Reasons given by the NSW Office of Coal Seam Gas for the suspension of Metgasco Limited's drilling activities at Bentley

Excerpt from the NSW Office of Coal Seam Gas Executive Summary: Reasons for Metgasco Review Decision 26 June 2014:

The Director decided to confirm the suspension of Metgasco's activities because, in her opinion:

● Metgasco had not developed a community consultation plan in accordance with the Guideline. This was not to say that Metgasco was not undertaking community consultation, but there was no evidence of a plan as required by the Guideline and by condition 8 of Schedule 2 of PEL 16.

● Metgasco had not adequately identified relevant stakeholders. Metgasco's consultation efforts had been limited to landholders within 2km of the proposed Rosella Exploration Well, the Richmond River Council, local indigenous groups, and the general community. However, the Director considered that Lismore and Kyogle Councils also had a significant interest in the activities being undertaken by Metgasco and should have been engaged as proactively as Richmond Valley Council. Further, the Director was not satisfied that Metgasco had undertaken an appropriately detailed analysis of the stakeholders given the circumstances of the case such as local environment groups, chambers of commerce or other interested community groups. Although the consultation undertaken by Metgasco was active, it was too narrow and the identification of stakeholders was inadequate. Metgasco limited its focus to an area and people that it thought it could positively influence. This was considered to be contrary to the Guideline and accordingly condition 8 of Schedule 2 of PEL 16.

● the consultation undertaken by Metgasco had not been effective. The Director considered that Metgasco could take a significantly more sophisticated approach to community engagement than it had done.

● Metgasco's decision to defer a broader consultation program until after the Rosella Exploration Well had been drilled was not reasonable given the escalation of opposition to the activity in the Northern Rivers area from the beginning of the year.

The Director considered that Metgasco needs to develop a clear and sophisticated community consultation plan to deal with community consultation in the complex community operating environment of PEL 16.

In her reasons, the Director reiterated the offer of support which the Division of Resources and Energy, the OCSG and the Land and Water Commissioner is able to provide in this respect.

Lower Clarence Arts & Crafts Association 49th consecutive Open Annual Competitive Arts and Crafts Exhibition 4-6 July 2014 at Gulmarrad

Lower Clarence Arts & Crafts Association:

This year is the 49^th consecutive Open Annual Competitive Arts and Crafts Exhibition. It will be open over three days from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 July at Gulmarrad School this year, and will be well worth your visit. There will be market stalls, food and music, demonstrations of art and craft, and a wonderful display of the talents of the Clarence Valley. Tell your rellies and bring your friends!

Gulmarrad Public School

466 Brooms Head Road, Gulmarrad NSW 2463 – approx. 5km from Maclean

Exhibition open 9am to 4pm Friday & Saturday, 9.30am to 2.30pm Sunday

Entry fee $5 Adults

Children under 12 FREE

The Real Age of Entitlement: State governments spent $17.6 billion supporting mineral & fossil fuel industries between 2008-2014 and Australian Government intends spending more than $40 billion over three years supporting fossil fuel industry

Excerpts from The Australia Institute’s, Mining the age of entitlement: State government assistance to the minerals and fossil fuel sector, Technical Brief No. 31 June 2014:

Supporters of the minerals and fossil fuel industries, like Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and the New South Wales Minerals Council, regularly emphasise the money that these industries pay to state governments. Much less is said about the money that state governments pay to assist these industries.

State government assistance to the minerals and fossil fuel industries is considerable.

Based on an analysis of state government budget papers, we estimate that a total of almost $18 billion has been contributed by the taxpayer over the last six budgets.

This assistance takes many forms. Sometimes it is a direct cash payment. For example, the New South Wales government gave multinational coal companies $10 million in 2009 as an ‘assistance package’. Other times it comes in the form of discounted access to services provided by the state and its businesses – Queensland has provided the coal industry with ‘concessions’ on access to rail services worth over $1 billion between 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Often assistance comes in the form of infrastructure or projects that wholly or partly benefit the minerals and fossil fuel industries. Sometimes this expenditure brings a financial return, as in the case of Western Australia’s hundreds of millions of dollars spent on developing port infrastructure. Sometimes it doesn’t – the New South Wales government is unlikely to see any return on its $76 million expenditure on the Cobbora Coal project…..

At the federal level, The Australia Institute publishes an annual study on subsidies of the mining industry, which totalled $4.5 billion in 2013, up from $4.0 billion in 2012.

Other organisations publish estimates of subsidies provided to fossil fuel use and production, which also focus largely on assistance at a federal level….

...the loss to the New South Wales government relating to the treatment of the Coal Research Levy.

This levy for $0.05 per tonne of coal mined is fully deductable from royalties that coal miners pay to the New South Wales government for the rights to mine the state’s coal. This deduction is effectively a subsidy of millions of dollars per year from the New South Wales government to the Australian Coal Association Research Program….

Environment Victoria, Ending the fossil fuel industry’s age of entitlement: 

An analysis of Australian Government tax measures that encourage fossil fuel use and more pollution, 2013:

The assessment concludes that the Australian Government is set to spend over 

$40 billion (see Table on page 4) in the form of tax rebates and concessions,
foregone revenue and expedited write downs of assets per year from 2013/14 to 
2016/17. 

This assessment only includes tax measures, and does not include direct grants or 

State Government measures, which could add billions more to the annual totals.

UPDATE

Australian Productivity Commission, Trade & Assistance Review 2012-13:

A matter for His Excellency Dr. Hassan Hanafy Mahmoud El-Laithy to ponder upon, as it reflects the view of many Australians concerning Egypt, its government, judiciary and people

Statement by the National Press Club of Australia

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB CALLS FOR UNCONSCIONABLE

VERDICT IN PETER GRESTE TRIAL TO BE OVERTURNED

The National Press Club of Australia deplores the treatment of Australian journalist Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed s and appeals to the Egyptian authorities to ensure, even at this late stage, a sensible and truly just outcome.

By any reasonable assessment the saga involving Peter Greste and his Al-Jazeera colleagues represents a gross miscarriage of justice that the Egyptian Government must overturn.

Throughout the trial, the actions of Egyptian authorities have been unconscionable.

In the extraordinarily extended “trial” not a shred of evidence was produced in support of the charges against the journalists.

There was nothing in the proceedings to suggest that the authorities had the slightest appreciation of the role of journalists and journalism in society, nothing to suggest an appreciation of the damage being done to Egypt’s standing in the international community.

In the wake of this verdict, the claim by Egypt’s President al-Sisi, that the court was independent, respected and beyond criticism, lacks all credibility.

That the former head of the military chose to make such a statement at a military graduation ceremony is an ominous portent.

President al-Sisi must use his power to overturn the penalties imposed on these journalists who were doing no more than their professional duties – and, from the evidence, doing it well.

A failure to act will seriously diminish Egypt’s reputation and influence in regional and world affairs.

ABN 59 208 238 583

STREET ADDRESS 16 National Circuit Barton ACT 2600

POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 6184 Kingston ACT 2604

TELEPHONE (02) 61212199 FACSIMILE (02) 61212188

EMAIL npc@npc.org.au WEBSITE www.npc.org.au

http://www.npc.org.au/latest-news-members-notice-board/statement-by-the-national-press-club-of-australia.html

How safe is the Clarence Valley Council workplace?

On 19 March 2014 this letter to the editor appearing in The Daily Examiner set the alarm bells ringing, coming as it did on the heels of an earlier letter to the editor by another person and a locally reported application to the Industrial Relations Commission which led to a Clarence Valley Council employee returning to work after being officially dismissed:

Question bullying

Councillor Margaret McKenna's motion in council regarding violence against people on the basis of their sexuality is commendable (DEX, 15/3).

The violation of anyone's human rights is unacceptable in a civilised society.

Bullying and intimidation in the workplace is equally abhorrent and, I would suggest, a far more widespread form of human rights abuse.

If the good councillor were to ask just how many complaints of this kind of abuse have occurred within Clarence Valley Council over the past 12 months, she may be very unpleasantly surprised.

Bullying in the workplace can become endemic if it is not addressed forcefully and publicly. Bullying and intimidation are trademarks of an absence of quality leadership.

The impact on its victims, their families, their work colleagues, and the productivity and morale of the entire organisation is as profound as it is irreparable.

It cannot be contained or hidden.

We live in an age when social media and personal networks can negate any attempted commercial blackmail of mainstream media.

I would suggest Cr McKenna and all Clarence Valley councillors need to address an issue that threatens not only the reputation and integrity of this council but its continuance in office, and they need to do it immediately.

Ian Saunders

Maclean

Bullying in the workplace is a serious issue, but what has been rumoured since then is even more serious. 

There are allegations that the Clarence Valley Council workplace is now so toxic that some employees are quietly beginning to look for jobs elsewhere.

Some spooked by the alleged verbally abusive behaviour of more senior staff, others worried by the alleged scapegoating of workmates and some shocked by alleged threat/s of serious physical violence.

The general impression gathered is that Clarence Valley Council is no longer considered a safe workplace by sections of the wider Clarence Valley community.

I have no idea who Mr. Saunders is, but he appears to have come close to hitting the proverbial nail on the head.

If even one of these allegations has a basis in fact, it is time that all nine shire councillors addressed the issue of how and why local government workplace culture has been allowed to sink to such problematic depths.

Are APPEA and Metgasco Limited massaging the truth?

These are the opening paragraphs of an APPEA 19 June 2014 media release titled Councils shun anti-resources campaign:

Members of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) should be commended for turning their back on anti-natural gas misinformation and scare campaigns and focusing on regional development, APPEA said today.

Two motions, put forward by Griffith City Council in NSW and Moyne Council in Victoria, to respectively restrict and ban natural gas development across Australia were defeated at ALGA’s annual conference in Canberra.

APPEA Chief Operating Officer Eastern Australia, Paul Fennelly said: “Many councils are now alert to a concerted campaign by environmental groups such as the Lock the Gate Alliance to stop natural gas heating our homes, powering our kitchens, supporting agribusiness and driving our manufacturing sector….

On the same day Metgasco Limited posted this media release on its own website under Industry News.

However, when one examines the 82 motions put forward at the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly on 19-20 June 2014, there is another resolution that both the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) and coal seam & tight gas miner Metgasco Limited curiously failed to mention:

Motion 30

Gunnedah Council, NSW

Motion

That the Federal Government retain the primary responsibility for the approval of resource projects, coal seam gas in particular and provide regulation which best preserves and protects our natural resources, including our underground water tables in primary agricultural land from contamination.

Objective

At a time when the general public wants the Federal Government to take a key role in expanded regulation of the coal seam gas industry, the Abbott Government is planning to reduce regulation and to devolve much of it to the states. The expansion of coal seam gas in Australia is an important issue and needs strong leadership to ensure industry claims are properly scrutinized. That is what the Federal Government needs to do, not 7 different states and territories.

Arguments

At a time when the general public wants the Federal Government to take a key role in expanded regulation of the coal seam gas industry, the Abbott Government is planning to reduce regulation and to devolve much of it to the states. The expansion of coal seam gas in Australia is an important issue and needs strong leadership to ensure industry claims are properly scrutinized. That is what the Federal Government needs to do, not 7 different states and territories.

Was this motion not mentioned because it was passed and is now a resolution being progressed by the Australian Local Government Association?

Readers will have to wait until the association publishes its 2014 resolutions to answer that question.