Law Council of Australia calls for independent oversight of immigration detention in wake of Nauru leaks

In today's political climate is there hope that the free-for-all that is NSW water rights will be curbed?

The Daily Examiner, 8 August 2016, p.16:

VOICES FOR THE EARTH

The water division of the NSW Department of Primary Industry (DPI) is currently undertaking a review of rural landowners' harvestable water rights - the percentage of their property's water run-off they are allowed to take.

Currently landowners bordering permanent water courses are entitled to pump sufficient water for domestic use and livestock without a licence. However, should they wish to take additional water for irrigation or any other reason, a licence is required.

Rural landowners are also entitled to harvestable rights (HR) which, in NSW coastal areas, is 10% of run-off from their properties, an amount determined through complex calculations based on average rainfall. They are also allowed, without formal approval, to construct a dam, or dams, big enough to store that entitlement on smaller upper catchment gullies, known as first and second order streams.

With the increase in the development of intensive horticulture in the region, comes the need for guaranteed water supplies, which invariably includes the construction of large dams, which are then used to irrigate the orchards. However, those dams are continually collecting run-off well in excess of the 10% allowance.

However, when questioned about this seeming anomaly, DPI Water explains: "The harvestable rights relate to dam capacity not to actual usage so there is potential to capture and use more water than the actual dam capacity in an irrigation year."

It gets worse. The laws also allow landowners to build, again without the need for approvals, any number of 'off-stream' storages, i.e. dams that do not collect run-off, into which water can be pumped from the HR dam.

Irrigators have jumped at the opportunity presented by the review, and are lobbying for increased allowances and relaxation of current laws to allow HR dams to be built on the larger, often permanent flowing, third order streams.

Clearly a review is long overdue, and there needs to be strict regulation of the distribution of this precious commodity, which must include compliance monitoring that ensures fairness for all users, particularly the environment.

John Edwards

Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition

The fallout from #CensusFail continues......

It is now the sixth day after Cenus Night 2016 in Australia and information has been slowly seeping out into the public domain.

First there's the genuine attempts to explain the spectacular failure to launch as opposed to the ABS-Turnbull Government propaganda on the subject.......

Reddit user mykro76 via @Qldaar, 10 August 2016:

Sortius, 10 August 2016:

So, I contacted Softlayer support, this was their response @ABSCensus #CensusFail

Patrick Gray at Risky.Biz on #CensusFail, 11 August 2016:

Community and Public Service Union, media release, 12 August  2016:

ABS STAFF ANGRY AT TURNBULL GOVERNMENT OVER CENSUS DEBACLE

The CPSU says the highly qualified and dedicated staff at the Australian Bureau of Statistics must not be blamed for the decisions by the Turnbull Government that are the real cause of Tuesday night’s Census debacle.

The union’s National Secretary Nadine Flood said: “Our members working in the ABS have slugged their guts out for months to make this Census work despite multiple Government decisions that have caused major problems. They know how critical the information collected in the Census is to the nation and they’re absolutely gutted at the damage done to the ABS's reputation and the Census itself.”

“Staff saw these problems coming a mile off. There are 700 fewer staff at the ABS now than when the last Census was conducted five years ago and as a result staff are suffering under massive workloads. Critical planning time was lost as the Government foolishly considered axing the Census, chopped and changed ministers three times and dilly-dallied for nearly a year in appointing a new chief statistician.”

“It’s shameful that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said ‘heads will roll’ at the ABS over the Census while taking no responsibility for the real cause of this debacle, the decisions made by his Government.”

“It is Governments that are responsible for the reliability of public services and the Turnbull Government cannot dodge responsibility for slashing budgets and jobs. Prime Minister Turnbull should be apologising not finger pointing.”

“This situation in the ABS is just one example of how cuts to public sector staffing and capacity have gone too far, and how it’s ultimately the Australian public that suffers as a result.

Australians are struggling to get through on the Census hotline today, but that’s no less disturbing than the one in three calls to Medicare and Centrelink that go unanswered every day.”

“The dedication of ABS staff has ensured the Census has played a critical role in public policy in Australia for more than a century. It remains an important tool and we are urging Australians to participate despite the Government’s failings.”

Unsurprisingly the privacy concerns haven't gone away........

Digital Rights Watch, 12 August 2016:

The letter, signed by prominent privacy advocates, academics and journalists, reads:

The conduct of this year’s census raises serious and pressing ethical, legal, security and technological concerns. These throw doubt on the value of the exercise and the quality of the data collected.

The Australian government must put the Census 2016 on hold while it consults with the Australian people on the value and ethical ramifications of this and similar mass data-collection exercises. Expert input and advice must be sought to determine best practice ethical, governance and security standards for data collection, use, linkage, storage, and real-world implementation.

These problems, and the difficulties Australians have experienced in accessing and completing both the paper and electronic forms, make imperative the provision of the following two remedies.

We therefore respectfully request:

1. Amnesty for anyone who files a late or incomplete census
2. An independent inquiry into the ABS’s conduct of Census 2016. This should include a comparison of the ethical and institutional governance arrangements for hard-copy and electronic data collection, storage, linkage and use with international and best practice standards. Community consultation should take place in regard to the appointment of heads of this inquiry, precise terms of reference and timeframes for reporting.

Signed by:

Tim Norton, Digital Rights Watch
Amy Gray, Digital Rights Watch
Asher Wolf, journalist
Dr Suelette Dreyfus
Peter Tonoli
Jenna Price
Liam Pomfret, Australian Privacy Foundation
Mark Walkom, Australian Privacy Foundation
Simon Frew, Pirate Party Australia
Felicity Ruby, PhD Candidate
Professor Ariadne Vromen
Tim Cashmere
Mary Kostakidis, Freelance Journalist
Gautam Raju, Campaigner
Jack Skinner
Dr Leslie Cannold
Melissa Castan, Law Lecturer
Dr Ben Harris-Roxas
Professor Robert Sparrow
Robin Doherty, Hack for Privacy
Dr Kristoffer Greaves, Legal Educator
Archie Law, CEO ActionAid Australia
Thomas Kane
Kate Galloway, Law Lecturer
Tom Sulston, Technology Consultant
Trisha Jha
Suzy Wood, IP Lawyer
Justin Clacherty, Future Wise Australia
Cade Diehm, SpiderOak
Trent Yarwood, Future Wise Australia
Julian Burnside AO QC
Dr Matthew Rimmer, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law, QUT Faculty of Law
Dan Nolan, software engineer

Then there's those zealous casual employees on the ABS Census team attempting to salvage something from the wreckage…….

The mocking has even spread into mainstream media on Northern Rivers…….

The Daily Examiner, 13 August 2016:

SORRY guys, looks like we caused the Census website to crash, but it was worth it.

We only told one little lie but suddenly our street is crawling with engineers, government types, teachers, plumbers, interpreters, shopping centre magnates and consultants.

Man, we haven't seen so many consultants since they sold Telstra.

Anyway, it was all part of objecting to have to put your name on the Census.

Not sure why we're objecting, everyone knows me and I would be happy if someone stole my identity. I could just slip away quietly and watch the fireworks.

They are as welcome to the $10 in my bank account as they are to my dog, and well, truth be known, Ms L. probably would appreciate the change too, and it'd be cheaper than a holiday for her.

But if it's not good enough for Nick X, then it's not good enough for us, so I didn't use my name.

However I did say that there were 23,000 people staying at our place that night and that's when the fun started.

We ensured half the number were children so the Education Department has acquired land for a primary school, a high school, half a TAFE and a branch of some wannabe regional uni, all within a kilometre.

Westfield is knocking down the other houses in our neighbourhood and building a shopping centre.

The Department of Transport built a bus interchange across the road (guess we didn't make the cut for an airport, but gee it gave Badgerys Creek a fright).

There's a new hospital with no queues on a Saturday night. However that might be because of the lockout laws. Yeah, we didn't see that coming. Apparently when you get that many people together they want to stay up late and party. Well, der. But this is Australia, mate, not Paris or Berlin, New York or London.

We're locked out after dark and the internet doesn't work, but gee the other services are good and I'll drink to that. BYO at home, that is.

Sorry about the website thing.

An important point that shouldn't be lost in all the media noise........

Finally, an estimation of how many premises and or households are still missing in action (including an unknown number involved in acts of civil disobedience)......

It is possible that as of today the Australian Bureau of Statistics only holds an est. 30-45 per cent of all Census forms (paper & online) it anticipated receiving.

The statistical margin of error flowing from that sort of respondent percentage would be too large to make it a credible national snapshot of population and housing.

Forget the Olympics for a great winter couch sport.......

There are reportedly at least five unsolicited proposals being developed for presentation to the NSW Dept. of Premier and Cabinet involving the construction of rail corridors, with one apparently involving a Chinese consortium wanting to install an additional freight rail line to Port Kembla.

So it is interesting to watch how they are all competing in the public relations stakes.

When it comes to Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd.’s proposal for a new inland freight rail corridor to coastal mega port in the Clarence River estuary, it appears that in this competition its proponents have all the grace and expertise of Eddy the Eagle who managed two spectacular last places at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

It looks as though the company has decided that its officers and shareholders have no fencing or boxing skills but excel at diving in and that's just what they should do in any online comments thread.

This total lack of PR skills means that following the company’s forays onto Facebook has become something of a local couch sport in the Lower Clarence Valley, where the audience happily munches their popcorn, peanuts or chips as they scroll down the latest comments.

This spectacular belly flop in the 10m dive event drew a slow clap in my house:

While this clumsy exit from the pool after the 3m dive was greeted with hilarity:

 

Once again the NSW Baird Government fails to protect local communities and the public interest

Newcastle Herald Sun, 9 August 2016:

A KOREAN mining company prosecuted for using false photographs to support a Bylong Valley mine application has “got away with lying” after the NSW Government dropped a prosecution under the Mining Act, Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said.

Mr Buckingham condemned the government for allowing resources giant KEPCO and consultant Worley Parsons to agree to an “enforceable undertaking”, rather than face prosecution and a possible $110,000 fine.

The companies were charged after Bylong man Craig Shaw said photos of his property provided by KEPCO to support drilling sites showed flat paddocks rather than the actual rocky, steep terrain.

“Minister (Anthony) Roberts has essentially let this company get away with a lie and undermined the Mining Act,” Mr Buckingham said.

“This sets a terrible precedent for compliance and enforcement of the Mining Act and has undermined any deterrence effect. The government had already approved this drilling project and it was only diligent landholders who picked up the deception in the application.

“At a time where the Baird government is ramping up penalties against people protesting mining, they are letting mining companies off the hook for outright deception. Minister Roberts needs to explain this double standard.”

Mr Shaw said he was extremely disappointed with the decision that allowed the department to avoid a prosecution. He was also disappointed with how the matter was handled after he raised the complaint, saying he was not formally advised of the decision to accept an enforceable undertaking, despite assisting the department with its investigation.

“These companies have been let off the hook. They have deliberately broken the law, but they will not be punished. KEPCO are free to continue with their plans to turn the spectacular and unique Bylong Valley into a mining complex,” Mr Shaw said.

Lock the Gate Hunter coordinator Steve Phillips said the decision was “a shameful abdication of duty by the NSW Government, but why would KEPCO feel the need to tell the truth when there is no punishment for lying?”

NOAA/NASA reports leave Australian Communications and Media Authority with egg on its face

This is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies’ Annual Global Analysis for 2014: 2014 was Warmest Year on Record, published January 2015:

Global Highlights

The year 2014 was the warmest year across global land and ocean surfaces since records began in 1880.* The annually-averaged temperature was 0.69°C (1.24°F) above the 20th century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F), easily breaking the previous records of 2005 and 2010 by 0.04°C (0.07°F). This also marks the 38th consecutive year (since 1977) that the yearly global temperature was above average. Including 2014, 9 of the 10 warmest years in the 135-year period of record have occurred in the 21st century. 1998 currently ranks as the fourth warmest year on record.

The 2014 global average ocean temperature was also record high, at 0.57°C (1.03°F) above the 20th century average of 16.1°C (60.9°F), breaking the previous records of 1998 and 2003 by 0.05°C (0.09°F). Notably, ENSO-neutral conditions were present during all of 2014.

The 2014 global average land surface temperature was 1.00°C (1.80°F) above the 20th century average of 8.5°C (47.3°F), the fourth highest annual value on record….

In January 2016 the following year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies published Annual Global Analysis for 2015: 2015 was by far the warmest year in the record:

Earth’s 2015 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Globally-averaged temperatures in 2015 shattered the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius).* Only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much.

The 2015 temperatures continue a long-term warming trend, according to analyses by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York (GISTEMP). NOAA scientists concur with the finding that 2015 was the warmest year on record based on separate, independent analyses of the data. Because weather station locations and measurements change over time, there is some uncertainty in the individual values in the GISTEMP index. Taking this into account, NASA analysis estimates 2015 was the warmest year with 94 percent certainty…..

While this was the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) ruling in Investigation report no. BI-185 on 8 July 2016:

In April 2016, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) commenced an investigation under section 170 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) into a segment on The Bolt Report broadcast on Southern Cross Ten by Southern Cross Communications Pty Limited (the licensee) on 8 November 2015.

The ACMA received a complaint alleging that a statement about the interpretation of a graph broadcast during a segment on global warming was inaccurate and misleading.

The ACMA has investigated the licensee’s compliance against clause 4.3.1 of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice 2010 (the Code)…..

Despite some contestability about this issue[1], Mr Bolt’s specific comment about there being no real warming of the atmosphere over the last 18 years is consistent with the surface air temperature records for this period referred to in the 2013 IPCC report and by Remote Sensing Systems*…..

Current affairs programs such as The Bolt Report are not precluded from taking a position on any matter and are not required to be balanced or to include all information about a particular issue.

It was clear from the excerpts of the comments of environmentalists, scientists and political leaders in the segment that Mr Bolt’s opinions were contentious and the evidence provided to support his views was selective. However, of itself, the factual material was accurate.*

The ACMA therefore finds that, in the context of the segment in its entirety, Mr Bolt’s statement about there being no real warming of the atmosphere over the last 18 years, and the graph used to support that statement, comply with the code.

Accordingly, the licensee did not breach clause 4.3.1 of the Code. 

* My red bolding

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[1] http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2015/noaa-analysis-journal-science-no-slowdown-in-global-warming-in-recent-years.html accessed 27 June 2016.

Single Word Summary of Australian Bureau of Statistics Failure to Launch 2016 National Census