Wednesday 22 June 2016

Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!



"All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values." [DLWC, Umwelt (Australia Pty Ltd, 2003, Clarence Estuary Management Plan: The Clarence Estuary - A Valued Asset]

The economic value of tourism is worth an est. $239.4 million per annum to the Clarence Valley with recreational fishing forming a significant part of the region's income and, in 2010 the commercial fishing industry was worth an est. $92 million annually to the valley.

The economies of the three main towns in the Clarence River estuary are heavily based on commercial and recreational fishing and water-based tourism, with Yamba and Iluka being principal holiday destinations.

Boating is a major recreational activity, with 90% of recreational boating related to fishing and 61% involving retired people. [Clarence Valley Council, 2003]

Fresh seafood caught locally forms part of the staple diet for many Lower Clarence households.

These are the faces of some of the people who threw a line in the last two months:


Bluff Beach, 10 June 2016

Catch at Moriaty’s Wall, 8 June 2016

26 May 2016

31 May 2016


Iluka Beach, 18 May 2016

Off the break wall, 8 June 2016



Brown's Rock, 16 June 2016

[Images from Iluka Bait & Tackle]

However, Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd - along with Messrs. Des Euen, Thomas Chui, Lee and Nigel Purves - want to destroy this great year-round and holiday lifestyle by lobbying government to allow the 
construction of a large industrial port covering over 27 per cent of the Clarence River estuary.

Thereby severely compromising lower river commercial and recreational fishing grounds with the constant movement in and out of the river of mega ships such as these:

[North Coast Voices, February 2016]


With their bow wave and propeller wash sucking at known seagrass beds as well as riverbanks along the main estuary channels as they pass. 

Many of us who live on the river are firmly of the belief that we would rather have

“Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!”

Brief Background

Long before the arrival of Europeans in the area, local Bundjalung people were fishing the waters of the 'big river' for oysters and fish, as evidenced by the large middens found along the river banks and coastline. The first settlers to the area found a bountiful river surrounded by dense subtropical forests and swamps flowing out to the coastline. Fish were easy to come by and made up an important food source for the early settlers who set about developing forestry and farming in the area. Grafton was established in the 1850’s with the river being a principal source of transport. The introduction of sheep grazing to the area occurred in the late 1850’s and sugar cane farming was carried out as early as 1868 (Anon, 1980a). A small commercial fishery had its beginnings in 1862 when fish were caught to supply workers and their families employed in the construction of the river entrance works. This major project was designed to provide safe navigation for the coastal steamers that traded upriver. Commercial fishermen were supplying fish to the local market by the 1870’s, particularly seasonal fishing for mullet, which was an important local industry supplying the Grafton market (Anon, 1880). The fishing industry began in earnest in 1884 when shipments of fish were sent to Sydney twice a week, weather permitting. The fish, mainly whiting, bream, flat tailed mullet and flathead were packed in ice in large insulated boxes. The boxes were then reused to bring ice on the return trip (Anon, 1994). [Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, A socio—economic evaluation of the commercial fishing industry in the Ballina, Clarence and Coffs Harbour regions, 2009]

o   The commercial industry in Northern NSW provides about one-third of the product (fish) landed in the whole of NSW.
o   An assessment of fish stocks in NSW indicated most fisheries are probably sustainable but that there should be no expansion of catches.
o  The economic modelling results demonstrated that the industry provides quantifiable economic benefits to the Northern NSW region in the form of output, income, employment and value added (gross regional product).
o  The combined harvesting and processing sectors of the industry in Northern NSW provided total flow-on effects of $216 million derived from output, $36.1 million in income, 933 employment positions and $75.5 million in value added.
o   Two-thirds of the money generated by the operation of the industry is spent in the local and regional economies.
o   Commercial fishing activity in the Clarence River occurs in the Estuary General and Estuary Trawl Fisheries.
o   The ocean fleet has home port facilities in both Yamba and Iluka.
o   The Clarence River Fishermen's Co-op operates two depots with Maclean primarily processing catch from the river fishery and Iluka processing catch from the offshore fishery.
o   Ocean Hauling was one of the earliest fisheries to be utilised on the beaches in the Clarence district and continues to be an important fishery in the area.
[Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, 2009 & Clarence Valley Council, 2016]

o   In 2010 Clarence Valley Council estimates that the commercial fishing industry is now worth over $92 million and generates over 430 jobs, while the recreational fishing industry which forms a large part of the $280 million tourism industry in the Valley generates much of the economic base of Yamba, Iluka and Maclean.
o   Due to tourism Yamba and Iluka regularly double their population during major holiday periods and many retired and family holiday makers are thought to be drawn to the area by fishing and other recreational opportunities on the river.
o   Commercial ocean fish and crustacean species both breed and feed in the Clarence River estuary system.
[J.M. Melville, Submission to the Inquiry into the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on Regional Australia, No. 177, December 2010]


All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values…..
The outstanding threat nominated by the Maclean group was population growth and urban development, particularly where this is located close to the estuary. This is an interesting result, given that the Clarence overall is not an urbanised waterway. It may reflect the rapid changes that are occurring in Yamba, and the view in the community that further growth in this area will require major sustainability issues to be addressed. The appropriate growth rate and style of development in Yamba has been a major source of discussion for residents in the lower Clarence, especially in response to Council’s interpretation of the results of its community survey on the future of Yamba. Several other frequently nominated threats were examples of the types of threats that are associated with poorly managed urban growth that exceeds the capability of the natural system. Declining health of the estuary (from any cause) was perceived as a major threat by the lower Clarence community, acknowledging the high economic dependence on estuary health in this area.


Labor's plan to rescue the National Broadband Network and scale up rollout of fibre-to-the-premises


For everyone tired of the debacle that is the Abbott-Turnbull Government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout, there may be some hope……..
http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/

Labor Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, media release, 13 June 2016:

An incoming Shorten Labor Government will direct NBN Co. to prioritise the rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises NBN to homes and businesses across the electorate of Page. 

In the entire electorate of Page, not a single existing home or business will get Malcolm Turnbull’s second rate Fibre-to-the-Node network by 2016 as initially promised. Not one…

Janelle Saffin said that there was a lot of dissatisfaction in the region about Turnbull’s flawed NBN.

“Stephen and I spoke to Keda Ley and her family today to find out why the NBN matters so much to them,” Ms Saffin said.

“She is a mum of three who works and studies from home and she needs a strong, reliable Internet connection to make this happen.

“There are families just like the Ley family across the region; in the 21st century they need first-rate Internet services.

“Of course it isn’t just households who stand to benefit from Labor’s plan. Small business owners can’t compete if they are constantly being held back by an inferior broadband connection. 

“The NBN build has not even started in Grafton, Lismore, Alstonville, Casino, Evans Head, Woolgoolga and Yamba. These areas deserve better and Labor will deliver for them......

Tuesday 21 June 2016

Something died in the NSW Northern Rivers region today


APN News & Media has sold its regional newspaper business to its own shareholder, News Corp, for $36.6 million.
APN's shares reached $4.90 on the news after opening at $4.61, after jumping 11 per cent on Monday following media speculation about the sale.  
The regional assets include 12 daily newspaper, 60 community newspapers and dozens of news websites. 
News Corp already owns a 14.9 per cent stake in APN, which is currently shedding its traditional media assets but keeping its radio and AdShel divisions.  
The deal still requires shareholder and regulatory approval. Regional mastheads include the Daily Mercury in Mackay, Bundaberg's NewsMail, The Gympie Times and the Sunshine Coast Daily. 
The Australian Regional Media division would be handed over in August provided all the hurdles were cleared.…..

Echo Net Daily, 21 June 2016:
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has signed a $36.6 million deal to buy APN News & Media’s Australian regional newspaper business, which includes The Northern Star and Tweed Daily News.
The deal – which is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, also covers the weekly publications, Byron Shire News, Ballina Advocate, the Lismore Echo and the Richmond River Examiner.
News Corp, already holds a stake of almost 15 per cent in APN, which means shareholder approval would also be required for what would be deemed a related-party transaction.
APN Australian Regional Media has a portfolio of 12 daily and more than 60 non-daily Australian regional newspapers.
Staff at the Northern Star and the other publications received an email just before 11am today confirming that the deal had been struck…..

The Australian, 20 June 2016:
News Corp, publisher of The Australian, has long been seen as the natural owner of ARM due to potential synergies with its regional business and the fact that few people know the assets better than News Corp executive chairman, and APN’s former boss, Michael Miller.
The Queensland focused portfolio includes 12 daily newspapers such as The ­Sunshine Coast Daily and The Gympie Times, and includes more than 60 non-daily and community publications.
The sale was outlined by APN in February as part of efforts to make a more aggressive move into the radio and outdoor advertising ­sectors. The price of the portfolio is understood to have fallen short of the $50m APN had been chasing.
News Corp, advised by Aquasia, already holds a stake of almost 15 per cent in APN which means shareholder approval would also be required for what would be deemed a related-party transaction…..

VALE MEDIA DIVERSITY

Turnbull abandons the Nationals to save his own skin?


With three weeks to go until the federal election, the two major parties are locking in preference deals to boost their chances in crucial regional and inner-city seats.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Liberal Party will preference the Greens last, or behind Labor, in every Lower House seat and in return, Labor has confirmed it will direct its preferences to the Liberal Party over the Nationals in the seats of Murray, O'Connor and Durack.

The deal will help the Liberal candidates fend off an attack from the Nationals in those three seats while also giving a boost to Labor's chances in the seats of Batman, Grayndler and Sydney.

"This is a decision I've made in the national interest," Mr Turnbull said.

Nationals candidates Damien Drum (Murray VIC), Lisa Cole (Durack WA) and John Hassell (O’Connor WA) must be really impressed with Malcolm’s interpretation of “the national interest”.

Anyone else would think his decision to abandon the Nats and try to scupper the Greens was all about the Liberal’s fear of; (a) losing the majority they held in the House of Representatives after September 2013 and (b) finding the Greens with a larger presence in either the lower house or the Senate after 2 July 2016.

A re-elected Turnbull Government will cost Australian taxpayers millions in legal fees


It seems the Abbott-Turnbull Government is incapable of learning from past mistakes……..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 2014:

Australia risks getting swept up in a wave of litigation by foreign corporations wishing to sue over unfavourable domestic laws, experts warn, after the government rejected a bill to ban controversial trade agreements.

A Senate committee on Wednesday rejected the bill to ban ISDS clauses from future treaties, put forward by Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson.

The clauses allow a foreign company to sue a government if it believes its laws have harmed its profit.

The rejection of the bill follows a warning by High Court Chief Justice Robert French that the provisions have the potential to challenge the power-base of the High Court and create uncertainty among litigants.

It also comes as the government negotiates one of the biggest trade deals in Australian history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes ISDS clauses.

ISDS clauses were originally put in place to safeguard the interests of companies operating in countries that lacked rule of law. However, health organisations and environmental groups argue they pose a threat to regulation that protects a country's citizens' best interests.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the number of ISDS cases internationally has doubled in the past 10 years to 568, with claimants from the EU and United States accounting for 75 per cent of cases. 

The disputes are filed through international arbitration courts that have been criticised for their lack of transparency, and there is no right to appeal.

Professor Thomas Faunce, at the Australian National University College of Law, has described the provisions as an "affront to the rule of law".

"You have these foreign stakeholders influencing - quite openly - the policy of our society," he says. "It is a complete re-organisation of sovereignty in our country."


On 27 June 2011 Philip Morris Asia began legal proceedings challenging the tobacco plain packaging legislation under the 1993 Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Hong Kong for the Promotion and Protection of Investments(Hong Kong Agreement). 

It took the Australian Government four years and an unknown number of dollars before the case was thrown out because of lack of jurisdiction.

A year after the Philip Morris matter began the WTO Dispute Settlement Body began establishing dispute settlement panels at the requests of Ukraine (on 28 September 2012), Honduras (on 25 September 2013), Indonesia (on 26 March 2014), Dominican Republic (on 25 April 2014) and Cuba (on 25 April 2014) in relation to Australia's tobacco plain packaging measure. The five complainants are arguing that the measure is inconsistent with Australia's WTO obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 according to the Attorney General’s Department.

The Department’s website further states:

To date, a record number of WTO members (in excess of 40) have joined those disputes as third parties.

On 5 May 2014, the WTO Director-General appointed Mr Alexander Erwin (Chair, South Africa), Professor François Dessemontet (Member, Switzerland) and Dame Billie Miller (Member, Barbados) as panelists to hear the disputes. All five disputes will be heard together, pursuant to a harmonised timetable.

In response to Australia's request, the panel issued preliminary rulings on 19 August 2014 regarding the scope of the complainants' claims. These rulings were published on 27 October 2014.

The chair of the panel informed the Dispute Settlement Body on 10 October 2014 that the panel expects to issue its final report to the parties in the second half of 2016…..

Two challenges to the tobacco plain packaging legislation were heard by the High Court of Australia between 17–19 April 2012: British American Tobacco Australasia Limited and Ors v. Commonwealth of Australia and J T International SA v. Commonwealth of Australia.

On 15 August 2012, the High Court handed down orders for these matters, and found that the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 is not contrary to s 51(xxxi) of the Constitution.

On 5 October 2012 the court handed down its reasons for the decision. By a 6:1 majority (Heydon J in dissent) the court held that there had been no acquisition of property that would have required provision of 'just terms' under s51(xxxi) of the Constitution….

After all that voter’s wake up to this in Week 5 of the federal election campaign…….

The Guardian, 8 June 2016:

The Turnbull government is considering adding a controversial provision to the Japan-Australia free-trade agreement that would allow foreign corporations to sue the Australian government.

It has been negotiating with Japan’s government about the plan but no conclusion has been reached.

The provision is called an “investor state dispute settlement” (ISDS).

ISDS provisions allow foreign corporations to sue the Australian government in an international tribunal if they think the government has introduced or changed laws that significantly hurt their interests.

The tobacco giant Philip Morris used an ISDS provision in the Hong Kong-Australia investment treaty, signed in 1993, in its failed attempt to sue the Australian government over the introduction of plain-packaging laws by the former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012.

If such a provision is added to the Japan-Australia agreement, it means all four of the major trade deals signed by the Abbott-Turnbull governments will include the same provision – the deals with Japan, China, South Korea and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes Pacific rim countries including the US.

A spokesman for the trade minister, Steve Ciobo, confirmed negotiations had begun.

“Japan and Australia have commenced the review – nothing has yet been agreed,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also confirmed that Australian and Japanese officials have met to discuss the ISDS provision, with no decision taken.
The negotiations have been triggered by a relatively unknown clause in the Japan-Australia agreement, which was signed by the Abbott government in 2014.

The clause states that if Australia’s government signs any future trade deal with another country that includes an ISDS provision then the Japan-Australia deal would be subject to an automatic review “with a view to establishing” an ISDS provision in it.

The trigger for such a review was the China-Australia free-trade agreement, which came into force on 20 December 2015, because it included an ISDS provision…..

Monday 20 June 2016

Australian Federal Election 2016: Lock The Gate Northern Rivers enters the fray


Coal Seam Gas is still a sensitive issue for communities in the NSW Northern Rivers region due to recent statements by Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg and policy documents produced by NSW Baird Government

Lock the Gate Northern Rivers supporters are speaking up via email:


Labor Candidate Janelle Saffin: public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent under Abbott-Turnbull Government and investment in the Pacific Highway upgrade was cut by $351 million


Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport, Shadow Minister For Cities and MP Grayndler Anthony Albanese & Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, joint media release 12 June 2016:

COALITION HAS LET DOWN PAGE

The Abbott-Turnbull Government has short-changed the people of Page with more than $11 million in cuts to financial assistance grants used by local councils to maintain roads.

The Government also cut investment in the Pacific Highway duplication by in the 2016 Budget, following on from a cut of $130 million in the 2015 Budget.

Only a Shorten Labor Government can be trusted to invest in the infrastructure needed in northern NSW to boost economic productivity and improve road safety, and to ensure councils have the resources they need to maintain local roads.

We stand on our record.

Between 2007 and 2013, the former Labor Federal Government invested $7.9 billion on the Pacific Highway duplication.

That investment dwarfed the $1.3 billion invested by the former Howard Coalition Government over 12 years.

Labor also promised, built and opened the Alstonville Bypass, which was completed in 2011.

The bypass has reduced the level of traffic moving through Alstonville by 50 per cent and eliminated a major bottleneck between Ballina and Lismore.

The Liberal-National Government has talked a lot about infrastructure investment but cut funding.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that between the September quarters of 2013 and 2015, public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent.

To conceal its failures, the Government has re-announced road projects developed and funded under budgets of the former Labor Government to pretend they were new. 

A Shorten Labor Government will get nation building back on track.