Does NSW Premier Chris Minns, his Environment Minister Penny Sharpe or Agricultural Minister Tara Moriarty ever wonder just whose interests the forestry brands that lobby them conceal from view?

“Put the foresters back in charge of the forests.” 

Malcolm David McComb, Pentarch Group, quoted in The Monthly, November 2020

According to the 'privately-owned' Melbourne-based PENTARCH GROUP it commenced business in 1984, combining the expertise of five individuals with diverse commercial backgrounds. In the early 1990s, the group’s primary focus was on three key businesses - representing major international manufacturers of military hardware, exporting containerised hay to Japan, and exporting softwood logs to South Korea - through its Industrial, Forestry and Agricultural divisions.

By 2019 the Group was managing over 8,000ha of land - with est. 30 per cent of the defined forest area being native forest. 

That year NSW Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry John Barilaro announced Pentarch Logistics Pty Ltd was receiving a $3 million grant to drive innovation and technology advancements in the NSW forestry industry.

In August 2021 the Group purchased the assets of Dormit Pty Ltd which operated two sawmills and associated operations located at Dandenong South and Swifts Creek in Victoria. That same year Boral divested its timber business to the Group in October 2021. Allen Taylor & Company, Duncan’s Holdings and their subsidiaries (collectively known as Boral Timber) now trade under the brand Pentarch Forestry. This acquisition saw Pentarch add eight sawmills, including part ownership of the Highland Pine mill at Oberon, to allegedly become the largest hardwood processor in NSW.

Pentarch Forestry exports in excess of 800,000tn per annum of plantation softwood and hardwood from Australian and New Zealand ports. This division is actively involved in forestry harvesting and haulage; port logistics including marshalling, storage and stevedoring; and international marketing and shipping.

These days its forestry division boasts that its key woodchip and logs export destinations are; China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East. While its sawn timbers are listed as being sourced from; Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. 

By 2022 the Pentarch Group operated 20 sites nationally with a high concentration of timber mills in NSW.

The Pentarch Group clearly states:

Timber sustainably sourced from our native forests is our most valuable and precious resource and Pentarch Forestry™ takes pride in finding ways to better use every part of that resource.

In particular Pentarch Forestry harvests Tasmanian hardwood logs from the north-west of that state and timber from native forests (including privately-owned native forest) on land around Nungatta, Mila & Delegate in NSW, as well as from Combienbar, Murrangower & Bendoc in Victoria and, apparently sees itself as helping to protect and manage a large permanent native forest estate.

[Mapping at https://pentarchforestry.com.au/sustainability-environment/sustainable-forest-management/]

The Group's milled native timber is ending up as everything from solid timber floor boards through to mass produced wooden pallets for industry and woodchips as a secondary product.

Its offices can be found at 18 different locations across five states. [See list & details at end of this post]

In its April 2022 submission to the NSW Legislative Council's INQUIRY INTO LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE OF THE TIMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, Pentarch advocated for the permanent retention of multiuse State Forest. Also expressing a sense of frustration that the forestry industry had not been allowed carte blanche to clear the 2019-20 native forest fire grounds of all suitable timber. Apparently a firm believer in a forest restoration harvesting process. Leaving this reader with the suspicion that the Pentarch Group belongs to the 'lets keep the forest floor tidy' brigade.

2022 was also the year that Pentarch Forestry Pty Ltd had  its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainability certification (first obtained in 2017) suspended when a renewal audit found that Pentarch’s due diligence system was out of date, regrowth native forest and plantation wood were at risk of being mixed together, and threatened species assessments were not being done.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison & Chairman Pentarch Group Malcolm McComb. IMAGE: Merimbula News Weekly, 23 June 2020

Despite the apparent ease of access to political decision makers large forestry corporations appear to enjoy at federal & state government level, this apparently doesn't satisfy all in the industry that their voices are the loudest. 

The Pentarch Group chairman also reportedly co-founded Forest and Wood Communities Australia which has a dedicated website, a Facebook page and an X/Twitter account with the less than subtle principal aim of pushing back against so-called "environmental extremists", "ideological idiocy", criticising the Victorian Government and pressuring the NSW Minns Labor Government. The social media accounts in particular have a tendency to mislead.

The faces fronting the Pentarch Group are on display at:

http://www.pentarch.com.au/pentarch_team.html.

However, the principal corporations in this group are very careful to conceal shareholder identities - all shares in the following three registered companies are beneficially held by the companies on behalf of unnamed individuals/corporations.

Although it is not hard to imagine that the Sedger, McComb, Yuncken, Cuthbertson and Dadd families might properly feature heavily on the shareholder list - along with a discreet number of self-managed super funds, investment entities and trusts. It is also not hard to imagine that the 'hidden' nature of such shareholder lists might potentially contain conflicts of interest for state and local governments dealing with the forestry industry.

It is noted that the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW and the NSW Treasurer were meeting in 2023 with members of the forestry industry concerning what was loosely described as "forestry industry reform" and "forestry matters".

~~~~~~~~~~

PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

• 838 Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

• 600 Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

Current roles in the following organisations:

PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Unknown

OCEAN2EARTH PTY LTD

ACN: 663 110 629

ABN: 71663110629

Address: Unknown

Current shares and interests in:

*675,000 CLASS I SHARES & 1,125,000 CLASS

N_SHARES Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SOUTH EAST FIBRE EXPORTS PTY LTD

ACN: 000 604 795

ABN: 85000604795

Address: Unit 1, 250 Charman Road, CHELTENHAM VIC 3192

*600 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD ENTERPRISES PTY LTD

ACN: 607 144 089

ABN: 65607144089

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551

*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SAPPHIRE FORESTS PTY LTD

ACN: 607 256 780

ABN: 85607256780

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551

*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD EXPORTS (TAS) PTY LTD

ACN: 619 876 345

ABN: 23619876345

Address: Jews Head, EDROM NSW 2551

*1,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: FORESTS IN PERPETUITY PTY LTD

ACN: 639 068 732

ABN: 84639068732

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*73,740 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

~~~~~~~~~~

PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

• 838 Beneficially Held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

• 600 Beneficially Held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

Ultimate holding company for:

PENTARCH FOREST PRODUCTS PTY LTD

ACN: 059 465 879

ABN: 57059465879

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181

ARI LEASING PTY. LTD

ACN: 072 963 798

ABN: 77072963798

Address: Unknown

PENTARCH LOGISTICS PTY LTD

ACN: 075 432 254

ABN: 99075432254

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181

PENTARCH AGRICULTURAL PTY LTD

ACN: 101 274 613

ABN: 45101274613

Address: "KINGS GARDEN ESTATE", Level 1, 99 Coventry

Street, SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205

SAPPHIRE HAULAGE PTY LTD

ACN: 132 292 436

ABN: 55132292436

Address: Unknown

NARROGIN HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 104 157 593

ABN: 73104157593

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

PENTARCH STEVEDORING PTY LTD

ACN: 108 439 185

ABN: 53108439185

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

MALLEE HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 089

ABN: 78123956089

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

PENTARCH FARMS PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 105

ABN: 97123956105

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

~~~~~~~~~~

TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 06/09/2000

Registered address & principal place of business:

Registered address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 73,740 Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

~~~~~~~~~~

Pentarch Group offices current as of 17.02.24:

TASMANIA

Massy Greene Drive

South Burnie, Tas, 7320

PO Box 3033

Ph: 03 6430 7333

VICTORIA

Level 1, 99 Coventry Street

Southbank, Vic, 3006

Ph: 03 9621 7900

Great Alpine Road,

Swifts Creek, Vic, 3896

Ph: 03 5159 4438

98 Indian Drive

Keysborough, Vic, 3173

Ph: 1800 818 317

96-106 Ordish Road,

Dandenong, Vic, 3175

Ph: 03 9706 5744

QUEENSLAND

838 Nudgee Road

Northgate, Qld, 4013

Ph: 1800 818 317

Suite 12 Level 1,

84 Wises Road

Maroochydore, Qld, 4558

PO Box 5561

Ph: 1800 818 317

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

176-178 Magill Road

Norwood, SA, 5067

Ph: 1800 818 317

NEW SOUTH WALES

Eden Log Export Facility

Lot 2, Edrom Road

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0252

Eden, NSW

Eden Chip Export Terminal

Edrom Road, Jews Head

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0222

420 Herons Creek Road

Herons Creek, NSW, 2443

Ph: 02 6585 7188

43 Mill Road

Koolkhan, NSW, 2460

PO Box 437

Ph: 02 6644 7280

13056 Summerland Way

Kyogle, NSW, 2474

PO Box 187

Ph: 02 6632 1866

148 Tweed Valley Way

Murwillumbah, NSW, 2484

PO Box 56

Ph: 02 6670 8700

6016/6018 Princess Highway

Narooma, NSW, 2546

PO Box 75

Ph: 02 4476 7908

Unit D1, Regents Park Estate

391 Park Road

Regents Park, NSW, 2143

Ph: 1800 818 317

50 BTU Road

South Nowra, NSW, 2541

PO Box 5014

Ph: 02 4447 8262

PRINCIPAL SOURCES:

• ASIC company extracts retrieved 16.02.24
• The Pentarch Group website at http://www.pentarch.com.au/

• Industry news media
• Submission 233, NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Long term sustainability and future of the timber and forests products industry. 
• Pentarch Forestry, Forestry Management Plan, September 2019.
• NSW Government, 2023 Ministers' Diary Disclosures at https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/the-cabinet-office/access-to-information/ministers-diary-disclosures/2023
• The New Bush Telegraph, NSW Biggest Native Forest Logger Loses Sustainability Certification, 10 September 2022.
• Michael West Independent Media, Big logging company Pentarch pinged for shifty forestry practices, 7 September 2022.
• Forest and Wood Communities Australia at https://fwca.org.au/news/  https://twitter.com/woodcommunities & https://www.facebook.com/WoodCommunities/

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) issues media release in response to factual errors and misleading comments concerning national referendum voting instructions

 

Despite the legislation concerning national referenda being clear (as evidenced by the above interview with Antony Green), misinformation and at times deliberate disinformation is to be found in both mainstream and social media concerning the proposed 2023 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament referendum.

The level of factual inaccuracy has become a matter of concern.....

Australian Electoral Commission, AEC Newsroom, Media releases 2023

Media advice: Referendum voting instructions

Updated: 25 August 2023

Australian voters are rightly proud of their electoral system – one of the most transparent and robust voting systems in the world. As a result, there is an intense, and highly appropriate level of public interest in all aspects of that system, and associated commentary online and in mainstream media. Sometimes this commentary is immediate and based on emotion rather than the reality of the law which the AEC must administer.

There has been intense commentary online and in mainstream media regarding what will and will not be a formal vote for the 2023 referendum; specifically around whether or not a ‘tick’ or a ‘cross’ will be able to be counted. Much of that commentary is factually incorrect and ignores:

• the law surrounding ‘savings provisions’,

• the longstanding legal advice regarding the use of ticks and crosses, and

• the decades-long and multi-referendum history of the application of that law and advice.

The AEC completely and utterly rejects the suggestions by some that by transparently following the established, public and known legislative requirements we are undermining the impartiality and fairness of the referendum.

As has been the case at every electoral event, the AEC remains totally focussed on electoral integrity. Indeed, electoral integrity is a central part of the AEC’s published values; underpinned by, and supported through, complete adherence to all relevant laws and regulations.

How to cast a formal vote

The formal voting instructions for the referendum are to clearly write either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, in full, in English.

It is that easy: given the simplicity, the AEC expects the vast, vast majority of Australian voters to follow those instructions and cast a formal vote.

Previous levels of formality

It is important to keep scale, or a lack of it in this instance, and precedent in mind when discussing this matter.

More than 99% of votes cast at the 1999 federal referendum were formal. Even of the 0.86% of informal votes, many would have had no relevance to the use of ticks or crosses.

AEC communication

Instructions for casting a formal vote – to write either yes or no in full, in English, will be:

• part of the AEC’s advertising campaign,

• on the AEC website,

• in the guide delivered to all Australian households,

• an instruction by our polling officials when people are issued with their ballot paper,

• on posters in polling places, and

• on the ballot paper itself.

This is why the level of formal voting at previous referendums has been so high and why the AEC expects the vast, vast majority of voters to follow those instructions.

The law

Like an election, the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 includes ‘savings provisions’ - the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear.

• The AEC cannot ignore the law and cannot ignore savings provisions.

The law regarding formality in a referendum is long-standing and unchanged through many governments, Parliaments, and multiple referendums. Legal advice from the Australian Government Solicitor, provided on multiple occasions during the previous three decades, regarding the application of savings provisions to ‘ticks’ and ’crosses’ has been consistent – for decades.

This is not new, nor a new AEC determination of any kind for the 2023 referendum. The law regarding savings provisions and the principle around a voter’s intent has been in place for at least 30 years and 6 referendum questions.

The longstanding legal advice provides that a cross can be open to interpretation as to whether it denotes approval or disapproval: many people use it daily to indicate approval in checkboxes on forms. The legal advice provides that for a single referendum question, a clear ‘tick’ should be counted as formal and a ‘cross’ should not.

Media resources:

AEC Newsroom

AEC YouTube (AECTV)

AEC imagery (AEC Flickr)

AEC media contacts

~~~~ENDS~~~~

BACKGROUND

The Guardian, 24 August 2023, excerpts:

Voters in the upcoming voice to parliament referendum are being urged to write “yes” or “no” on referendum ballot papers – and being warned that if they use a cross, their vote may not be counted.

The well-established and longstanding rule which will mean ticks are likely allowed but votes that use crosses are likely excluded has prompted criticism from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, the former prime minister Tony Abbott and the no campaign, which claims the requirement will “stack the deck” against them.

The rule has been on the books, without controversy, for 30 years and six referendum questions, and when asked about ticks and crosses on Thursday, an Australian Electoral Commission spokesperson simply said: “Please don’t use them.”….

Fair Australia tweeted: “Looks like just another attempt to stack the deck against ‘no’ voting Australians.”

Abbott claimed on 2GB that “there’s a suspicion that officialdom is trying to make it easier for one side … This is the worry all along that there is a lot of official bias in this whole referendum process.”

Dutton, also speaking on 2GB, called it “completely outrageous” and claimed the situation “gives a very, very strong advantage to the ‘yes’ case”. The opposition leader said he would ask the government to draft legislation to change the rule.

The Coalition opposition did not propose amending this rule during debate on the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act earlier this year, and supported the government’s legislation....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2023, excerpt:

Despite Dutton’s insistence that an X should denote a No vote, in his 2022 election candidate nomination form he repeatedly placed an X in a box to indicate a Yes to questions about his citizenship and the country of his parents’ birth, for example.

Click on image to enlarge

In fact across the entire Dutton_Q47P document “x” was used interchangeably by Peter Dutton to denote Yes, No, and Not Applicable.

NOTE:

History of Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 can be found at

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02908

UN-UNESCO Global Assessment Report: "The loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is already a global and generational threat to human well-being."

Smithsonian.com, 6 May 2019:

Our world is losing biodiversity, and fast. According to a report released today by the United Nations, up to one million species could face extinction in the near future due to human influence on the natural world. Such a collapse in biodiversity would wreak havoc on the interconnected ecosystems of the planet, putting human communities at risk by compromising food sources, fouling clean water and air, and eroding natural defenses against extreme weather such as hurricanes and floods.

In the sweeping UN-backed report, hundreds of scientists found that biodiversity loss poses a global threat on par with climate change. A 40-page “Summary for Policy Makers” was released in advance of the full report, which is expected to be published later this year and span nearly 2,000 pages. The document calls the rate of change in nature “unprecedented” and projects that species extinctions will become increasingly common in the coming decades, driven by factors such as land development, deforestation and overfishing.

“The basic message is the same as what the scientific community has been saying for more than 30 years: Biodiversity is important in its own right. Biodiversity is important for human wellbeing, and we humans are destroying it,” Robert Watson, the former chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that produced the report, said during a press conference on Monday.

To produce the report, 145 biodiversity experts plus hundreds of other contributors compiled information over three years from 15,000 sources. For years, scientists have been sounding the alarm about biodiversity’s dramatic decline in what some have dubbed the world’s sixth mass extinction event. This die-off, however, differs from the other five in its central cause: humans.

As the global assessment confirms, human activity is a major driver of biodiversity decline among the millions of species on Earth. The report ranks some of the top causes of species loss as changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms (like hunting or fishing), climate change, pollution and invasive alien species (often introduced by human travel across ecosystems). The current global rate of species extinction is already “at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years,” and it’s expected to keep accelerating.

All in all, human action has “significantly altered” about 75 percent of the world’s land environment and 66 percent of its marine environment, according to the report. Insect populations have plummeted in tropical forests, grasslands are increasingly drying out into deserts, and pollution along with ocean acidification is driving many coral reef ecosystems to the brink.

The destruction of biodiversity at all levels, from genes to ecosystems, could pose significant threats to humankind, the report says. In addition to affecting human access to food resources, clean water and breathable air, a loss of species on a global scale could also clear a path for diseases and parasites to spread more quickly, says Emmett Duffy, a biodiversity expert with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center who contributed to the report.

“Historically, a lot of us have thought about conservation and extinction in terms of charismatic animals like pandas and whales,” Duffy says. “But there’s a very strong utilitarian reason for saving species, because people depend on them. There’s an environmental justice aspect.”

The effects of biodiversity loss won’t be distributed equally, either, the researchers found. The most devastating impacts would disproportionately affect some of the world’s poorest communities, and the report concludes that the decline in biodiversity undermines global progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, milestones set by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015 to reduce global inequality…..

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/one-million-species-risk-extinction-threatening-human-communities-around-world-un-report-warns-180972114/#exuFQ5WihTWc7MTq.99

IPBES Global Assessment Preview, excerpt:

Important aspects of the Global Assessment

Building upon earlier IPBES assessment reports, especially the recently-released Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment and the Regional Assessment Reports for Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe and Central Asia (March, 2018), the Global Assessment:

• Covers all land-based ecosystems (except Antarctica), inland water and the open oceans
• Evaluates changes over the past 50 years — and implications for our economies, livelihoods, food security and quality of life
• Explores impacts of trade and other global processes on biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Ranks the relative impacts of climate change, invasive species, pollution, sea and land use change and a range of other challenges to nature
• Identifies priority gaps in our available knowledge that will need to be filled
• Projects what biodiversity could look like in decades ahead under six future scenarios: Economic Optimism; Regional Competition; Global Sustainability; Business as Usual; Regional Sustainability and Reformed Markets
• Assesses policy, technology, governance, behaviour changes, options and pathways to reach global goals by looking at synergies and trade-offs between food production, water security, energy and infrastructure expansion, climate change mitigation, nature conservation and economic development

What the CSIRO and climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au state about coastal New South Wales:

KEY MESSAGES

·         Average temperatures will continue to increase in all seasons (very high confidence).

·         More hot days and warm spells are projected with very high confidence. Fewer frosts are projected with high confidence.

·         Decreases in winter rainfall are projected with medium confidence. Other changes are possible but unclear.

·         Increased intensity of extreme rainfall events is projected, with high confidence.

·         Mean sea level will continue to rise and height of extreme sea-level events will also increase (very high confidence).

·         A harsher fire-weather climate in the future (high confidence).

·         On annual and decadal basis, natural variability in the climate system can act to either mask or enhance any long-term human induced trend, particularly in the next 20 years and for rainfall.

At its ordinary monthy meeting of 23 April 2019 Clarence Valley Council passed the following resolution: