There isn't enough water in the Darling River system to avoid catastrophic outcomes

Australian Academy of Science, media release, 18 February 2019:    

Scientists lay out new plan to save the Darling River

  

https://youtu.be/TkpRsY81FIg

Scientists asked to investigate the fish kills in the Murray-Darling River system in NSW say a failure to act resolutely and quickly on the fundamental cause—insufficient flows—threatens the viability of the Darling, the fish and the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods and wellbeing.

The multidisciplinary panel of experts, convened by the Australian Academy of Science, also found engagement with local residents, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, has been cursory at best, resulting in insufficient use of their knowledge about how the system is best managed.

The scientists say their findings point to serious deficiencies in governance and management, which collectively have eroded the intent of the Water Act 2007 and the framework of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (2012).

Chair of the expert panel, ANU Professor Craig Moritz FAA, said the sight of millions of dead fish from the three fish kills was a wake-up call.

“To me, it was like the coral bleaching event for the mainland,” Professor Moritz said.

“Our review of the fish kills found there isn’t enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes. This is partly due to the ongoing drought. However, analysis of rainfall and river flow data over decades points to excess water extraction upstream.”

The expert panel recommends that urgent steps can and should be taken within six months to improve the quality of water throughout the Darling River.

“That should include the formation of a Menindee Lakes restoration project to determine sustainable management of the lakes system and lower Darling and Darling Anabranch,” Professor Moritz said.

The panel also recommends a return to the framework of the 2012 Murray Darling Basin Plan to improve environmental outcomes.

“The best possible scenario is water in the Darling all the way to the bottom and in most years. We are hopeful that this could be achieved if the panel’s recommendations are implemented,” Professor Moritz said.

Australian Academy of Science President, Professor John Shine, said the scientific advice of the expert panel is a synthesis of the best available knowledge.

“In undertaking this body of work the multidisciplinary expert panel has collaborated with other relevant experts as required and received extensive data from a number of Federal and State agencies,” Professor Shine said.

These agencies include the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Land and Water Division of the NSW Department of Industry, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, in addition to data and information provided by researchers in many related fields. The expert panel wishes to acknowledge the cooperation of these bodies and individuals in promptly providing data.

The expert panel also operated closely with the Independent Panel to Assess Fish Deaths in the Lower Darling, initiated by the Government and chaired by Professor Robert Vertessy, including sharing data and a reciprocal review of findings.

The expert panel report

Read the report: Investigation of the causes of mass fish kills in the Menindee Region NSW over the summer of 2018–2019

The main findings and recommendations are in the executive summary. The report was independently assessed by seven independent peer reviewers, including one international reviewer.

Related media releases

Academy to provide science advice on fish kill (21 January 2019)

Panel of experts to review fish kill announced (23 January 2019)

Academy welcomes independent assessment of fish deaths (23 January 2019)

Wealth of data triggers revised reporting date for Academies’ expert advice on fish kills (7 February 2019)

Liberals caught behaving badly - yet again. WARNING: Contains offensive comment

Apparently some NSW Young Liberals thought that behaving like sexual predators was a fun way to campaign in the lead up to the March 2019 state election.

That is until the matter came to the notice of the voting public and their party superiors decided it wasn't funny anymore because it could cost them votes.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2019:

Four NSW Young Liberals have been kicked out of the party for making lewd and derogatory comments about women in an online chat group meant for election campaigning.

The four used the dating app Tinder to connect with women who they hoped to convince to vote Liberal and then made sexually explicit comments about them in a Facebook group.

In one instance, one of the Young Liberals who works for a senior NSW Liberal MP, posted a photo of a woman he was chatting with on Tinder, describing her as a “potato".

"A potato that can vote," the Young Liberal wrote.

                           

“Then root and boot her and leave some HTVs (how to vote cards). F..k I could go some fries right now."

Other comments in the chat include references to a woman voting "blue", the Liberal colour.

"I like blue but don't give me blue balls," another male member of the group wrote.

One of the men replied: "I don't think he wants to bang a potato".

Several female Young Liberals in the group chat were horrified by the comments and pleaded with their male colleagues to end the discussion.

"Anytime would be a good time to stop," one woman in the group wrote.

Really disappointing to see so many nasty comments about a woman who you don't know."

Another said: “People wonder why women don’t want to join the Liberal Party."

One of the men responded: "Sorry to have started it, just thought it was a fun way of campaigning."

The group, set up when several Young Liberals were helping in last year’s South Australian election, had 17 members, including NSW Young Liberals president Harry Stutchbury.

Other members in the group hold executive positions with the Young Liberals and some work for senior NSW ministers and MPs. One of the four who was disciplined works for a NSW Nationals minister.

Mr Stutchbury, who did not make any comments in the chat group, said he received a complaint from women the morning after the discussion.

He said he told the four men involved that their behaviour was not acceptable but he took no further action and it was not reported to the party's head office.

The first Liberal Party officials knew of the online chat was when they were alerted to it by The Sun-Herald, despite the comments being made almost 12 months ago.

"I welcome the decisive action the party has taken," Mr Stutchbury said.

The four received the maximum available penalty late on Friday and were suspended from the party for six months after officials saw the contents of the chat group…..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2019:

Two NSW Young Liberals who were kicked out of the party after making lewd comments about women have been sacked from their state government jobs.

The Liberals, one who worked for Kiama MP Gareth Ward and the other for Tourism Minister Adam Marshall, no longer have jobs with the government, sources have confirmed.

Domestic Violence is still on the rise in Clarence Valley, NSW

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), October 2008 to September 2018, Assault - domestic violence related, Clarence Valley Local Government Area

Statistically significant Upward trend over the 120 month period. The average annual percentage change was: 4.6%

Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service NSW Inc. (WDVCAS NSW), media release, excerpt, 19 June 2019:

'We care about women who have experienced domestic and family violence and their access to justice. Our work saves lives every day,’ says Renata Field, Director of WDVCAS NSW, the peak body representing the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Services. ‘One of the Premier’s Priorities notes that “Domestic Violence has no place in our society”, yet the 2018 NSW budget has given us no additional funding to support the more than 43,000 women we work with each year.’

Domestic violence services are vastly underfunded in NSW compared to other Australian jurisdictions[1]. WDVCAS services have experienced a 104% increase in clients in the last 5 years, with only a 18.5% funding increase. The NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Annual Report of 2017 highlights the need for additional supports for women attending court.

BOCSAR statistics show an increase in DV related assaults and an increase in the number of domestic violence protection orders issued in NSW (ADVOs). With community concern about the issue at an all-time high following high level publicity from the #metoo movement, the death of women and children in our communities and the 2015 Australian of the year, Rosie Batty, the NSW government should be leading the way to fund specialist domestic violence services such as the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Services. 

Australian PM advertises his new 'star' sign

No, it isn’t Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo,Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius or even Pisces. It’s Prat(t)* and he proudly puts it on display during one of his latest attempts to ape Donald Trump.

* prat noun informal an incompetent or stupid person; an idiot; a person's buttocks

Murray-Darling Basin's historical maladministration continues

The Guardian, 13 February 2019:

Water flows at key environmental sites in the Murray-Darling Basin are unimproved or worse than before the basin plan was implemented, a scientific report has found, raising serious questions about where the $8.5bn of environmental water purchased by taxpayers is going.

The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a group of eminent environmental scientists formed a decade ago to advocate for the river system, have looked at two key sites which they identified when the plan was put in place in 2010.

They have found that environmental flows are not meeting the government’s own objectives for improving the health of the river at these sites.

At one site flows have actually declined, compared to pre-plan days.

The work, the first time anyone – including the Murray-Darling Basin Authority – has tried to look in detail at progress against the plan’s own environmental objectives, paints a worrying picture of whether the plan is working.

In coming up with the environmental water recovery targets in the plan, the federal government identified 122 indicator sites – sites that needed more flows to ensure biodiversity was preserved or restored.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 February 2019:

An unsolicited modification of licences for irrigators on the Macquarie River has allowed water earmarked for protecting one of the most important wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin to be diverted for a cotton crop.

Documents obtained by the Herald show farmers were alerted a year ago by the NSW Department of Industry's water division to changes of the conditions on their unregulated water licences. That prompted the Office of Environment and Heritage to seek to nullify the changes' impact.

One stakeholder, who declined to be named, said he "sat here in shock" when the letter from the water department arrived. "It was like a gift from heaven."

The change effectively gave permission for the licence holders to extract environmental water flows even though they had been paid for by taxpayers in both NSW and the Commonwealth.

Enabled by the new rules, Michael Egan, owner of the Kiameron farm near the eastern side of the marches, alerted agencies of his plans to pump environmental flows even as the drought across the region intensified.

Between September 9 and October 5 last year, the farm extracted about 600 million litres of a 10 billion-litre flow headed for the marshes, assisting the irrigation of his cotton crop.

"When it's in an unregulated part of the system, [the agencies] lose control of the water," Mr Egan told the Herald. "I'm just running with the rules."

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office said "most of the flow was protected from pumping by licence conditions". Still, the agency was continuing to work with NSW agencies "to address anomalies in the licencing framework and improve the protection of environmental flows".

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority said it had alerted the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) to investigate the matter after "satellite monitoring of environmental water picked up images of water being diverted".

It said amendments to NSW's Water Management Act would "allow environmental water to be left in stream for environmental purposes".

A former water compliance officer said, "That's not an anomaly; that's maladministration. How do you get environmental water to grow a cotton crop?"

Guess that big empty bus and other faux election campaign antics weren’t as effective as Scott Morrison had hoped

Channel 9 News, 16 February 2019:

The Morrison Government is losing support in Queensland in the latest spell of bad news for the Prime Minister.

The latest YouGov Galaxy poll shows that the Prime Minister has lost crucial support in the Sunshine State, often seen as a key election battleground….

The slump comes despite Mr Morrison visiting farmers devastated by the recent floods, promising to rebuild the cattle industry…..

There are only four more sitting days remain until the budget is handed down, and just seven more until the most likely date when the election will be called.

Galaxy poll published 16 February 2019:

Queensland Primary Vote – L/NP 35 (-2) to ALP 34 (unchanged)

Queensland Two-PartyPreferred (TPP) – L/NP 48% (-2) to ALP 52% (+2)

So why is the Morrison Government and Australian mainstream media shouting about asylum seekers?

The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 colloquially known as the Medivac Bill was passed by both Houses of the Australian Parliament on 13 February 2019.

This bill was originally intended to amend; “the Migration Act 1958 to: provide that, when an unlawful non-citizen is in the process of being removed to another country and the removal is aborted, or is completed but the person is not permitted entry into the receiving country, and as a direct result the person is returned to Australia, then that person has a lawful basis to return to Australia without a visa; provide that, when such a person does return to Australia without a visa, the person will be taken to have been continuously in the migration zone for the purposes of certain sections of the Act which bar the person from making a valid application for certain visas; and allow the department to use an online account to provide clients with certain legally required communications; Customs Act 1901 to: allow the department to make a recoverable payment to a person who is entitled to it; and make technical amendments; and Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978 to insert a new head of power so that regulations can prescribe the charging and recovery of fees for, and in relation to, the payment of passenger movement charge or an amount equal to the charge.”

Labor, the Greens and a cluster from cross benches successfully voted to significantly amend this bill by adding clauses so that persons held in off-shore detention at Manus Island and Nauru could more easily be transferred to Australia for medical treatment in a hospital or as an out-patient while being held in an on-shore detention facility.

This new addition to migration law will only apply to detainees on Manus and Nauru. As of 3 February 2019 there are around 420 people in Nauru, just under 600 in PNG and just over 1,000 in total, with 4 children on Nauru due to depart soon [for] the US.

The relevant minister retains the ability to block medical transfer of detainees to mainland Australia on the grounds of national security or on the basis of past criminal history.

Excerpts from SCHEDULE OF THEAMENDMENTS MADE BY THE HOUSE TO AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE SENATE:

“(2A) The Minister must make a decision under subsection (2):

(a) as soon as practicable after being notified; and

(b) no later than 72 hours after being notified….

(3) The Minister must approve the person’s transfer to Australia unless:

(a) the Minister reasonably suspects that the transfer of the person to Australia would be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that Act; or

(b) the Minister knows that the person has a substantial criminal record (as defined by subsection 501(7) as in force at the commencement of this section) and the Minister reasonably believes the person would expose the Australian community to a serious risk of criminal conduct.

(3A) Within 72 hours of the Minister being notified under subsection (1), ASIO should advise the Minister if the transfer of the person to Australia may be prejudicial to security within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (including because an adverse security assessment in respect of the person is in force under that Act) and if that threat cannot be mitigated….

(5) If the Minister does not make a decision under subsection (2) within the time required by subsection (2A), the Minister is, at the end of the time, taken to have approved the person’s transfer under subsection (2).”

How did this hijacking of a government bill come about?

The New Daily explained it in simple terms on 15 February 2019:

The government has lost control of the numbers in both chambers of the parliament, making it possible for an alliance of Labor, the Greens and like-minded crossbenchers to radically change legislation originally proposed by the government and then pass it into law.

This has resulted in the bizarre scenario where parliament can create laws that the government of the day opposes, such as the ‘medevac bill’.

The medevac bill was created when such an alliance hijacked a government bill in the Senate late last year that was intended to make minor adjustments to border protection laws.

They tacked onto this legislation all the elements of a private member’s bill proposed by new independent MP Kerryn Phelps, that would make it possible for the medical evacuation of offshore detainees to occur.

Embedding the Phelps bill into the government’s bill made it easier for the legislation to make its way quickly through the parliament, because government business is usually given priority over private member’s bills.

The alliance ensured that the medevac bill passed the Senate during the final week of parliament last year, but the government shut down the House of Representatives before the bill could get there for the vote that would turn it into law.

Despite this, the Coalition was defeated in a lower house vote on the legislation this week and the medevac bill became law against the government’s wishes.

The last time an Australian government lost a major vote like this, it conceded the loss was a sign that the parliament had ‘lost confidence’ in the government and called an election.

Mr Morrison has declined to take the same route.

So why are Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton screaming that the sky will now fall and Australia will be inundated with asylum seekers arriving from both Manus and Nauru and by boat from Indonesia?

The shorter answer is that a federal election will occur sometime after 2 April 2019 up to 18 May 2019 and, with voter support for the current Liberal-Nationals Coalition being low, Morrison and Dutton are looking for a scare campaign they believe will resonate across the national electorate.

When one unpacks their argument it is rather illogical.

First of all, off-shore detainees have always been able to come to Australia for medical treatment although the relevant minister also had wide veto powers and often exercised that power.

Secondly, these amendments only apply to the est. 1,000 asylum seekers remaining on Manus Island and Nauru.

Thirdly, Australia has continued to turn back people smuggling boats since 2001 – a boat was reportedly turned back in July 2018.

Finally, although boat arrivals have decreased over the years the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia has not consistently fallen. Even in 2015 asylum seekers arriving by air on a valid visa outnumbered those arriving by boat.

The total number of onshore asylum claims for all nationalities soared 225 per cent from 8,587 in 2014-15 to 27,931 in 2017-18 with Chinese nationals making up a third of all claims over that period. By June 2018; The Home Affairs Department website shows 27,931 protection visa applications were made in the latest financial year by plane arrivals and 64,362 protection visa applications have been made by unvetted individuals who have arrived by plane while Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton were the relevant ministers.

From 2014 to 2015 a total of 160 asylum seekers arrived by boat, since then people recorded as arriving by boat have fallen to single digits.

The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has always bragged about "stopping the boats" but stays silent on the fact that asylum seekers are still coming to Australia by air rather than by sea and, they are coming in increasing numbers.

These particular asylum seekers don't give a damn about the Medivac Bill.