Yaegl Aboriginal cultural heritage areas in the Clarence Valley to be mapped

Clarence Valley Council, media release:

Mayor: Jim Simmons LOCKED BAG 23 GRAFTON NSW 2460

General Manager: Ashley Lindsay Telephone: (02) 6643 0200

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15, 2019

Mapping areas of Yaegl Aboriginal cultural heritage

A PROJECT that aims to help protect areas of cultural value to the Aboriginal community is about to get under way in the Clarence Valley.

Representatives of the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, the Office of Environment and Heritage and Clarence Valley Council recently signed a memorandum of understanding for a cultural mapping project of the Clarence.

The project aims to identify and map known and “high potential” areas of Aboriginal heritage to ensure culturally appropriate information is used to inform conservation and local plans.

The MoU says plans, which include cultural heritage management initiatives, are intended to better protect Aboriginal heritage within or adjacent to all mapped areas.

“Assessment of the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System data and extensive field surveys in company with nominated cultural representatives to validate and record data is also a necessary project component,” it says.

The project aims to produce 1:25,000 scale topographic maps for the Yaegl Native Title Claimed Area, annotated with “known” and “high potential” areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage, within and immediately adjacent to the Clarence Valley local government area.

Once complete, a training program will be developed for Yaegl site officers, Clarence Valley Council staff and other appropriate agencies.

Release ends.

Norway needs to withdraw its majority-owned petroleum mining company from the Great Australian Bight

Plans to drill in the middle of the Great Australian Bight have led to a fierce battle, as a Norwegian Energy giant faces off with Aussie surfers, environmentalists and fishermen. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/2ppO02m0or

— The Project (@theprojecttv) April 8, 2019

 ABC News, 12 March 2019:

A Norwegian MP has called for a state-owned Norwegian oil and gas company not to start drilling in the Great Australian Bight, while a scientist says noise from the project could hurt marine life.

The Norwegian Government has a 67 per cent majority stake in Equinor, which wants to start searching for oil off the coast of South Australia at a depth of almost 2.5 kilometres by the end of 2020.

It needs approval from the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

MP Kristoffer Robin Haug addressed the Norwegian Parliament last week and said going ahead with the project could see Norway become the enemy.

"Will the [Petroleum and Energy] Minister use this power as a majority shareholder in Equinor to instruct their company to stop their oil exploration in the Bight?" he asked.

Fight For The Bight, April 2019:

New research from The Australia Institute shows that 60% of Australians are opposed to drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight, while the rate of opposition amongst South Australians is even higher at 68%.

The first ever national poll on the issue found that only one in five Australians, and 16% of South Australians, support drilling in the Bight, while more than two thirds of Australians want to see the area given World Heritage protection.

The poll also found there is greater support, both nationwide and in SA, for ending coal, gas and oil exploration across Australia than there is for allowing it to continue.

“The Great Australian Bight is a national treasure and now we know that people across the country want to see it protected from exploitation,” said Noah Schultz-Byard, The Australia Institute’s SA projects manager.

“Equinor and the other oil giants looking to drill in the Great Australian Bight are attempting to do so in direct opposition to the wishes of the Australian people.

“We’ve known for some time that the Great Australian Bight holds a special place in the hearts of South Australians, but this research has shown that opposition to exploiting the Bight exists across the country.

The Norwegian Greens Party has also adopted the Australian Greens slogan "Fight for the Bight".

South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Haug's speech showed the fight was now receiving international attention.

"This is starting to cause problems and waves overseas," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"People are questioning why Australia would put at risk our beautiful pristine areas.

"This is a whale sanctuary. This is an untouched wonderland. Why would we put this at risk?"….

Protesters took to Encounter Bay this morning to protest against oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

See https://www.facebook.com/abcadelaide/videos/2538309232876968/

No matter how had they dance and prance Scott Morrison & Co just can't turn Newspoll around

Only 32 days out from the 2019 federal election and the losing streak is not yet over for the Morrison Government.

The last time the Coalition were ahead on a Newspoll Two Party Preferred (TPP) basis was on 2 July 2016 when the Turnbull Government stood at 50.5 per cent on the day of the 2016 federal election.

Which means the losing streak has now stretched to a little over 33 months.

52nd Newpoll results – published 15 April 2019:

Primary Vote – Labor 39 percent (up 2 points) to Liberal-Nationals 39 per cent (up 1 point), The Greens 9 per cent (unchanged), One Nation 4 per cent (down 2 points).

Two Party Preferred (TPP) - Labor 52 per cent (unchanged) to Liberal-Nationals Coalition 48 per cent (up 1 point).

Voter Net Satisfaction With Leaders’ Performance – Prime Minister Scott Morrison 1 point (down 1 point) and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten -14 points (unchanged).

If a federal election had been held on14 April 2019 based of the preference flow in July 2016, then Labor would have won government with a majority 82 seats (unchanged since 7 April poll ) to the Coalition's 63 seats (unchanged since 7 April poll) in the House of Representatives.

According to Antony Green's Swing Calculator the 11-14 April 2019 Newspoll results will see Labor gain the Page electorate and retain the Richmond electorate, with Cowper electorate being retained by the Nationals.

Morrison and Frydenberg caught out deceiving Treasury officials and lying to the national electorate as the federal election campaign kicked off last week

On 11 April 2019, the same day Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal election date, The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will use new Treasury costings to warn Australians of a $387 billion burden from Labor tax hikes and revenue increases in an incendiary attack after launching the May 18 federal election campaign.

Mr Morrison will use the figures to outline the full impact of Labor's plan to oppose $230 billion in personal income tax cuts and extract another $157 billion in higher revenue from negative gearing, dividend changes and other measures.

However this alleged Treasury advice was not distributed to journalists.

Instead they allegedly received this:

via @Bowenchris

Which is definitely not a Treasury document, couched as it is in terms of election slogans such as “Retiree tax” for changes to the treatment of excess franking credits, “Housing tax” for changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, "Superannuation tax" for changes to the cap on non-concessional superannuation contributions and "Family business tax" to changes to the rules for private discretionary trusts.

However, the truth will out…….

Chief political correspondent for The Age:

"We were not asked to cost another party's policies and would not do so if the request was made specifically to 'cost Party X's policy'," Treasury Secretary Phil Gaejtens told Labor.https://t.co/dFuxDroM7O

— David Crowe (@CroweDM) April 12, 2019

What is missing from this deception on the part of Morrison & Co is the exact wording of the request to cost received by Treasury - we already know they didn't classify the request in terms of it containing details of Labor policies.

If its anything like the last time the Liberal-Nationals pulled this particular unethical campaign trick, what Treasury was actually asked to cost was slightly different to Labor’s stated policies.

American Politics: Opening lines to remember

From "Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About The Worst President Ever" by Rick Wilson, published in 2018.

Another federal Coalition Government ‘epic fail’

Seems whatever our neigbour to the west, the National Party’s Barnaby Joyce, touches turns to dross……

The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 2019:

A phone tower that Barnaby Joyce fought for ended up on the northern NSW property of long-time friend and mining baron Gina Rinehart, who gets an annual fee to host the tower. Locals are baffled why the tower was put there over another location, as it's plagued with reception problems.

The Northern Daily Leader reports that Kingstown's community in Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's New England electorate campaigned hard for the tower, switched on two weeks ago, to be co-located with a police and emergency services tower at the highest point in the district.

But it was built instead at Sundown Valley Pastoral Company, bought by Ms Rinehart's pastoral arm Hancock Prospecting in August last year. Landowners are paid a yearly fee by telecommunications companies to have towers placed on their property.

Kingstown resident Jeff Condren led the charge for a tower to be funded by the federal government's Mobile Blackspot Program and called it an "epic fail".

"Now that the tower has been in operation for several weeks it's evident the community concerns relating to the location and the service was well-justified," he said.

"Service levels drop to nothing just a couple of kilometres in any direction.....

Who will be to blame if Essential Energy cuts down koala trees in Lawrence, NSW?

Koala habitat within Lawrence, NSW

Essential Energy is a NSW state-owned corporation supplying ‘poles and wire’ infrastructure to communities on the North Coast.

One of those communities is the small village of Lawrence on the Lower Clarence River.

An attractive feature of living in this village is that it is one of the ever diminishing small regional/rural urban areas which still have resident koalas.

Koalas like this one sitting in a tree line marked by Essential Energy for felling.

Photograph of Lawrence koala supplied

Koala mid-canopy & circled in black
Photograph supplied

Apparently those surveying the short new route for a section of poles and wires in Lawrence neglected to look up into the trees – what else can explain the fact that known koala trees have been marked for destruction?

So who is it that employs such incredibly blind staff?

Well Essential Energy has a Board of Directors (very comfortably remunerated from $60,600 up to $764,200 pa) and all apparently living far from this particular group of koalas.

These board members are:

Patricia McKenzie – Chair, Non-Executive Director

Robyn Clubb – Non-Executive Director

Jennifer Douglas – Non-Executive Director

John Fletcher – Non-Executive Director

Peter Garling – Non-Executive Director

Patrick Strange – Non-Executive Director

Diane Elert – Non-Executive Director

John Cleland – CEO and Executive Director.

The shareholders are represented by the NSW Treasurer and Minister for Finance, Services and Property. Current Treasurer is MP for Epping Dominic Perrottet.

With the exception of the Treasurer all these people belong to what might be called the professional directors class and, between them are associated with a number of other businesses and a research facility:

APA Group, Health Direct Australia,

Australian Wool Exchange Ltd, Craig Moyston Group Ltd, Elders Ltd, NSW Primary Industries Ministerial Advisory Council, Rice Marketing Board of NSW,
Hansen Technologies Limited, Opticomm Pty Ltd, Peter MacCullum Cancer Foundation,

Charter Hall Funds Management Limited, Charter Hall Limited, Energy Group Limited, Downer EDI Limited, Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Limited, Tellus Holdings Limited,

Auckland International Airport Limited. Chorus Limited, Mercury Energy, NZX Limited.

Annotated image; photograph supplied

A fair number of people in Lawrence have told Essential Energy that they want these koala trees to be left standing and the corporation states it has taken its plan under review.

So if Essential Energy does decide these koala trees are to be cut down in the next few months, don’t blame the men with chainsaws, blame these eight professional directors and the successive NSW Coalition governments who appointed them - from the O'Farrell Government in 2013 through to the Berejiklian Government in 2018.

Because state government is clearly appointing directors who cannot even ensure that Essential Energy’s environmental policy (for which they are responsible) is comprehensive and actually mentions vulnerable and threatened flora and fauna.

It is a policy which (aside from a brief mention of greenhouse gas emission reduction) fails to give clear direction to staff, given there is only a single broadly worded line in its 12 point health, safety & environmental policy to cover all manner of environmental issues ie., "Comply with relevant legislation, regulations, standards, codes, licences and commitments"

These directors appear so divorced from real life that they apparently never thought that their regional/rural staff need to be trained to look up into tree canopies before they decide to mark a tree line for destruction.

The bottom line is that the Koala as a species is at risk of localised extinction across the areas in which populations still survive and, sadly is at risk of total extinction across the entire country by as early as 2050 if  those in positions of power continue to be deliberately blind to the fate of this Australian icon.