Baird Government and NSW North Coast Nationals continue to betray Northern Rivers communities and their sustainable regional economies

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers Media Release, 11 March 2015:

Northern Rivers under even greater threat of invasive gasfields.

                   

Today’s announcement that AJ Lucas has bought PEL 445, shows that they have set their sights firmly on the Northern Rivers for gas exploration. 

AJ Lucas is the biggest drilling company in Australia, they own seventy seven drill rigs, and have the capacity and resources to commence exploration drilling operations as soon as necessary approvals are in place. 

Ian Gaillard, Spokesperson for Gasfield Free Northern Rivers said "Our region is now threatened more than ever with Queensland drillers probably looking to the Northern Rivers to meet export gas shortfalls at Gladstone. 

"This development makes it more likely that the instant the election is over, if the Liberal National Government is returned to power, Northern Rivers communities will be facing the spectre of a gas drilling invasion. 

"Lismore, Kyogle, Nimbin, Coraki, out west past Urbenville and right down to Maclean will all be up for grabs. As will the regional water supply areas that service major population 

centres like Ballina and Byron Bay. 

"The transfer of PEL 445 to AJ Lucas makes the outcome of the upcoming election even more critical for the future of our region. 

"This news will galvanise people in the region to redouble their efforts over the coming weeks to demand a commitment from local National Party candidates who are the only party refusing to support community calls for a Gasfield Free Northern Rivers."

Coal Seam Gas and mineral exploration are issues in the NSW state election of 28 March 2015 right across Northern Rivers catchment areas

On Twitter 10 March 2015

MEDIA RELEASE: 9^th March 2015

Licence cancellation another cynical vote grabbing exercise by NSW Government

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers have responded with ambivalence to the announcement today that a petroleum licence in the south of the region has been cancelled. Resources Minister Anthony Roberts travelled to Grafton to announce that gas company Clarence Moreton Resources had agreed to hand in PEL 478.

“This is the cancellation of a small inactive licence. The fact remains that the current Liberal-National Government is actively supporting the roll out of the CSG industry across large parts of our region,” said Gasfield Free spokesperson Elly Bird.

“This government has already renewed Metgasco’s most active CSG licence areas (PELs 13 and 16), as well as the largest licence area in the region (Igas’s PEL 445), which covers Lismore, Nimbin and Kyogle and parts of the water supply area of major towns across the region, including Ballina and Byron Bay.”

“This is a cynical and tokenistic attempt by the Liberal-National government to look like they are doing something on this issue when they could have acted decisively long ago by refusing to renew the Metgasco and Igas licences that were quietly renewed despite repeated calls from the community for their cancellation.”

“The communities of this region are not stupid and will not be deceived by this latest gimmick from the government. They are angry that our local Nationals MP’s have the audacity to repeatedly ignore the community’s wishes over many years only to mock them with token actions at election time,” she said.

MEDIA RELEASE

Janet Cavanaugh

Greens Candidate for Clarence

m. 0429 479 968; e. clarence@nsw.greens.org.au

www.nsw.greens.org.au/clarence

9 March 2015

PEL CANCELLATION TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

The Greens have criticised the Government’s announcement that two Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs) held by Clarence Moreton Resources Pty Ltd will be cancelled.

Greens candidate for Clarence, Janet Cavanaugh said:

“Today’s announcement is too little, too late. It is merely tinkering around the edges.

“The timing is just cynical electioneering. Both PELs expired in 2012 and could have been cancelled at any time.

“I am concerned that the Government is wasting taxpayers money on this electioneering stunt. Under the Petroleum Onshore Act*, no compensation is payable for the cancellation or suspension of exploration licences.

“Why is the Government paying off their mates in the mining industry?

“There can be no basis for compensation, particularly if there has been insufficient investment in exploration works in the licence area or any other breaches of licence conditions. The Clarence Alliance Against CSG is not aware of any onground works in PEL478.

“In PEL479, there have been substantial complaints about the drilling of the Annvale Borehole in 2011,” she said.

Greens spokesperson on mining, Jeremy Buckingham MP said:

“The Greens are not impressed by the cancellation of these PELs. “We would have been more impressed if Metgasco's PEL426 had been cancelled. It expired more than 12 months ago and should also be cancelled.

“PEL426 is the PEL with the Glenugie drill site. Metgasco’s attempts to drill here were met by concerted community action and a lengthy blockade. Drilling only proceeded after the

riot squad was brought in, at great expense to taxpayers.

“The Greens are the only party to have a position of being totally opposed to all unconventional gas mining and exploration in NSW - that's coal seam gas, tight sands

gas and shale gas. It just isn't worth the risk to our land and water,” he said.

* Section 22(5) of the NSW Petroleum Onshore Act 1991 states:

“No compensation is payable by the Crown for or in respect of the cancellation of, or a suspension of operations under, a petroleum title.”

MEDIA RELEASE

Meet the Candidates at Dundurrabin

The Blicks River Guardians invite you to attend an afternoon tea with NSW election candidates at Dundurrabin Community Centre, 4pm on Sunday 15^th March.  This event, on the beautiful Dorrigo Plateau, provides a great opportunity for you to come and meet the candidates from both the Oxley and Clarence electorates.  There will be time for Q & A about the issues that are important to you and following at 6pm will be a community dinner (bring a plate to share) and a fundraiser for the Blicks River Guardians with local musician and songwriter Noam Blat.

Mineral exploration on the Dorrigo Plateau and across the New England fold belt has increased in recent years.  The Clarence catchment has a number of active exploration leases for gold, antimony and other minerals, with Anchor Resources prospecting near the Blicks River at Dundurrabin and at Wild Cattle Creek near Dorrigo.  Also on the Clarence,  Australia United Mining (Altius) is exploring for gold in the Orara Valley near Coffs Harbour.  The Hillgrove mine in the Macleay catchment has plans to reopen with a proposal for a second mine awaiting approval.  Other large gold and mineral exploration leases are active at Uralla and Armidale.

The increase in mineral exploration above coastal water catchments across our region concerns local residents.

“Some of this exploration is being supported with taxpayers money by the state government, despite the list of contamination events that have polluted regional waterways in recent decades,” said Blicks River Guardians’ spokesperson Meredith Stanton, “Major rainfall events have led to heavy metal contamination polluting the Clarence River at Timbarra in 2001, the Macleay River at Bellbrook in 2009 and at North Parkes a gold and copper mine spill killed birds in 1995.  There are many more documented examples across NSW and more than 500 derelict mine sites that companies have walked away from leaving a legacy for NSW taxpayers.”

The Blicks River Guardians consider mining to be an inappropriate land use on the Dorrigo Plateau and aim to protect our high rainfall area from future mining development.  Local communities rely heavily on tourism and the local agricultural industry.  The risks that an open cut mine would bring to our catchments are not worth the few jobs that might be available to local people if mining development were to be approved. 

BRG will be asking the NSW election candidates where they stand on mining in our water catchments.  To learn more about BRG visit www.blicksriverguardians.org.

To ask the candidates about important local issues come along to the public event at:

Dundurrabin Community Centre,  Armidale-Grafton Road,  Dundurrabin.

Date:  Sunday 15th March 2015

4 - 6pm - Meet the Candidates.  Afternoon tea provided

6 - 7pm - Dinner.  Bring a plate to share.

7 - 9pm - Music. Noam Blat 

For event information call  02 6657 8040.

BACKGROUND

http://youtu.be/WjfmKpEH0Jg

NSW Baird Coalition Government has blood on its hands

With rigid, far right ideology dominating the shrivelled souls within the Liberal and National political parties at federal and state levels in Australia today, it is a hard time to be a woman or girl-child.

Hannah* is one of the 17 women who died by violence in the first nine weeks of this year…….

The Guardian 9 March 2015:

Alex had always been dangerously jealous. If another man so much as greeted his wife, Hannah, Alex was prone to physically attacking them – and her. Once, on a holiday to the Gold Coast, Alex punched Hannah in the head, because of the way a friend’s husband had looked at her.

In the final months of their marriage, Alex developed a sinister fetish. The routine was the same every time: Alex would pin Hannah to the ground and choke her until she was almost unconscious, then cover her face with a blanket and jump on her body.

Convinced that Alex was preparing for her murder, Hannah summoned the courage to leave him. She knew she’d need protection from him, so she tried to get into a women’s refuge. But like many women fleeing domestic violence, Hannah was told there were no beds available, so she was given vouchers for a hotel in Kings Cross.

But Hannah was too afraid to be on her own. After a few nights in the hotel, she went to her friend’s place and tried calling the refuges again. Hannah called refuges across Sydney and nearby regional cities more than 10 times. But there was nowhere that could help her.

In the final months of last year, as Hannah was trying to find somewhere to stay, the women’s refuge system in New South Wales was in disarray. The state government had just completed a radical reform of its homelessness sector, putting all its services out to tender for the first time in 25 years. Women’s refuges were told they couldn’t just reapply for their own service – if they wanted to retain their refuges, they would have to show they could provide multiple services to all homeless people in their area. Services would no longer be exclusively for victims of domestic violence – they’d now have to cater to all types of homelessness….

Back in the city, Hannah’s efforts to find protection in a refuge were all in vain. She took an apprehended violence order out against Alex, in the hope that would keep him away from her. Earlier this year, Hannah was found dead. Alex is now awaiting trial….

*Hannah and Alex’s names have been changed

Has Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott re-mortgaged the family home yet again?

Most of Tony Abbott's official declarations of pecuniary and non-pecuniary interest are lost in the mists of time.

Hansard reveals that in 1995 he admitted to Parliament that he was the beneficiary of one, possibly two, family trusts - with Etonwest Pty Ltd as trustee for one at least of these trusts. 

This company, owned by his parents, was registered in 1970 when he was twelve years old and deregistered in 2004 when he was the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing.

Media reports inform us that his 1998 declaration showed his involvement as one of three trustees for the Australians for Honest Politics Trust (created on 24 August 1998).

However, little else is now readily available before 2008, when the details of his home finance becomes of interest.

In his official Statement of Registerable Interests (22 February 2008) then Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Tony Abbott listed an unspecified joint mortgage with his wife with what is probably the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

In 2010 it came to the attention of Australian voters that as then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had failed to declare a $710,000 mortgage on his Forestville NSW home entered into sometime in 2008 or 2009.

This mortgage was added to his official declaration of interests sometime in June 2010 and appeared to be a shared equity arrangement with the Adelaide Bank and Rismark:

On 9 December 2013 as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott once more declared a joint mortgage with his wife on the family home, this time with the National Australia Banking Group:

For a man who earns an est. $539,338 in combined salary and allowances and who virtually lives for free as Prime Minister of Australia, with a wife who is a paid company director/manager and no dependent children, this continuous level of debt on a house purchased in 1994 is rather curious to say the least.

One has to wonder what the Prime Minister does with his money? Do they burn $100 bills just for fun in the Abbott household with little thought for tomorrow?

Haven't heard a word about this from Clarence electorate candidates in the 2015 NSW state election. How about you?

In January 2015 Alzheimer's Australia released its NSW Election Manifesto ahead of the 28 March 2015 state election.

On the 17 February 2015 it sent out a media release titled Call For Support For Dementia Services In The NSW Election. 

It was reported in The Coffs Coast Advocate on 7 March 2015:

ALZHEIMER'S Australia is calling for major political parties to commit to better funding for research into the disease as part of their NSW Election platforms.

Updated dementia prevalence figures have supported the call for a comprehensive state-wide dementia strategy to be implemented in NSW, across health, transport, policing, housing and other government services.

In the state electorates of Coffs Harbour, Oxley and Clarence, it's estimated that a combined total of 4,400 people are already living with dementia.

These numbers are expected to increase to 5,030 by 2020 and 9,450 by 2050.

Alzheimer's Australia NSW chief executive, The Hon John Watkins, said the number of people with dementia in NSW is now estimated to be almost 112,000.

"These figures show dementia is an issue that is only going to get bigger and we really need a whole-of-government approach to appropriately tackle the challenge," Mr Watkins said.

"This means doing things like taking a serious look at how to provide much better care for people with dementia when they need to go to hospital.

"There is a need to increase specialist palliative care for people with dementia and adequately fund health-related transport to support people living with dementia to access health and medical-related appointments.

"With the tragically high level of dementia in Aboriginal communities, we also need to look specifically at dementia care and risk reduction measures for that community…..

A number of candidates standing in the seat of Clarence at the forthcoming state election have mentioned mental health services and cancer treatment as issues important to the electorate, but I have yet to hear any express an opinion on the subject of dementia.

According to Alzheimer's Australia; Dementia is the 3rd leading cause of death in Australia (source: ABS, March 2014).

Dementia prevalence projections by NSW electorate on the Far North Coast expects the number of people suffering from this devastating disease to rise by 2020 to:

Ballina 1,623

Clarence 1,697

Lismore 1,565

Tweed 2,018

TOTAL: 6,903

The prevalence projection for the number of people with dementia within North Coast Area Health Service boundaries in twenty-five years time is 27,661.

It's time all candidates in NSW North Coast electorates considered the social and economic implications of these figure.

Greens candidate Janet Cavanaugh demands Whiporie polling booth be reinstated for NSW state election this month

NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis still trying to excuse his collusion in closing Grafton Gaol

This was NSW Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis (left) on the subject of the 2012 closure of Grafton Gaol in The Daily Examiner on 6 March 2015: It was downsized in a time when inmate numbers were in decline. Inmate numbers now are skyrocketing. As soon as inmate numbers reach a threshold, the Grafton Jail will be re-opened.

It would be interesting to know what this threshold number is, because NSW prisoner numbers commenced to climb in late September 2012, reached “a record high” by March 2014 and are expected to rise by another 17 per cent by the end of March this year [NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Issue paper no. 95 April 2014].

By 16 May last year The Sydney Morning Herald was reporting that; BOCSAR director Don Weatherburn said the rapid rise was ''a matter of significant concern'' not only because each prisoner costs $119 a day but because the prison population was rising faster than the government could build capacity, creating the risk of prison unrest. More than 100 prisoners at Parklea signed a petition in March after management started placing three men in two-man cells, leading to increased tension and violence.

I rather suspect there is no inmate number threshold which would see the Baird Government re-open Grafton Goal in the foreseeable future – it will remain the much smaller remand centre it became on Chris Gulaptis’ watch.