Australian expert in community engagement tells Metgasco CEO "he's dreaming"

Gasfield  Free Northern Rivers Media Release, 22 July 2014 :

Senior Australian expert in community engagement tells Metgasco CEO “he’s dreaming”

Senior Australian expert in community engagement tells Metgasco CEO “he’s dreaming”

A senior expert in community engagement, Dr Wendy Sarkissian PhD, has analysed Metgsco’s community engagement policy and come to the conclusion that it is severely flawed and insufficient for Metgasco gaining a social licence to operate in the Northern Rivers.

“As a senior expert experienced in community engagement, I find Metgaso’s Community Relations Policy severely lacking in the fundamentals for successful community engagement. It is laughable that Metgasco’s ‘Community Consultative’ policy was removed from its website a few days after I advised that it was written in Latin,” said community engagement expert, Dr Wendy Sarkissian

“The field of community engagement is well developed, so it is appalling to think that as an ASX listed company, Metgasco is trying to pass off its policy as world’s best practice. While it may be comparable to other gas company’s engagement policies, it is a damning indictment of industry practices if Metgasco thinks providing one-way information and ignoring community concerns amounts to world’s best practice,”

“Marketing and providing information by itself does not amount to community consultation. Community consultation is a two way street that actually involves a dialogue with the community. This involves listening to the community and responding to concerns, clearly something Metgasco has failed to do,”

“Metgasco’s narrow approach to only notify stakeholders living within 2 km of the proposed Rosella drill site ignores the wider impacts invasive gas drilling has on communities and the environment. This unsophisticated and misguided engagement process attempts to ‘contain’ the discussion which means those outside the 2 km are not deemed worthy of consideration. This is a damning indictment of Metgasco’s attitude to the broader community and environment,”

“Metgasco’s CEO Peter Henderson has said previously that it needs a ‘social licence’ to operate and that it would not go where it has no community support. The thousands of people who attended the Bentley Blockade, as well as previous blockades at Glenugie and Doubtful Creek, clearly demonstrate that Metgasco has no social licence. The fact that Metgasco’s licence to drill at Bentley was suspended by the government on the grounds of ‘inadequate community consultation’ attests to this fact,”

“I’d be delighted to speak to the Metgasco board and explain what authentic community engagement looks like. As an expert in this field, I can only reiterate that Metgasco’s dreaming if it thinks it can force itself into the Northern Rivers without genuinely engaging with the community,” concluded Dr Sarkissian.

Wendy Sarkissian 0402 966 284

Pottsville-Black Rocks koala habitat faces new fire risk?

Letter to the editor in The Northern Star on 23 July 2014:

Koalas threatened

Our Pottsville wetlands koalas may have lost a unique opportunity to survive the relentless stressors that have put them on the brink of extinction.

At the recent council meeting councillors voted in favour of supporting the construction and operation of a men's shed on the Black Rocks sports field, which is surrounded by primary koala habitat, at the junction of three koala/wildlife corridors, is a recognised koala breeding hub, and is one of three koala hotspots on the coast.

I commend the invaluable service that men's sheds provide to the community, but believe that it is not appropriate to have a mini-workshop in the middle of such an environmentally sensitive area.

One of the activities proposed is metalwork. This requires the use and storage of such flammable materials as oxy acetylene and LP gas.

The Black Rocks sports field and infrastructure has an established history of vandalism, break and enter, and fire-lighting. As the sports field is situated 300m inside bushland in an isolated location, the men's shed would be an easy target for vandals, with a high risk of fire, explosion and subsequent harm to people, the bushland and the koalas.

I believe that a men's shed belongs within a community hub similar to Tweed Heads, where a men's shed is currently under construction in close proximity to the PCYC, a childcare centre and a bridge club, with a shared security regime in place to protect all facilities.

Let's hope that commonsense prevails and the Pottsville men's shed pursue a more suitable site in the best interests of their members and the koalas (I have identified four possible alternative locations).

Such a decision could pave the way for revegetation of the Black Rocks sports field with koala habitat trees, as recommended by four renowned ecologists.

David Norris

Pottsville

"We now also know that long-suffering NSW taxpayers were going to be footing the bill to keep this industry alive, with no plans for Metgasco to be charged"

The Northern Star 23 July 2014:

Government documents have revealed up to 800 police officers were to be sent to Bentley from May 19 to "ensure public safety" and enable Metgasco to move its drill rig on to the site.

And Metgasco wouldn't have been charged for the police operation, scheduled to continue until June 7....

Senior government officials warned the safety risk to the public and police during the installation of the drill rig would be "high to extreme".

The situation was described as an "unprecedented public order challenge" requiring a "significant deployment of police officers".

The information was released under the Government Information (Public Access) Act….

A NSW Police Force briefing also identified "many risks", including a "catastrophic" risk of litigation.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said the documents showed the NSW Police force was to be "used as an exceptionally powerful and expensive private security operation for a resources company".

"Any accountable democratic government would take that as a sign the industry should not go ahead," he said.

"We now also know that long-suffering NSW taxpayers were going to be footing the bill to keep this industry alive, with no plans for Metgasco to be charged."

Abbott & Co take keeping asylum seekers in the dark to a new low

Not content with keeping Australian voters in the dark over the fate of one hundred and fifty men, women and children being detained at sea, these asylum seekers are literally not seeing much daylight.

The Sydney Morning Herald 22 July 2014:

Family members among 157 asylum seekers being held on the high seas are being held in separate rooms on a customs vessel but are allowed out for meals, according to documents lodged with the High Court on Tuesday.

While it was previously stated that 153 asylum seekers were on board a boat that was intercepted off Christmas Island more than three weeks ago, the documents say the actual number is 157.

A document filed by the Abbott government reveals that the national security committee of cabinet decided on July 1, two days after the boat was intercepted, that those on board "should be taken to a place other than Australia".

Their document says the asylum seekers are permitted "approximately three hours' outside during the day in natural light for meals", but says it would be unsafe to give them unrestricted movement.

The national security committee of cabinet includes Prime Minister Tony Abbott, deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Treasurer Joe Hockey, Attorney-General George Brandis, Defence Minister David Johnston and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

The document maintains they were acting within the scope of the Maritime Powers Act in detaining the asylum seekers on the customs vessel and had no obligation to afford them procedural fairness.

Forty-nine of these detained persons (all allegedly from a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camp in Pondicherry, India) have taken the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to the High Court of Australia in JARK and Ors v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor [2014] HCATrans 150 (18 July 2014).

The matter  so far:

* JARK (representing a class as defined in Paragraph 1 of "Nature of the Claim" in the Writ of Summons) v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor; SAS v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor [2014] HCATrans 148 (7 July 2014)

* JARK (representing a class as defined in Paragraph 1 of "Nature of the Claim" in the Writ of Summons) v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor; SAS v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor [2014] HCATrans 149 (8 July 2014)

* JARK and Ors v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Anor [2014] HCATrans 150 (18 July 2014)

* http://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/registry/court-lists/2014/22-07-14v-l_to_SydACJ.pdf