Harmers produces an exercise in the pathetic

Statement by Harmers Workplace Lawyers
Wednesday 12 Dec. 2012
"Whilst of course we respect the court's decision, we are shocked and disappointed by it. We will argue strongly on appeal that the conclusions in his Honour'sjudgment made about our conduct of the case are simply not justified by the evidence. Neither myself, nor this firm, are part of any conspiracy.
Harmers Workplace Lawyers has over many years assisted thousands of individual,corporate and union clients to access justice.
We have assisted James Ashby in that same way, as an individual who could not otherwise afford to run very expensive litigation in our courts.
This is the sole reason we took on James Ashby's case. Politics played absolutely no role in the decision to take on James as a client. As I swore in my affidavit, and as recognised by his Honour in his decision, my political views are notconsistent with the conservative side of politics. We are a law firm, consciousof our professional obligations, and take no role in politics.
As a firm, we will be examining all avenues to have this decision, and its comments, overturned through due judicial process."
Michael Harmer
Harmers Workplace Lawyers
Michael is not available for further comment.
MEDIA CONTACT Anthony McClellan
AMC Media
Mob. 0433 122 360
anthonymcc@gmail.com
T: antmac9

Political opportunism continues in relation to loose talk concerning any Clarence water diversion

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 26 November 2010:

Fringe parties still making hay with Clarence water talk

August and November 2010 sees political opportunism continue.........

# The following is on the website of the fledgling political party the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia:

Newly elected National Party MP for Riverina, Michael McCormack, described the plan as "a guide to depopulate inland Australia". Although this was said in passing, it reflected our material, and was the most truthful thing any Federal MP has said about the implications of the plan. He also asked what effect this is having on our kids, as they hear their parents talk about the meaning of the plan……………………..

What we lead with in one meeting, we find is raised more in questions at the subsequent meeting, ie repealing the Water Act, or the Wentworth Group. Circles discuss it, and raise it at the next one. An Italian farmer talked about the Clarence River scheme, and had our leaflet from Griffith on him when he asked the question.

The LYM spoke to a Hay councillor who recognised the CEC, and was very responsive on water projects, the Clarence and Bradfield, saying we should've done this a long time ago. All of the MDB Fraud DVDs were distributed, to a very good response.

* Michael McCormack is on the parliamentary committee currently inquiring into the regional social/economic impacts of the proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan and probably looking at interbasin water transfer.

# The Agmates website indicates that another fringe political party Climate Sceptics Party of Australia is also out in the Basin stirring up support for interbasin water transfer:

Climate Sceptics candidates Steve Davies (Barker) and Leon and Nathan Ashby (Senate) will tour Murray river towns early next week explaining their policy on water.

The party believes there is plenty of water in Australia and it would not support a water buy back policy for the River Murray but rather support diverting water from Northern Australian rivers as the solution for extra water to SA. It would be a vastly improved Bradfield scheme something proposed over 70 years ago by the designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, John Bradfield. Lead Senate candidate Leon Ashby says "Rivers such as the Clarence, Tully, Herbert, Burdekin, and Flinders in northern Australia have vast amounts flow into the sea during floods.
These floods could be diverted to flow to many places inland including down as far as Murray Bridge via gravity fed pipelines and channels."

# The Murray Darling Basin Authority is noting this discussion:

The Authority heard:
•That the MDBA should consider the need for extra dams.
•That the Lake Mejum scheme should be reconsidered as an option for storing water for irrigation.
•Support for building the Clarence river scheme.
•That the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme being built to generate power but also for irrigation and to look after the environment – it was straight forward, why are we moving away from this?
•There is a need for real works and measures to water the environment.
•Concern that vast amounts of water are lost to evaporation.

Three years and seven months after making the commitment, Perrottet Government reluctant to transfer responsibility for 15,000km of regional roads back to state now many of these roads are wracked by flood damage?

 

Clarence Valley Independent, 4 November 2022:

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway has been forced to admit that not one single kilometre of a promised 15,000 kilometres of regional roads has been transferred from local councils to State ownership.

Under questioning by John Graham MLC during a recent Budget Estimates hearing, Minister Farraway could not bring himself to say the words “it is zero”, despite it being clear that zero roads have been transferred under the program.

The Minister dashed the hopes of regional motorists and cash-strapped regional councils that the glacial roll-out of the program would be sped up, saying the Government’s key 2019 election commitment is “not a burning topic” amongst regional councils.

The Minister also cast doubt on whether the full complement of 15,000 kilometres promised would be transferred, repeatedly stating that the policy was “up to” 15,000 kilometres.

Shadow Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said the Minister’s evidence confirmed that the promise was a cynical attempt to pork barrel regional communities.

“This was a “magic pudding” election promise; every Nationals and Liberal candidate could point to a potential road in their electorate which could be eligible for reclassification or transfer, and the Government still, nearly four years later, hasn’t transferred a single one of them,” Ms Aitchison said.

The Labor candidate for Clarence Dr Leon Ankersmit said the promise clearly is a burning topic amongst locals whose tyres and cars are being wrecked by our potholes that are voluminous and crater deep … it is burning holes in their pockets.

“We’ve got priority regional roads in the Clarence Valley and Richmond Valley Councils that have been put on the back burner by this city-centric Government,” Dr Ankersmit said.

“When this policy was announced it was 15,000 kilometres of regional roads and then the dissembling started with ‘up to’.

“That is the whole problem with this particular election commitment; it has been short on action, vague on detail and has left local councils and locals in limbo land.”

“Clarence Valley Council is seeking to have a number of regional roads transferred to State ownership and management, but importantly, with council keeping state funded maintenance contracts to protect local outdoor jobs. Roads identified for transfer include Grafton to Yamba Road, Eight Mile Lane, Armidale Road, Orara Way, Wooli Road, Big River Way and Ulugundahi View; Iluka Road, Clarence Way, Tyringham Road, and Goodwood Island Road.

“Council is also seeking to have the following local roads reclassified to regional roads and transferred to the State: Angourie Road, Brooms Head Road, Gardiners Road, Amos Road and Palmers Channel South Bank Road, Coaldale Road, Rogans Bridge Road, Pringles Way, Ashby-Tullymorgan and Ashby-Jackybulbin Road, Old Glen Innes Road, Coldstream Road and Tucabia Road, and Sherwood Creek Road.”

Dr Ankersmit confirmed Clarence Valley Council wants to hand back all 378km of regional roads under its control or 15% of its total road network to the State Road network, also keeping maintenance contracts, with some relevant applications done in collaboration with neighbouring councils.

“This includes the full length of the Clarence Way.” Dr Ankersmit said.

“Richmond Valley Council is seeking to have Casino to Woodburn Road transferred to State ownership and what will be the Old Pacific Highway from Boundary Creek Road to South Woodburn Interchange to be a State asset with the State assuming responsibility for its maintenance.”

“However, at this point Richmond Valley Council has only been contacted about transferring the Broadwater to Evans Head Road from local to regional road. The issue about additional funds to Council to maintain the newly classified regional road has not been addressed.”

“Richmond Valley Council also nominated Naughtons Gap Rd (via East Street) from Bruxner Highway in Casino to the Lismore Kyogle Road to be re-classified from local to regional road, whilst remaining under Council control to protect local jobs.”

“Council also supported Kyogle and Lismore Councils in their proposal to have the Lismore Kyogle Road, as well as Lismore Coraki Road, and Wyrallah Road returned to the State.”…..

Hanson & Ashby now think they are an elected duo?

It would appear that Pauline Hanson is loathe to fulfill her extremely light parliamentary commitments and James Hunter Ashby eager to acquire a level of political power he was never granted by the Australian electorate......

https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliceworkman/no-nbn-commitment/

James Ashby apparently desires that the Commonwealth and Slipper defend all allegations before he supplies evidence of these same allegations to the Federal Court

 

In the matter of Ashby v Commonwealth of Australia:

Click on image to enlarge

The Ashby-Slipper-Harmer matters still wending their way through the Australian judicial system

Excerpt from bouefbloginon 14 June 2013

As Ashby v Slipper - NSD22/2013 and Harmer v Slipper - NSD31/2013 wend their way through the judicial system, placing yet more submissions before the Federal Court, J at bouefbloginon adds another perspective.

Full list of court documents available online here.

Michael Daniel Harmer goes to Court

 

In NSD31/2013 Federal Court of Australia:

Clause in Harmer’s  Application for leave to appeal in matter listed as Michael Daniel Harmer v Peter Slipper & Anor.

 

The Anor would appear to be James Hunter Ashby, his client in Ashby v Commonwealth of Australia & Peter Slipper.

 

Besides lodging the application for leave to appeal, Mr. Harmer also made an interlocutory application and submitted an affidavit.

 

Lawyers Weekly 18  January 2013:



The Office of the Legal Services Commissioner could not reveal whether Harmer is currently being investigated over “abuse of process” allegations in Rares’ judgment. However, Assistant Legal Services Commissioner Lynda Muston told Lawyers Weekly that the office always investigates claims of abuse of process or misleading the court.

“Where the evidence supports those allegations we’ll prosecute accordingly,” she added.

But an investigation could be on hold until the outcome of Harmer’s appeal.

“If we were looking at findings of a particular court in a particular matter and that matter then went on appeal we would ... defer that investigation pending the outcome of an appeal,” said Muston.

 

Mr. Harmer's matter is before the court on 8 February 2013.

Are Berejiklian & Co attempting to pull an environmental sleight of hand on NSW communities who value their green and biodiverse landscapes?

On  23 November 2016 the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (repealing the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, the Nature Conservation Trust Act 2001 and the animal and plant provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974) became law.

On the same day the NSW Local Land Services Amendment Act 2016 (repealing the Native Vegetation Act 2003 and amending the Local Land Services Act 2013 in relation to native vegetation land management in rural areas) also became law.

Currently the NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government has these documents on exhibition:

Regulations and other key products to support the Government's new Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Local Land Services Amendment Act 2016, are on exhibition for six weeks from 10 May until 21 June.

• Draft Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 (PDF), and its supporting regulatory impact statement (PDF)
• Draft Local Land Services Amendment Regulation 2017 (PDF)
• Draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Biodiversity Conservation) Regulation 2017 (PDF)
• Explanation of Intended Effect for the State Environmental Planning Policy (Vegetation) 2017 (PDF)
• Land Management (Native Vegetation) Code (PDF)
• Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) (PDF) and BAM tool (Link)
• Accreditation Scheme for the Application of the Biodiversity Assessment Method (PDF)
• Draft Sensitive Biodiversity Values Land Map (Link)
• Serious and irreversible impacts guidance (PDF)
• Offsets payment calculator (Excel) and User Manual (PDF)

Facts sheets and guides that provide detailed information on key topic areas are also available to assist you in making a submission.

Loud warning bells should be ringing in all ears – not least because the draft regulation document State Environmental Planning Policy (Vegetation) 2017 is nowhere to be found.

Instead there is a slick 22-page Explanation of Intended Effect booklet (highlighted in red) which is not worth the paper it is printed on at this point in time.

Why the Berejiklian Government assumes that it is best practice to place major policy change on exhibition with a crucial SEPP not yet drafted is unexplained.

Nor is there any indication as to why this as yet unformed vegetation SEPP is to be signed into government regulation in eleven weeks' time without voters having the opportunity to assess and comment on its precise provisions and wording. 

One has to suspect that the reason for such sleight of hand is that State Environmental Planning Policy (Vegetation) 2017 will contain a workaround for property developers to clear environmentally valuable native vegetation using the new permit system long before land comes before a council for consideration as the subject of a development application.

As the Explanation of Intended Effect now stands it appears that local government will have less control over clearing of native vegetation than it had in the past.

The Better Planning Network (BPN), a state-wide not for profit grassroots volunteer-based organisation, has also highlighted the following issues:

The detailed map of land classified as 'Environmentally Sensitive' is not publicly available.

- The map of Category 1 and Category 2 rural land (ie- land that can be cleared under self-assessable codes or otherwise) is not publicly available.

- The mapping of core koala habitat across NSW has not been completed (we are aware of only 5 NSW Councils that have identified core koala habitat under SEPP 44 Koala Habitat Protection.)

- The details of the Biodiversity Offsets Calculator are not publicly available.

​

It is impossible for the public to provide accurate feedback on the draft Regulations, Codes and SEPP without access to the above elements.  It is also irresponsible and risky for the Government to operationalise its legislation and regulations before these elements have been finalised. ​

On this basis, we urge you to contact the NSW Premier and the responsible Ministers (Upton, Roberts and Blair) to ask them to: 

​

- ​Extend the public exhibition of all Regulations and Codes under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2017, as well as the Vegetation SEPP, until the components listed above are made publicly available.

​- ​Ensure that operation of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2017 does not commence until all relevant mapping, included that listed above, has been completed and reviewed for accuracy by key stakeholders.

An analysis of the draft Regulations, Codes and SEPP has been provided though the Stand Up For Nature Submission Guide. We are preparing our own draft submission which we will circulate to you as soon as possible. However, accurate comment on the full package is not possible until all of the components listed above are made publicly available.

The Environmental Defenders Office NSW (EDO) uploaded this video which walks through the documents on exhibition:

https://youtu.be/Y0JnYgQx040

EDO 1 June 2017 seminar slides can be found here. Included in these slides is some advice on what to cover in submissions.

According to the EDO "There are some serious weaknesses" in these draft documents which are intended to become operational on 25 August 2017.

These include:

* Repeal of Native Vegetation Act and environmental standards that go with it, replaced with Codes

* Heavy reliance on flexible and indirect biodiversity offsets – weaker standards in the BAM and for biocertification

* Conservation gains aren't guaranteed in law, but dependent on funding decisions

* There is significant discretion for decision-makers

* Significant risk of policy failure

Locally one can add to this list the fact that Clarence Valley Council has stated:

A review of the draft Sensitive Biodiversity Values Land Map released by OEH reveals that it is missing areas of the Clarence Valley LGA which are known to contain habitat for threatened and critically endangered species or significant biodiversity value (for example core koala habitat identified in the Ashby-Woombah-Iluka koala plan of management, as well as significant areas of littoral rainforest and coastal wetlands).

[Clarence Valley Council, Environment, Planning & Community Committee Business Paper - 13 June 2017]

Concerned residents can have their say until 21 June 2017 by:

Making an online submission here

Or writing to the Land Management and Biodiversity Conservation Reforms Office,

PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232

NOTE

At least one local government, Clarence Valley Council, has requested an extension of time to make a submission on these reforms and to date this formal request has been met with deafening silence.

Politicians and Water: The Murray Darling Basin Scandal Fallout

The ABC Four Corners program “Pumped” which was screened on 24^th July has illustrated how important scrutiny of the establishment is to the rule of law in our democracy. It also illustrates why the ABC is under threat from many politicians and other powerful players who see any effective scrutiny of their operations as an intolerable threat to their way of doing business, a way that is against both the general community interest as well as the national interest.

The outrage from the revelations of water theft and other illegality by big irrigators in the northern NSW area of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) has increased over the days since the program was screened.  Politicians have been left scrambling and forced to change tack following the strength of the reaction and the condemnation of the inadequacy of their initial responses.

In NSW the Nationals Minister for Primary Industry, Niall Blair, was forced to change from an internal inquiry conducted by his department to an independent inquiry.  Blair was excessively optimistic in thinking that such an internal inquiry would be acceptable given that Four Corners had revealed a questionable relationship between Gavin Hanlon[1], his department’s Deputy Director General (Water), and big irrigators in the upper MDB.  In addition there was the important question of why the department had failed to act on departmental compliance officers’ reports of licence breaches and meter tampering. And there were questions about the role of the former water minister Kevin Humphries in dealing with the large irrigators.

The NSW Opposition has also taken action referring both the former Nationals water minister Kevin Humphries (Member for Barwon) and a senior bureaucrat (presumably Gavin Hanlon) to ICAC.

The Federal Government reaction was initially almost dismissive.  The Minister for Water Resources, Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce[2], as well as attempting to downplay the water theft by comparing it to cattle rustling, claimed that it was a matter for NSW and that there was no need for Federal Government involvement. Billions of dollars of taxpayer funds have been used to buy back water for environmental flows and instead of being used for this purpose this water has gone to the big irrigators in the upper Barwon-Darling.  Presumably the taxpayer funds had come from the Federal Government. This would surely make it a matter of very great interest to this government which, seeing it is so concerned about budget repair, would surely be appalled at the waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.

Joyce’s totally inadequate initial response was compounded shortly afterwards with what he said in a speech to irrigators in a hotel at Shepparton, a speech which was recorded by one of those attending.

Joyce said, "We have taken water, put it back into agriculture, so we could look after you and make sure we don't have the greenies running the show basically sending you out the back door, and that was a hard ask.”

"A couple of nights ago on Four Corners, you know what that's all about? It's about them trying to take more water off you, trying to create a calamity. A calamity for which the solution is to take more water off you, shut more of your towns down."

Even a dinosaur like Barnaby Joyce should have been aware that anyone carrying a smartphone has the capacity to secretly record what others are saying.  In the political sphere we have seen how damaging this can be in the cases of Christopher Pyne and One Nation’s James Ashby. The Shepparton recording has certainly damaged Joyce and has added volume to the calls for him to be sacked from the Water portfolio.  Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen as the Prime Minister has enough problems in his own party without alienating Joyce and the Nationals.

By Sunday 30^th the scandal became a matter that the Federal Government had to act upon despite Joyce’s earlier labelling it a state matter. The Federal solution was for the Murray Darling Basin Authority to carry out an independent basin-wide review into compliance with state-based regulations governing water use. The Authority is to report by 15^th December 2017.  The Government saw this review as complementing the other investigations of the Four Corners allegations.

However, this is a case of far too little too late.  The MDB Authority is scarcely a body able to conduct an independent review of what has obviously been happening under its watch.  Furthermore a cynic would see the reporting date of 15^th December, just before the Christmas holiday season, as a typical government move to ensure that the review report would receive minimal attention and be forgotten about over the holiday break.

The Federal Opposition, like its NSW state counterpart, has also taken action on the scandal.  It requested that the Auditor-General expand his current audit of the Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.  The Auditor-General will now include how the federal department is monitoring the performance of NSW under the National Partnership Agreement on Implementing Water Reform in the MDB relevant to the protection and use of environmental water.

Unsurprisingly, the South Australian Government, which has long been concerned about the lack of water reaching the end of the Murray-Darling system, was outraged by the allegations.  It is calling for a judicial inquiry, a much stronger investigation than those arranged by NSW and the Federal Government.  SA senators from Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Party and the Conservatives have joined their state government in calling for a judicial inquiry.

This scandal has a long way to run yet.  There are major questions to be answered about the National Party – both state and federally - and its relationship with the big irrigators and its apparent indifference to the needs of other irrigators further down the system.  There is also the question of its influence on the workings of the NSW Department of Agriculture.   And just what role has it had in limiting the effectiveness of – perhaps even of sabotaging - the Murray Darling Basin Plan?

For both Federal and NSW state Liberal leaders there is the question about the advisability of having resource management portfolios in the hands of Nationals and of putting both Agriculture and Water in the same portfolio.  Each of these governments has a very poor environmental record.  What has been happening on the Barwon-Darling reinforces the view that keeping “in good” with the Nationals is far more important for the  Liberals than ensuring that environmental policies are in the best long-term interests of the state and nation.

[1] Gavin Hanlon joined the NSW Department of Primary Industries in December 2014.  Prior to this he had been Managing Director of Goulburn Murray Water since 2011.

[2] The water portfolio was removed from the Environment Department and allocated to Joyce as a result of the agreement with the Liberals in 2015  following  Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister.

Hildegard

Northern Rivers

2^nd August 2017

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email northcoastvoices at gmail dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.

Poor fella, my country: composition of the Australian Senate post-July 2016

This is a great day for democracy, Mr Speaker

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the passing of Senate reforms

Hansard,17 March 2016

The Turnbull Government’s legislative changes to how Australian senators are elected and its subsequent calling of a double-dissolution federal election in the face of a disillusioned and mutinous electorate, has resulted in this.....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 2016:

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party is now a pivotal force in Australian politics, having secured a total of four senators and consequently a crucial balance-of-power role in the new Parliament.

The Turnbull government will require the support of the One Nation bloc - as well as the three Nick Xenophon senators - to pass any legislation blocked by both Labor and the Greens.

But already there are questions over how long the four Hanson senators will remain united, with election-watcher Antony Green pointing to the party's abysmal record of keeping MPs in line.

The anti-Islam party benefited from a strong flow of voter preferences to win two Queensland Senate seats, including Ms Hanson's, and one in NSW, when results were finalised on Thursday. Farmer Rod Culleton has also been elected in Western Australia…..

One Nation spokesman James Ashby said the party's senators would be bound by the party's official policy manifesto. 

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 2016:

One of Australia's new senators, One Nation's Malcolm Roberts, sent a bizarre affidavit to then prime minister Julia Gillard in 2011 demanding to be exempt from the carbon tax and using language consistent with the "sovereign citizen" movement.

Mr Roberts has also written numerous reports claiming climate change is an international conspiracy fostered by the United Nations and international banks to impose a socialist world order. At least one report cites several anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists, including notorious Holocaust denier Eustace Mullins among its "primary references".

Anti-government, self-identified "sovereign citizens" claim to exist outside the country's legal and taxation systems and frequently believe the government uses grammar to enslave its citizens.

NSW Police say such people "should be considered a potential terrorist threat".

In an affidavit he sent to Ms Gillard in 2011, Mr Roberts identified himself as "Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts., the living soul", representing a corporate entity he termed MALCOLM IEUAN ROBERTS.

In the document, Mr Roberts demanded to be exempted from the carbon tax and compensated to the tune of $280,000 if Ms Gillard did not provide "full and accurate disclosure" in relation to 28 points explaining why he should not be liable for the tax.

Mr Roberts addressed the affidavit to "The Woman, Julia-Eileen: Gillard., acting as The Honourable JULIA EILEEN GILLARD" and presented her with a detailed contract he expected her to sign.

That stylisation of names is commonly used by "sovereign citizens" who believe the use of hyphens and colons is a way to evade governments' use of grammar to enslave their citizens.

When the largest Senate cross bench since Federation is combined with a one seat government majority in the House of Representatives - reduced to 75 votes on the floor once The Speaker is installed - then this country is now at the mercy of the cross benches. 

One of which is riddled with far-right, opportunistic, xenophobic, anti-science, anti-immigration, conspiracy theorising, zealots and political berserkers.

The composition of the Senate until 2019……

NSW Senators elected:

1.Payne (Lib)

2.Dastyari (ALP)

3.Sinodinos (Lib)

4.McAllister (ALP)

5.Nash (NAT)

6.O’Neill (ALP)

7.Fierravanti-Wells(Lib)

8.Cameron(ALP)

9.Rhiannon(GRN)

10.Williams(NAT) 1

11.Burston(PHON)

12.Leyonhjelm (LDP)

Queensland Senators elected:

1. Brandis (LNP)

2. Watt (ALP)

3. Hanson (PHON)

4. Canavan (LNP)

5. Chisholm (ALP)

6. McGrath (LNP)

7. Moore (ALP)

8. McDonald (LNP)

9. Waters (GRN)

10. O’Sullivan (LNP)

11. Ketter (ALP)

12. Roberts (PHON)

Victorian Senators elected:

1. Fifield (Lib)

2. Carr (ALP)

3. Di Natale (GRN)

4. McKenzie (Nats)

5. Conroy (ALP)

6. Ryan (Lib)

7. Collins (ALP)

8. Paterson (Lib)

9. Marshall (ALP)

10. Hinch (DHJP)

11. Rice (GRN)

12. Hume (Lib)

South Australian Senators elected:

1.Birmingham (Lib)

2. Wong (ALP)

3. Xenophon (NXT)

4. Bernardi (Lib)

5.Farrell (ALP)

6. Griff (NXT)

7. Rushton (Lib)

8. Gallacher (ALP)

9. Fawcett (Lib)

10. Kakoschke-Moore (NXT)

11. Hanson-Young (GRN)

12. Day (FF)

Elected senators for other states and territories:

Tasmania

Western Australia

Northern Territory

ACT

Memo to NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole & NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance: Pull you fingers out and fix this!

Sportsman's Creek Bridge (1910) sited close to where the creek meets the Clarence River
Image: GeoLink

The Daily Examiner, 6 May 2019, p.1:

As he stood on the now dismantled Sportsmans Creek Bridge approaches, Lawrence Museum and Historical Society president Rob Forbes held a series of letters that appalled him.

For the past two years, based on a positive relationship with Roads and Maritime Services, the society had made plans to reconstruct a full section of the bridge, preserving its memory at the museum.

Now, with a change in management, that agreement made has seemingly vanished, with RMS offering a ‘take it or leave it’ approach to what will be preserved.

“I’m appalled to think that a small local historical society trying to save one of the most historic and important structures in Lawrence has to record every single conversation made with every single person we talked to so we don’t get shafted,” Mr Forbes said.

Mr Forbes said for the first stages of planning, the rapport with RMS could not have been better, with RMS employees regularly visiting the museum to see what could be done.

“They couldn’t do enough for us,” he said. “They even organised a license from the EPA so we could take some of the building that was removed for the bridge which had lead paint.

“It carried over when we wanted a section of the bridge. I stood in the museum with the representative and we looked at the model so we were talking about the exact same thing.”

Originally it was agreed two complete ends of one span (both sides of the structure) could be reassembled to create a good representation of the bridge.

“The engineer at the meeting said we could have two complete ends of one span and ‘probably’ also a large amount of the other bridge timbers ‘if we wanted it’,” Mr Forbes said.

After the bridge was demolished recently, and with a change in management at RMS, these verbal agreements made months earlier were disregarded, according to Mr Forbes.

“An email was received stating we could now have only two ends of one truss (one side of the structure only) and 150 square metres of decking – and that this was non-negotiable,” he said.

“We’ve even had emails saying if we had a problem with the quality of the timber they’ll sell the whole lot to salvage... and we feel pressured to sign the new agreement or it’ll best lost forever.

“There was no agreement, but when they said yes for two years, as far as I’m concerned the deal was done.”

A spokesman said RMS had worked with the Lawrence community, including the museum and historical society, throughout the Sportsmans Creek Bridge project.

“Roads and Maritime has provided a replica of the bridge to the society to commemorate this historic structure, along with an agreement to supply timbers from the old bridge for re-use as a commemorative structure,” the spokesman said.

“The agreement includes providing 150sqm of bridge decking timbers to be used as a floor to support the old Ashby ferry, two ends of one truss (each end of one single truss) and supports for display purposes only and transport of the timber and truss to the museum.

“This agreement has not changed and Roads and Maritime will continue to work with the historical society to commemorate the old Sportsmans Creek timber truss bridge.”

The Lawrence Historical Society urges people to show support for the cause by either contacting Mr Forbes on 0412 715 805, or leaving comments on their Facebook page.

The pain is not over for Brough, McArdle, Pyne, Entsch & the rest of Abbott's merry men

Ashby and his backers get an early and unwelcome Christmas present.

In the matter of James Asby v Commonwealth of Australia and Peter Slipper:

More bad news on NSW North Coast koala numbers

It seems every time one turns around these days one hears of land either being illegally cleared or cleared for approved development but also 'accidentally' being cleared of known koala habitat trees.

The situation appears to be dire in the Clarence Valley with population numbers in the vicinity of the Shannon Creek Dam site falling from an estimated 140-240 koalas to between 4-12 animals, the Ashby colony now only around 30-50 and Woombah koalas near local extinction according to Valley Watch environmental group [The Daily Examiner,Grafton,12 August 2008,p.1]

The Northern Rivers koala (phascolarctos cinereus) is now listed as a vulnerable species within New South Wales.

Sick or injured koalas also find their way into trees on the fringes of ever encroaching urban areas or are found by the roadside.

The Friends of the Koala which has been fighting to conserve Koalas and their habitat in the Northern Rivers of NSW has a 24 hour koala rescue and care service operating out of the Lismore area on PH: 6622 1233 and W.I.R.E.S can be contacted in Clarence Valley on PH: 6643.4055 and Northern Rivers on PH: 6628.1898.

These two worthy groups are always on the lookout for volunteers and are very grateful for donations.

The next time you decide that you would like to treat yourself to an espresso or cafe latte with a piece of cake - give the money to a wildlife group instead.

Photo from Friends of the Koala website.