HAS RESERVED THE AREADESCRIBED BELOW AS 'THE CLOSED AREA'
FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF ITS CONTRACTORS,
SUPPORT AND SUPERVISING STAFF CARRYING OUT HARVESTINGOPERATIONS DURING THE PERIOD
DESCRIBED BELOW AS 'THE CLOSURE PERIOD'.
THE
ENTRY OF ALL PERSONS INTO THE CLOSED AREA DURING THE CLOSUREPERIOD, OTHER THAN PERSONS
AUTHORISED IN WRITING BY THE FORESTRYCORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES, IS
HEREBY PROHIBITED.
PERSONS
ENTERING INTO OR REMAINING IN THE CLOSED AREA DURING THECLOSURE PERIOD WITHOUT FORESTRY
CORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES'PERMISSION ARE LIABLE TO
PROSECUTION, MAXIMUM PENALTY $2,200 PEROFFENCE.
DESCRIPTION
OF THE CLOSED AREAS
That
part of Tuckers Nob State Forest No. 612 enclosed by the boundary
commencing at theState
Forest boundary adjacent to the intersection of Gleniffer Road and
Roses Road (markedpoint
'A' on the map); then moving in a clockwise direction around the
closure area, in agenerally south-easterly direction
following the State Forest boundary running parallel to the Gleniffer
Road to the intersection with 27/1 Trail (marked point 'B' on the
map) NB. Gleniffer Road
remains open; then in a generally westerly direction following 27/1
Trail to theintersection with an un-named
drainage line (marked point 'C' on the map), then in a generallysouth-westerly direction following
the un-named drainage line to the State Forest boundary(marked point 'D' on the map), then in a generally
north-westerly direction following the State Forest
boundary adjacent to the intersection of Gleniffer Road and Roses
Road (marked point 'A'
on the map).
DESCRIPTION
OF THE CLOSURE PERIOD
Between
9:00 am Monday 9th December 2024 and 6:00 pm Monday 30th June 2025
BY
ORDER OF FORESTRY CORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES, by its delegate:
A composite of two nights of drone flying over compartments 10, 12 and 18 in Tuckers Nob State Forest - all areas zoned 'plantation' by #NSWForestry, and slated for clearing.
The results shows that this is one of the densest populations of wild #Koala in New South Wales.
What:
Rallies at Coffs Harbour and Pennant Hills Sydney outside the offices
of the Forestry Corporation.
When:
Monday, 13th January, 10am
Where:
Coffs Harbour, cnr of Park and Gordon Sts
Sydney:
Cnr Castle Hill Rd and Cumberland Forest Way, West Pennant Hills
Why:
Creating the Great Koala National Park has been an ALP promise since
2015. Almost 2 years after getting elected, the Minns government has
completed their assessment of the park and identified an industry
restructuring package but has still not announced their decision on
the park boundaries.
Since
they were elected, the rate of logging inside the park has increased
compared to under the Coalition. More than 60%. The logging is
continuing with new areas being opened up. How much longer will they
let the promised Park be logged?
Are
they going to allow the Forestry Corporation to log the heart out of
the promised park?
According
to their own data the Minns Government has already logged the homes
of 500 koalas and another 37 threatened species. This carnage has to
stop now. These forests also hold the soils together, sequester and
store carbon, act as natural water reservoirs and could provide
boundless opportunities for recreation, education and appreciation.
31
groups have signed on to a letter to the NSW Government demanding
they fulfil their promise to create a world class Great Koala
National Park NOW
The
statement, background and signatories can be found here.
There
is no reporting date listed for this particular Inquiry.
After
a 53 day submission period in which 78
submissions
were received, the Inquiry held 5 hearings commencing on 5 August
2024 and ending on 17 December 2024. Videos of all 6 hearings can be
found at:
Commencing
on 2 July 2024 the Inquiry received
40 documents
to assist in its deliberations.
In
August 2024 the Standing Committee on State Development visited
former mining sites in Lake Macquarie, Cessnock, Maitland and the
Upper Hunter and held two public hearings (Muswellbrook &
Singleton).
More
than 60,000 mines have been abandoned across Australia, according to
a report that raises concerns about how land rehabilitation is
managed as the mining boom ends.
Key
points:
Australia
Institute report finds lack of reliable data on Australia's mining
activity
Research
finds more than 60,000 abandoned mines across Australia
Only
a handful of mines have ever been fully rehabilitated
Report
raises concerns over how land rehabilitation is managed
The
Australia Institute research, obtained exclusively by Lateline, said
there were few reliable statistics on the state of Australia's mines
and there was evidence that only a handful had ever been fully
rehabilitated.
State
government agencies were only able to name one example of a mine that
had been fully rehabilitated and relinquished in the past 10 years —
the New Wallsend coal mine in New South Wales.
Some
of the abandoned mines date back to gold-rush days and the 60,000
figure includes thousands of mine "features", such as
tailings dams and old mine shafts.
The
Australia Institute said it was difficult to obtain basic statistics
on the number of operating mines across the country, putting the
figure between 460 and 2,944.
The
Institute said it was even harder to get data on mines that had
suspended operations or were undergoing rehabilitation.
"What
is certain is [mine abandonment] is not a practice limited to distant
history," the report said.
"As
the owners of the largest mines come under financial pressure, close
attention needs to be paid to the ongoing phenomenon of mine
abandonment in Australia.".....
In
New South Wales, approval has been granted for 45 massive coal pits,
or voids, to be left after mining finishes.[my
yellow highlighting]
Twelve
of those voids are around Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter and the
biggest is at BHP Billiton's Mount Arthur mine.
It
is 4.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide. BHP would not provide
details on its depth....
....ongoing
antimony contamination of water bodies and land protected by
Environmental Planning Instruments is not unknown from previous
mining ventures in northern NSW.
The
Macleay Argus 2 September 2011:
HIGHER
than average levels of heavy metals have been recorded in the Macleay
River at Bellbrook after a dam overflowed at a gold and antimony mine
near Armidale.
NSW
Health and Kempsey Shire Council said higher than normal levels of
metals including arsenic, zinc and copper had been detected in the
waters of the Macleay River.
But
both organisations said the concentration of the heavy metals was not
high enough to warrant concern to people.
As
a precaution NSW Health has contacted residents in the upper Macleay
to inform them not to drink water from the river unless it has been
processed through the Bellbrook water treatment plant.
Council
has undertaken further testing to determine whether the contamination
has spread beyond Bellbrook….
The
Office of Heritage and Environment (OHE) reported the breach occurred
on Tuesday when there was a release of material from a sediment
erosion control dam at the Hillgrove antimony and gold mine.
"The
mine is currently not operating but is in 'care and maintenance'
mode," a spokeswoman said.
"The
spill occurred after continued wet weather produced excess stormwater
which exceeded the amount of water that could be stored in the dam
resulting in the spill - when the mine is operating the stormwater
would normally have been used for mineral processing."
NSW
Office of Environment and Heritage Media Release 5 July 2010:
Straits
(Hillgrove) Gold Pty Limited has been fined $50,000 and ordered to
pay costs of $24,000 in the NSW Land and Environment Court today
after being found guilty of polluting waters.
Straits
pleaded guilty to the charge; pollution of water under the Protection
of the Environment Operations Act.
The
company 'Straits' conducts gold and antimony mining activities at the
Hillgrove Mine, near Armidale in NSW.
In
sentencing today, Justice Biscoe convicted and fined Straits $50,000
and ordered it to pay the prosecutor's legal costs of $24,000.
The
court heard that in April 2009 a protective bund at the premises had
been lowered to allow access for an electrical contractor. When a
screening device used in the mine became blocked and 'slimes'
discharged and spilled into the bunded area, it then overflowed the
bund and discharged into the local environment.
The
spill, of up to 3000 litres of 'slimes,' contained antimony, arsenic
and lead and is toxic to some aquatic life.
Department
of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), Director General,
Lisa Corbyn said the penalty provided a timely reminder to companies
that they must ensure measures are in place to contain pollution.
"This
case highlights the potential for serious damage to occur and
highlights the importance of companies having safeguards and
operating procedures in place to control pollution at all times.
Carelessness meant that simple containment structures which could
have prevented the spill from leaving the mine site were not in
place. Fortunately the environmental harm from this particular spill
was low.
"Importantly,
the company did report the spill to the DECCW Environment Line and
cooperated with the DECCW officers throughout the investigation."
Anyone
who sees pollution is urged to contact the Environment line on 131
555.
Bellingen
Shire Council State of the Environment Report 2009-2010:
Urunga
antimony processing site
A
seriously contaminated site has been identified at Urunga, Portions
138 & 169 Parish of Newry. Contamination also affects adjacent
Crown Land and a SEPP 14 wetland. The site was previously used for
antimony ore processing, since abandoned without rehabilitation of
the site. DECCW have undertaken an investigation of the site and
researched remediation options.
General
Council
maintains records of properties known to be affected by
contamination. Council must consider the requirements of the
Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and State Environmental
Planning Policy 55 – Remediation of Land in assessing proposed
changes to the use of land.
Antimony
and arsenic dispersion in the Macleay River catchment, New South
Wales: a study of the environmental geochemical consequences,
February 2007:
A
baseline geochemical study of stream sediments and waters of the
Macleay River catchment in northeastern New South Wales indicates
that although most of the catchment is unaffected by anthropogenic or
natural inputs of heavy metals and metalloids, the Bakers Creek -
trunk Macleay-floodplain system has been strongly affected by
mining-derived Sb and As. The dispersion train from the Hillgrove Sb
- Au mining area to the Pacific Ocean is over 300 km in length. Ore
and mineralised altered rock from Hillgrove contains vein,
breccia-hosted and disseminated stibnite, arsenopyrite, pyrite and
traces of gold. Historic (pre-1970) mine-waste disposal practices
have resulted in high to extreme contamination of stream sediments
and waters by Sb and As for ∼50 km downstream, with high Au values
in the sediments…..
Estimates
of sediment migration rates and amounts of Sb and As transported in
suspension and solution imply that the catchment contamination will
be long-term (centuries to millennia) such that environmental effects
need to be ascertained and management strategies implemented…
[Ashley,
P. M.; Graham, B. P.; Tighe, M. K.; Wolfenden, B. J in Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences, Volume 54, Number 1, February 2007 , pp.
83-103(21)]
North
Coast Voices,
"NSW
North Coast antimony contamination makes it onto national
television",
25 October 2011, excerpt:
The
Sydney Morning Herald also addressed the issue of historic and recent
contamination from the Hillgrove antimony mine:
A
PLUME of toxic pollution from an old antimony mine appears to have
killed fish for dozens of kilometres along the Macleay River in
northern NSW.....
a
study published by the CSIRO in 2009 described the waterways near the
mothballed mine as ''highly contaminated'' and estimated about 7000
tonnes of waste had accumulated along the bed of the Macleay River.
Water
tests have shown antimony levels at 250 times background levels, with
high levels detected along the river to the coast at Urunga, where
the mineral was once processed for export.
Snapshot image via Meredith Staunton on X/Twitter Click on image to enlarge
According
to NEFA, theFCNSW
2023/24 Biomaterial Report identifies
Forestry NSW as logging 9,484 ha of native forests in the last financial
year.
The
current state minister responsible
for the Forestry
Act 2012
(NSW)
is Tara
Moriarty MLC, Minister for Agriculture.
Under the Forestry Act 2012, Forestry
Corporation of New South Wales (Forestry
NSW),
has two voting shareholders, the NSW
Treasurer (currently Daniel Mookhey MLC)
and Minister
for Finance (currently Courtney Houssos MLC),
who appoint the Board of Directors.
Forestry
NSW as a government-owned corporation manages around two million
hectares of multiple-use public native
forests, including coastal native forests, cypress forests and red
gum forests and, a small number of hardwood plantations.
The
responsibility and accountability 'buck' has always stopped with
successive NSW governments when it comes to forestry in this state
and, in 2024 there is no legitimate excuse for the Minns Labor
Government and Ministers Moriarty, Mookhey and Houssos to continue
down this environmentally and financially ruinous path towards a
multiple species flora & fauna extinction event.
Forestry
Corporation of NSW resumed logging in the Bulga State Forest,
west of Comboyne in the Mid-North Coast region of New South Wales',
in early October 2024.
Since
then 22 forest defenders, including Knitting Nannas, have been attested in the state forests.
Knitting
Nannas Dominique Jacobs (60) and Helen Kvelde (73) yesterday became
the 21st and 22nd people arrested protesting the logging of Bulga
State Forest, west of Port Macquarie. They had attached themselves to
the giant tree killing machine known as a harvester.
Both
Nannas are active in protesting the lack of action on climate change
and are deeply dismayed that the most effective carbon capture and
storage technology on the planet, mature forests, are being destroyed
at taxpayer expense.
Dom
Jacobs said, ‘I’m a grandmother and a wildlife carer. I’m
terrified about the future my grandkids face and what is happening to
the wild creatures and wild places. We are losing so much that is
perfect and wonderful on this planet and I’m really worried about
what will be left for those who come after us.
‘As
a wildlife carer I get to know those little creatures intimately,
they have personalities, they are very susceptible to stress. The
thought of them in their beautiful forest homes with trees crashing
around them and all the noise of the machines, I can’t imagine
their terror.
‘We
humans, we take everything. We need to leave something. We need to
leave some places be,’ she said.
‘I
want to do everything I can. I want to do something that has real
impact. Stopping the chopping of glider and koala homes is a good way
to spend a day.’
Increasingly
fed up
Helen
Kvelde said, ‘I feel like I’ve been fighting this war for 50
years and I’m getting more and more fed up. The powers that be
aren’t listening, not to the people or the scientists. Climate
chaos is here now, it’s happening all over the globe and
governments, logging and fossil fuel companies are still acting as if
there is no tomorrow.
‘I’m
bewildered at the lack of action. I’ve been to so many rallies and
marches, signed petitions, written letters but it feels like we are
just going through the motions. As Greta Thunberg said all we get
back is bla bla bla.
‘Our
governments are full of hot air and empty promises. They say they see
climate change as a serious threat and that there is a biodiversity
crisis, but their actions suggest they think it’s a joke or it’s
not real,’ she said.
‘It’s
like I’m watching the Lorax play out in real life. It was a story
where in order to get rich, all the trees were cut down, and the land
was left a dirty stinking wreck.
‘I’m
hoping that our action today gives kids hope and encourages others to
do the same. I’m a bit frightened but I also feel that desperate
times require desperate measures,’ said Ms Kvelde.
Both
women agreed that forests like Bulga are vital for threatened
wildlife, saying that we need to respect and care for all those big
trees, not just for their intrinsic right to exist and live in peace,
but because they defend us from the most dangerous threat of all:
climate chaos.
John Seed OAM, attached to logging machinery in Bulga State Forest, 15th October 2024
John
Seed, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre and the Deep
Ecology Network was arrested today for attaching himself to logging
machinery in Bulga forest.
John,
now in his 79th year, says he had a transformative experience in the
rainforests of north east NSW during the Terania Creek protests in
1979.
“The
forest spoke to me. Working to keep the trees standing was the best
use of my short time on this amazing jewel of a planet, so far the
only one of its kind that we know of in this galaxy.
“It’s
45 years since I was FIRST arrested for the forests (and for which I
subsequently received an OAM after the Wran government turned the
forest where I was arrested into the Nightcap National Park – now
on the World Heritage list along with the Grand Canyon and the
Serengeti).
“I
believe the Bulga Forest will also find its way into National Park
and World Heritage status once this government wakes up. Then tourism
will earn orders of magnitude more than the vandalism that we’re
currently trying to stop.
“There’s
been no proper assessment of the damage done by the 2019/20 fires. We
don’t know how many trees and animals died, how many hollow habitat
trees were lost. The most basic element of the precautionary
principle is that if you don’t know, stop making things worse.
“Climate
chaos is barrelling towards us. We need to stop making the damage
worse and focus on earth repair and building resilience. How can we
have hope for a future for our kids and grandkids if our governments
insist on destroying the planet’s protection mechanisms,” he
said.
In
1995 John was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his services to
conservation and the environment. Through his work over the decades,
the Rainforest Information Centre has supported communities in PNG,
the Solomon Islands, Cambodia, Ecuador, India to defend their
forests, through direct action, establishment of protected forest
areas, reafforestation programs or funds for litigation.
Lot
13 DP 1251383 15 Torakina Road and environs, Brunswick Heads NSW.
IMAGE: Clarence Property Corporation Limited
Readers
will catch a glimpse through dense tree cover of Simpsons Creek,
which connects with the Brunswick River not far from the river's
mouth.
On
this mapping presented to Byron Shire Council on 8 February 2024, the
reader can see that coastal wetlands and Simpons Creek adjoin the
approximately 30.5ha development site and at times the creek comes
within est. 200 meters of the proposed residential lot grid.
In
August this year the NSW Government agency AdaptNSW
released the NSW
and Australian Regional Climate Modelling (NARCliM 2.0) which
contain regional snapshots outlining climate projections for
different NSW regions. These provide a summary of plausible future
climate change in NSW relative to a baseline of average climate from
1990–2009. The projections for 2050 represent averaged data for
2040–2059 and projections for 2090 represent averaged data for
2080–2099.
clearly
states volume ranges for sea level rise across the next 26 years
(2024-2050) and across the following 40 years (2051-2090). The report
expects seawater inundation heights of between 0.23m (2050) and 0.59m (2090) above
the current mean sea level.
In this mapping the projected sea level rise has already brought the ocean nearer the
development site and the Simpson's Creek overflow to an est. 230m of the
northern boundary of the residential lot grid by 2050. While saline
creek water has entered the full length of the development site
between 2051-2090 and is within less than est. 200m of the lower
eastern boundary of the residential lot grid.
It
doesn't take much imagination to realise that high rainfall events
and storm surges will in future have a greater impact on Wallum
‘EnviroDevelopment’ Estate and with land, incapable of natural drainage likely to continue with poor drainage
issues with or without climate change impacts, also likely to have the natural water table raised by persistent saltwater incursion into the Wallum wetlands, the outlook is not the
rosy, bright 'sea change' life many prospective Wallum land
purchasers believe they are buying.
What’s
under the hood of the environmental certification that the Wallum
Brunswick Heads greenfield development relies on for its
environmental credentials?
Like
many developments across the nation, developer Clarence Property’s
Wallum urban estate has been certified as an ‘EnviroDevelopment’.
It
is clearly marked on www.wallumbrunswick.com.au, and it has been
awarded accreditation across all six of its categories – water,
energy, waste, materials, community and ecosystems.
A
leaf is awarded for each category that has passed the technical
standards.
Paid-for
accreditation
This
paid-for accreditation is awarded by the Sustainability and Research
division of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA),
based in Queensland.
UDIA
describes EnviroDevelopment certification
(www.envirodevelopment.com.au) as ‘a scientifically-based branding
system designed to make it easier for purchasers to recognise and,
thereby, select more environmentally sustainable homes and
lifestyles’.
To
be accredited with an EnviroDevelopment certification, developers
need to, ‘demonstrate that an ecological net gain will be achieved
for the project in relation to local native vegetation communities
and fauna habitat resources.’
Yet
throughout the Save Wallum campaign, ecologists, councillors, MPs and
residents have raised issue with the claims that the development will
produce an ecological net gain, and say instead that threatened
ecological communities (TEC) are in danger.
Frog
habitat claims. According
to www.envirodevelopment.com.au/projects/wallum, ‘2.6ha of
high-quality endangered wallum froglet habitat will be created as
part of the early site works, which is monitored and protected during
subdivision construction works to ensure success’.
Yet
ecologist and Save Wallum campaigner, James Barrie, says, ‘The
expectation that the threatened species of “Wallum” tolerate the
contentious offset arrangements such as the machine-dug ponds (that
are well known to fail for these rare acid frogs), poses a very real
risk of local extinction of these species’.
‘There
has been considerable outcry from several notable ecologists since,
with detailed reports about why this is misleading, and does not
constitute a ‘ecological net gain’ in practice by any standards.’
Stormwater
design
The
EnviroDevelopment website also claims of Wallum: ‘The
site is also subject to an innovative stormwater design outcome which
utilises the drainage characteristics of the existing sandy material
on the site to treat stormwater without the need for extensive
networks of underground concrete pipes and pits.’
Former
Byron Shire Councillor, Duncan Dey, who is also a civil engineer
specialising in flood hydrology and stormwater design told The Echo,
‘Clarence Property are relying on an “innovative” concept of
recharge (my term for it). This is usually just to save money, but in
this case, it is because the site is too flat to drain’.
‘The
lack of hydraulic gradient is bizarrely even noted in the DA Consent
Conditions of May 2023, just beneath Condition 11b).
‘The
site simply doesn’t offer sufficient fall to drain correctly.
Hydraulic gradients of less of one per cent are generally
unacceptable. This project proposes a channel way flatter than that.
‘Several
eminent local ecologists have developed outstanding knowledge of the
Wallum site over recent decades’, says Mr Dey.
‘They
have watched this development progress down the conveyor belt of NSW
Planning, and found issues with most of the ecological reports.
‘The
developer’s consultants omitted entire species, as well as coming
up with proposals to recreate unique habitat to replace that which
will be destroyed.
The
Echo asked NSW Fair Trading if they ‘had any interest in ensuring
the EnviroDevelopment certification is fit-for-purpose, or if not,
can you please direct The Echo to who can?’
A
NSW Fair Trading spokesperson replied, ‘Unfortunately, I haven’t
been able to track down and confirm a NSW agency who may be able to
provide you with commentary on your request’.
ACF
comment
When
presented with the draft story, Australian Conservation Foundation
(ACF) investigator, Martine Lappan, told The Echo, ‘It is difficult
to assess the integrity of an accreditation system when the
application documents property developers submit are not made
publicly available’.
‘A
grand claim about protecting the environment may serve as a marketing
tool, but that doesn’t make it scientifically accurate or even
something that can be held to account under the law’, Ms Lappan
added.
CP
replies
Clarence
Property was offered an opportunity to comment on this story.
Its
CEO, Simon Kennedy, replied, ‘there are numerous factual errors in
the story provided, and we dispute the ecological assessments made by
Save Wallum Inc through its ecological interpreter both publicly, and
those recently made under oath at the NSW parliamentary inquiry into
the environment’.
‘We
have followed all required environmental and bio-diversity
requirements under the statutory approvals given to us to proceed
with this project that will provide much needed housing for the Byron
Shire’.
This
story was provided to UDIA in draft form for comment numerous times,
but no comment was forthcoming. [my yellow highlighting throughout this news article]
Excerpt
from Tweed Shire Council's 17-page submission to the NSW
Parliament, Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and
Planning, Inquiry into Historical
development consents in NSW , dated 16 May 2024:
"(a)
The current legal framework for development consents, including the
physical commencement test.
The
current legal framework requires an impact assessment in accordance
with the objects and requirements of the Environmental Planning and
Assessment Act 1979 (the "Act") prior to granting a
consent.
Consents
do not expire if they are commenced and for developments approved
before 15 May 2020 it is too easy to prove commencement under the
Act. This allows a consent approved decades ago and therefore
assessed against decades old conditions to remain valid today.
As
site conditions change and scientific knowledge advances, the impact
assessments for these consents fall further apart from reality. As
long as consents can continue to sit on land without expiration, the
Act's objects are impossible to meet.
(b)
Impacts to the planning system, development industry and property
ownership as a result of the uncertain status of lawfully commenced
development consents.
In
failing to meet the Act's objects, historical development consents
fail to achieve ecological sustainable development or consider
climate change. The current legal
framework requires authorities to explain to the community how such
developments are
legally
allowed to proceed (subject to procedural requirements) even while
causing environmental damage that would be highly unlikely to be
approved today. The balance between protecting private
interests against confidence in the public planning system
and
protection of the environment falls squarely in favour of the former.
Our
understanding of disaster risk has improved through experience and is
now considered with each assessment. Lacking this assessment in the
past, historical development consents can place people and property
at risk.
The
extent of historic development consents that exist is unknown. Even
recent development consents may become historical development
consents in the future as site conditions and scientific knowledge
change.
Local
councils and communities are often unaware of a historical
development consent in their backyard until a developer seeks to
recommence that consent. Current register searches and prescribed
documents for the conveyance of land do not allow for communities to
factor potential developments into their purchase. In
addition, whether a consent is a danger of recommencing is often
beyond the knowledge of even the local council.
Approvals-based
reporting faces the same concerns. The
ability to effectively landbank and delay indefinitely results in
reporting mechanisms being unable to adequately predict or rely on
housing and development delivery by virtue of existing approvals
(c)
Any barriers to addressing historical development consents using
current legal provisions, and the benefits and costs to taxpayers of
taking action of historical development concerns.
The
barriers to addressing historical development consents and preventing
new historical development consents lie primarily with a lack of
funding, a lack of legal mechanisms that exist in other jurisdictions
and a lack of certainty in the effect of existing legal provisions.
The
Act contains a power to revoke a development consent in return for
compensation.
No
funding exists for this power and having never been tested, the
extent of compensation owed is uncertain. Local councils can
also acquire land. A similar lack of funding
applies here by way of opportunity loss.
It
may be possible to challenge a consent on grounds that it was not
commenced.
However,
before 15 May 2020, works as minor as inserting survey pegs into the
ground were sufficient to show commencement. Accordingly, it is
unlikely such a challenge
would be successful.
Local
councils can require developers comply with existing conditions of
consent.
Conditions
framed to the effect of "to Council's satisfaction" may be
of assistance in barring consents from proceeding. Similarly,
local councils can notify relevant authorities of developments that
require additional approvals subject to savings provisions.
Local
councils may be able to utilise the power under the Act to impose
conditions on new consents to limit the period that consent may be
carried out. This power's reach has
not been tested in Court and may not extend to effectively imposing a
quasicompletion date for construction and subdivision consents.
The
Federal Government has the ability to require an approval for
developments if they would harm certain threatened species. It does
so by imposing an offence for proceeding without an approval. This
requires action on behalf of the Federal Government and only
applies to a selection of species set out in the Environment
Protection and Biodivers;ty Act 1999 (Cth) (the "EPBC Act").
Zoning
of land can be reviewed to ensure land is correctly zoned for
development.
Insufficient
resources are available to regularly undertake such reviews with
sufficient depth
and frequency. ......"
[my yellow highlighting]
Tweed Shire Council's full submission can be read at:
It
is noted that Clarence Valley Council did not make a
submission to this parliamentary inquiry. Even though, like many
other local government areas having a extensive coastline, it has also
been under sustained pressure to continue an historic practice of
inappropriately developing floodplain land.
‘The
2022 floods in South-East Queensland and NSW are the costliest
natural disaster for insurance costs in Australian history. As of
June 2023, the ICA (Insurance Council of Australia) estimates the
February-March 2022 floods in South-East Queensland and NSW have
caused $5.87 billion in insured damages,’ according to the
Australian Treasury. And that doesn’t include all those who were
uninsured or the $5 billion that modelling showed the 2022 floods
cost the economy.
So
why are we continuing to allow developers to build on floodplains
using development applications (DAs) that are ten or twenty years old
and we know will cause significant future costs to our communities
and governments – costs that will be in the billions of dollars and
that ultimately we are paying for via our taxes and rates?
This
was the question under discussion in Brunswick Heads on September 5
as concerned residents and community groups, CLAI Wallum, Friends of
the Koala Inc, MPs and committee members of the NSW Parliamentary
Inquiry into Historical Development Consents in NSW – aka ‘zombie’
developments met.
Zombie
developments
A
key part of the discussion is how to deal with legacy, or ‘zombie’
developments and their future impacts on flooding, fire and the
environment. These are DAs that have been approved and have sat idle
for years with only minimal work done in the first five years that
then allows the DA to remain active indefinitely into the future.
That is, they can be activated and developed under the original DA
that does not have to take into account current legislation and
learning, like the heights of the 2022 floods, and in the cases of
Gales Holding in Kingscliff and Iron Gates in Evans Head they can
fill floodplains and build on them with no reference to the impact
these developments will have on existing and future housing,
businesses and infrastructure.
‘This
scourge on coastal communities along the entire NSW coast, has been
very well documented in the report “Concreting our Coast: The
developer onslaught destroying our coastal villages and environment”
by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann,’ Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress
Association (KRPA) explained in a submission to the inquiry.
Following
the meeting KRPA President Peter Newton told The Echo that:
‘Kingscliff and other areas of the Tweed Shire remain under threat
from these historic approvals on the floodplain and in ecologically
sensitive areas. The association welcomed the opportunity for a full
and frank dialogue on the risks we are facing and the potential for
planning reforms.’
Some
recommendations from those attending the roundtable included
potential buybacks or land swaps for these historically-approved DAs.
‘The
financial cost of recovery to communities and governments is
eye-watering,’ said KRPA in their submission.
‘We
need to shift the emphasis from spending on flood recovery to
spending on flood prevention and mitigation. This may require
billions in, for example, compensation/land swaps to acquire such
historically approved land from developers, but we need to start
somewhere. Governments are spending billions on each flood event –
this at least would be a one-off cost. This cost cannot be met by
councils (and therefore ratepayers) and needs to be addressed at the
state and federal government levels.’
Don’t
use it, lose it
Stricter
regulations around how long a DA can remain active were also put
forward with president of the Evans Head Residents for Sustainable
Development Incorporated (EHRSDI), Richard Gates, saying that ‘fixed
use-by dates for commencement and completion of DAs’ need to be
implemented....
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
[Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948]
Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.
A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourismbusiness development services.
A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!
An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements.The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.
A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.
A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?
A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.
An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?
A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.
A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.
A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?
An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.
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