A question of housing priorities.....

With social housing being scarce as hens teeth in the Clarence Valley Maud Up the Street and her mate are a bit hot under the collar over the goings on at North Coast Community Housing Company.

Apparently this government funded company is indefinitely holding a one bedroom unit in the Lower Clarence for a tenant who isn't even halfway through serving a two-year gaol sentence after pleading guilty to multiple charges.

Even I had to mutter a WTF after hearing that one. Bit hard to live in two places at once isn’t it?

Pic from Google Images

Antimony mining raises ugly head

Another North Coast resident adds her voice to the protest and asks, "Why do the local Australian people seemingly have no recourse to consult or object or reject such dangerous toxic projects and why are our local, state and national representatives supporting these projects. They are clearly not in the national interest."

Letter to the editor, The Coffs Coast Advocate

I live in an idyllic little community on the Dorrigo plateau amid pristine rainforests at the head waters of the catchment area for the Clarence River (Wild Cattle Creek) as well as living and working here in Coffs as an osteopath.

Once again the spectre of mining (this time antimony) has raised its ugly head.

The old mine processed its antimony at a site in Urunga which is now a toxic dead zone. Hillgrove Antimony mine has polluted the Macleay River, which feeds Kempsey.

The mine at Wild Cattle Creek just up from us, has been bought from Anchor mines, which was an Australian-owned company, by a Chinese consortium. I've heard it claimed that China is no longer mining antimony in their own country due to the toxic pollution levels it causes. Antimony is used in plastic drinking bottles and microchip technology and is extremely harmful to the health of human and other life forms.

It is with alarm that I've learned that more than 90% of all mining leases in this country are now owned by Chinese and Indian companies.

My question is how has this been allowed to happen? Why is it that we no longer own or control our own resources and pleas for help fall on deaf ears as really serious long-term pollutants are released into our pristine waters.

What I really don't understand is the legislative process in relation to mining rights and why we, the local Australian people, seemingly have no recourse to consult or object or reject such dangerous toxic projects and why our local, state and national representatives are supporting these projects. They are clearly not in the national interest. Why has the whole country been sold from underneath us?

I understand that we need minerals and mining but it seems to me that it needs to be done responsibly with a great emphasis being put on the value of what is mined and care being taken to use these valuable products in the most responsible way, so that they can be recycled and reused to limit the amount of earth disruption that takes place when they are removed and processed.

Surely we need to change our attitude to the Earth's resources and see them as precious and finite and legislate to protect the other living creatures and ecosystems that are affected by there removal.

Claire Thompson

Source: Letters, 25/10/11, Coffs Coast Advocate

Just how many assistance packages does Gulaptis want to give racing identity Stuart Ramsey?

In 1998 the NSW Government provided an assistance package to keep the South Grafton Abattoir open:

The NSW Government through the Department of State and Regional Development’s Regional Business Development Scheme (RBDS) provided assistance to Ramsey Holdings Pty Ltd toward costs incurred in reopening the Grafton Abattoir. Assistance was primarily in the form of payroll tax rebates with a contribution also provided toward costs associated with reopening of the facility. Assistance provided was consistent with similar packages provided to other processing operations across the State. The dollar value of the assistance package is commercial in confidence.
(2) Rebates of State charges (payroll tax and stamp duty) have been provided to Ramsey Holdings Pty Ltd.

This assistance was seen as a problem for the Casino meatworks in 1999:

What has limited the production levels is the consequences of the Government’s assistance to Grafton.

This was not the end of government assistance for Stuart Bruce Ramsey down the years.

Sometime in the early 2000s Ramsey Food Processing at Grafton again received financial assistance from  government - along with about 15 other abattoirs.

In 2009 the Meatworkers Union called on:

the people of Grafton to make sure the businesses which they subsidise behave as good corporate citizens………..

"The people of Grafton paid extra on their water bills to assist Mr Ramsey's business get on its feet. The people of NSW paid further by workers compensation and regional development assistance.

Now the Nationals candidate in the forthcoming Clarence by-election, Chris Gulaptis, would like taxpayers to again put their hands in their pockets to keep Stuart Ramsey afloat (while he plays elsewhere at the very expensive sport of kings) and with NSW Country Labor work together towards an assistance package and he appears to be looking at the NSW Regional Industries Investment Fund to supply some of this cash handout.

Mr. Gulaptis’ plunge into voters pockets will have to be a big one, as any assistance package would probably have to compensate for the sums hinted at in that foolish thought bubble by Nationals spokesperson Clarence Duty MLC Rick Colless, who has in effect, told the ABC that the NSW Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government was prepared to subvert the authority of the Court by dismissing the fines imposed [on Ramsey] by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court in August last year.

No-one wants to see 200 abattoir workers thrown on the scrapheap - but is Stuart Ramsey (with his history of health and safety violations, water pollution convictions and repeated breaches of workers rights) the man to fix the problem he himself has caused?

_____________________

Now over the years not all abattoirs have received such favourable financial treatment as the Ramsey business, so what has been his route to political influence with both Labor and Coalition state governments?

Well, in the first instance, for a good many years the abattoir was in a seat held by a NSW Labor Minister and then by a Nationals MP. However, there may be one other little known political byway trodden by Stuart Ramsey of the Hunter Valley, NSW as he merrily breeds and races thoroughbred horses.

Thoroughbred Breeders of the Hunter Valley have an official lobbyist on the NSW Government Register of Lobbyists.

Thoroughbred Breeders NSW includes the Ramsey horse stud on its honour role, through his company Ramsey Pastoral Co Pty Ltd. This state organisation represents breeders at all meetings and committees with governmental bodies throughout NSW and Australia.

Ramsey’s horse stud is also listed with Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, the peak national body for all Australian thoroughbred breeders.

Retired Nationals MP Peter McGauran is CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia.

Of these three organisations I can find a record of only one making a political donation at state level in 2010 and, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia only donated to one state political party – the Nationals.

NSW North Coast antimony contamination makes it onto national television

From A Clarence Valley Protest on 22 October 2011:

21-22 October 2011 media coverage of NSW North Coast antimony contamination risks

The ABC TV program 7.30 NSW aired graphic footage of existing antimony contamination and canvassed the risks of reopening an old Wild Cattle Creek antimony mine in the Clarence River catchment.

It can be viewed here:
http://www.abc.net.au

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.

 The ABC program is remarkable for its vivid illustration of the incompetence of the current NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker and, her willingness to utter untruths.

http://youtu.be/i_Nbmk2eNBQ

Any concerned North Coast residents who may wish to express their opinions on the matter of mining in the environmentally sensitive Nymboida River section of the wider Clarence River catchment might like to consider emailing the following politicians:

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell MP at office@premier.nsw.gov.au

NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner at  office@deputypremier.nsw.gov.au and oxley@parliament.nsw.gov.au

NSW Minister for Resources and Energy Chris Hartcher at office@hartcher.minister.nsw.gov.au

NSW Minister for the North Coast Don Page at office@page.minister.nsw.gov.au

NSW Minister for the Environment Robyn Parker at Robyn.Parker@parliament.nsw.gov.au

NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Brad Hazzard at office@hazzard.minister.nsw. gov.au

NSW Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing George Souris at office@souris.minister.nsw.gov.au

NSW Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson at office@hodgkinson.minister.nsw.gov.au

NSW Duty MP for Clarence Rick Colless at rick.colless@parliament.nsw.gov.au.

NSW Leader of the Opposition John Robertson at blacktown@parliament.nsw.gov.au   

NSW Shadow Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Shadow Minister for Water, Shadow Minister for Energy Luke Foley at Luke.Foley@parliament.nsw.gov.au

NSW Shadow Minister for Planning, Infrastructure and Heritage Linda Burney at linda.burney@parliament.nsw.gov.au

NSW Shadow Minister for Resources and Primary Industries,  as well as Shadow Minister for Tourism Major Events Hospitality and Racing, Steve Whan at steve.whan@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Federal Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Tony Burke at Tony.Burke.MP@environment.gov.au

Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese at A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au

Federal Independent Member for Lyne Rob Oakeshott at robert.oakeshott.mp@aph.gov.au

Federal Independent Member for New England Tony Windsor at http://www.tonywindsor.com.au/contact.html

UPDATE:

The Greens called on the NSW Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, to explain why she told the ABC that testing on fish had been conducted, when the Department of Primary Industries said it had not.