Saturday, 22 June 2019
Friday, 21 June 2019
Clarence Valley Council is considering prohibiting the sale or distribution of balloons on council controlled land
Clarence Valley Council is considering prohibiting the sale
or distribution of balloons on council controlled land.
Given the
numerous waterways within the Clarence Valley such a ban would be a wise move.
Typically
those councillors who are ideologically opposed to any move to protect the
environment and local wildlife will be out to quash the motion progressing the
proposed ban when it comes before the Ordinary Monthly Meeting on 25 June 2019.
It will be more than disappointing if they succeed, as plastic waste is becoming highly visible in river and beach sand
It will be more than disappointing if they succeed, as plastic waste is becoming highly visible in river and beach sand
Excerpts from
Clarence Valley Council’s 18 June 2019 Environment,
Planning & Community Committee Business Paper:
OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
That:
1. All balloons be
prohibited on Council managed lands and facilities.
2. The terms and
conditions for the hire of Council parks and facilities be amended to restrict
the sale and distribution of balloons.
3. Council’s Market
Policy be amended to include a condition restricting the sale and distribution
of balloons and the changes adopted.
4. Future development
consents for function centres or similar facilities be conditioned to restrict
the sale and distribution of balloons.
5. Council implement a
public awareness campaign about the environmental impacts of balloons.
BACKGROUND
There has been considerable community debate over many years
regarding the adverse environmental impacts from the release of balloons into
the environment. At its meeting held on 8 February 2019 the Climate Change
Advisory Committee resolved to recommend that Council:
1. Prohibit all balloons
on Council managed land.
2. Include a condition in
any development consent for function centres (Party/Event venues) to prohibit
balloons.
3. Instigate a public awareness campaign about the environmental
impacts of balloons.
KEY ISSUES
Any released balloon, at best, becomes litter. They may also end
up in the stormwater, rivers and oceans where they are ingested by aquatic
animals. The balloons, along with any ribbons or plastic disks attached, can
harm the animals by blocking their airways or becoming lodged in their
intestines. Balloons and balloon fragments are often mistaken for food and
swallowed, which can cause injury and death. The string attached to the balloon
can also be dangerous as they can strangle or entrap animals. Birds have been
found tangled in the strings of balloons making them unable to fly or search for
food. A 2016 CSIRO study identified balloons among the top three most harmful
pollutants threatening marine wildlife, along with plastic bags and bottles.
NSW Legislation
The Protection of the Environment Operations Act (POEO) makes it
illegal to release more than 20 helium filled balloons, the release of any type
of balloon would also be considered a littering offence under the POEO Act.
Management Controls
Council has a number of opportunities to control the use of
balloons on Council controlled lands through the terms and conditions for the
approval and hire of various parks and facilities. Councils ‘Market Policy’
could be amended to include a condition banning the sale or distribution of
balloons. Council can also impose a condition on development consents for any
future function centre or similar development restricting the use of balloons.
It is not envisaged that Council Rangers would actively enforce these controls,
rather they would be managed through the hiring and approval systems with event
organisers.
Alternatives to Balloons
There are many examples
of alternatives to balloons including flags, banners, streamers, dancing
inflatables, bunting, lighting of candles and luminaries, battery operated
bubble blowing machine and plants or gifts in remembrance.
Iluka folk lobbied long and hard for a local ambulance station
Iluka residents finally get a firm state government commitment to build an ambulance station in their small coastal town.
The Daily Examiner, 20 June 2019, p.1:
Iluka Ambulance Group
organiser Anne McLean said it was the words that Iluka needed to see.
“Projects to commence
prior to March 2023, including Iluka Ambulance Station (ETC $10 million)” sit
pride of place under the election commitments section of the NSW Budget.
“It’s the news Iluka
needed,” Ms McLean said. “Six months have gone by and there’s been nothing. And
(husband and co-organiser) John and I have been still nipping at their heels.
We haven’t given up. We’ve been constantly at them.”
Ms McLean said she was
happy to hear the news from member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis on Tuesday
morning, and had been busily answering questions from the media all that
morning.”
“Chris has been great
through the process, he rang and had a chat,” she said. “But we have been
saying that Iluka got behind them because of the ambulance, and it’s good to
see the validation of that faith, and see it move along.
“It’s been a crazy
morning.”
Ms McLean said she had
been told they were looking to find a suitable site, and then to put it out for
community consultation.
“I don’t think they’ll
have much trouble getting people to say ‘yes’,” she said.
Ambulance NSW yesterday
confirmed the process was under way, and planning would continue this year and
into next year.
“In 2019-20 detailed
service planning will progress; site acquisitions studies will be finalised and
a suitable site acquired subject to the findings of these studies; design will
be finalised; and a development application submitted,” a NSW Ambulance
spokesperson said.
“Construction would be
anticipated to commence in 2020-21 following tendering and awarding of the
work. The construction timeframe is estimated to take about two years to
complete.......
Thursday, 20 June 2019
Tears before bedtime under The National Strategic Action Plan for Pain Management?
Painaustralia says of itself that it is “Australia’s
leading pain advocacy body working to improve the quality of life of people
living with pain, their families and carers, and to minimise the social and
economic burden of pain on individuals and the community”.
On 11 June
2019 it released a copy of The
National Strategic Action Plan for Pain Management having
convinced the Morrison Coalition Government that this plan is the bee knees
when it comes to pain management.
If the
following article is anything to go by it will be tears before bedtime for many
chronic pain suffers as the plan does not contain any mention of actually increasing
the number pain specialists practicing in Australia or of attempting to lower
wait times to see such specialists.
Currently NSW
Health only lists 35
pain management services in the state and most of these are attached to
metropolitan public hospitals.
Instead
people experiencing acute and chronic pain are to be offered 10 Medicare-funded group
services and 10 individual services each calendar year, with access to
telehealth pain management advice for regional areas where pain management services
are not available.
As for pain
management using prescribed medications – that is apparently going to be more
difficult to access as Painaustralia
and the Morrison Government are alarmed that opiate prescriptions in rural
& regional Australia have risen in the last ten years.
Seemingly conveniently
blind to any relationship between increased prescribing and low GP numbers, smaller often poorly
resourced public hospitals, a reliance on what might be termed 'flyin-flyout' medical specialists who prefer not to live in those rural or regional areas their patients
inhabit and the economic tyranny of distance for the patient.
The Daily Examiner, 18 June 2019, p.8:
Doctors will be sent
back to school to be re-educated about treating chronic pain and patients given
a Medicare boost under a new national strategy.
The first national pain
strategy launching today also calls for a national one-stop website to be set
up to educate people about how to manage pain without drugs and where to find
help.
“There is a screaming
need here because pain is a significant burden on the economy, on society and
the health system,” Pain Australia chief executive Carol Bennett said.
More than 3.24 million
Australians are living with chronic pain and many are becoming addicted to
opioid medications while they wait up to four years to see a pain specialist
for help.
Last year Australians
paid $2.7 billion in out-of-pocket expenses to manage their pain and missed 9.9
million days of work because of the condition.
The new strategy funded
by the Federal Government and developed by Pain Australia wants pain to be
treated in the same way as mental health, with Medicare funding up to 20
medical and group sessions to help people get it under control. It also calls
for a new certificate in pain medicine for GPs and other health professionals
that would require six months of study.
The consultation work
that took place around the development of the new plan found doctors’ knowledge
about the latest pain management techniques was out of date.
“For lower back pain
people are popping pills and having surgery but for the last 15 years we’ve
known you’ve got to get moving and rehabilitate yourself with physical
management,” Ms Bennett said.
Anti-inflammatory
medications should not be used for more than a few days and long-term
strengthening of the muscles, good nutrition and sleep were the key to treating
the problem rather than drugs, she said.
Instead of helping
patients manage pain in this way, doctors were prescribing increasing amounts
of dangerous and addictive opioid medicines.
Wednesday, 19 June 2019
SNAPSHOT: Employment, underemployment & unemployment in NSW & Northern Rivers Region - April & May 2019
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour
Force, Australia, May 2019:
·
Australia's
trend estimate of employment increased by 28,400 persons in May 2019, with:
·
the
number of unemployed persons increasing by 5,800 persons;
·
the
unemployment rate remaining steady at 5.1%;
·
the
underemployment rate increasing to 8.5%;
·
the
underutilisation rate increasing to 13.6%;
·
the
participation rate increasing to 65.9%; and
·
the
employment to population ratio remaining steady at 62.5%.
In New South Wales, May 2019
Total employed person – 4,167,000 persons of which est. 31%
are employed part-time
Total underemployment rate – 12.2%
Total unemployed person – 197,500 persons of which est. 68%
were looking for full-time work
Total unemployment rate – 4.5%.
State Electorates in Northern Rivers, April 2019
Clarence Electorate – 58,169 employed persons, unemployment
rate 8.2% and youth unemployment rate 20.5%, with negative annual employment
growth of -2.7%
Lismore Electorate – 83,833 employed persons, unemployment
rate 6.1% and youth unemployment rate 10.2%
Richmond-Tweed Electorate – 115,668 employed persons, unemployment
rate 4.5% and youth unemployment rate 8.9%.
Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Former Grafton man terrorism trial date set for May 2020
The Daily Examiner, 15 June 2019, p.1:
The Australian man
accused of the Christchurch mosque killings smiled as survivors of the shooting
were told he would be pleading not guilty to 51 charges of murder and 40 of
attempted murder.
Brenton Tarrant, 28,
pleaded not guilty to all charges yesterday morning when he faced New Zealand’s
High Court by video link. It means he will stand trial in May next year over
the attack.
Dozens of survivors and
family members of the victims packed the court to hear whether the man accused
of the shootings would defend himself.
Some were visibly
nervous during the hearing. Others were in tears. They reacted in shock when
the not guilty pleas were made.
Two further courts and
some 200 seats were set aside for the public, with police maintaining a heavy
presence through the building.
Tarrant is facing a
terror charge, 51 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder over the March 15
attacks on worshippers at two mosques.
Tarrant was not in the
courtroom but was shown via video from Paremoremo Prison in Auckland wearing a
grey sweatshirt.
This is the accused’s
first hearing since early April.
The terror charge
against Tarrant, laid last month, is the first in New Zealand and legal experts
say it could potentially lead to a complex trial.
But Christchurch’s
Muslim community has welcomed the decision by prosecutors to acknowledge the
attacks as an act of terrorism.
Tarrant was remanded in
custody to face a review hearing on August 16.
He is being held in New
Zealand’s only maximum security jail and prison staff say he has no access to
television, radio, newspapers or visitors.
The courts last week
dropped a ban on local media publishing pictures of the former Grafton
resident’s face.
At Tarrant’s last
appearance, the court ordered he undertake a mental health assessment to see if
he was fit to stand trial.
A trial date has been
set for May 4 [2020] which was confirmed by Justice Cameron Mander…..
It doesn't matter how many times or in how many ways the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government is told Australia is facing a climate emergency Coalition MPs & Senators just won't listen
Here is yet another warning that all is not well......
ABC News, 12 June 2019:
Nearly a billion people are facing climate change hazards globally, with the Asia-Pacific region housing twice as many people living in areas with high exposure than all other regions combined, a new report has revealed.
In the annual Global
Peace Index released on Wednesday, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP)
said an estimated 971 million people — including more than 2.4 million
Australians — live in areas with high or very high exposure to climate hazards including
cyclones, floods, bushfires, desertification and rising sea levels.
The top nine countries
facing the highest risk of climate hazards were all Asian nations with the
Philippines topping the list, followed by Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.
IEP founder and
executive chairman Steve Killelea told the ABC that many of the countries in
the Asia-Pacific region also have weaker coping capacities for natural
disasters.
"Pacific
Islands are going to be massively impacted by rising sea levels," Mr
Killelea said, adding that they would be the first affected because of their
proximity to the equator.
In Australia, the main
risks come from hurricanes and cyclones in the north, rising sea levels in the south and east, as
well as drought and desertification which is already affecting thousands of farmers, he
said.
Climate hazards
exacerbate conflict and migration
The report — which ranks
163 countries by measuring internal safety and security, militarisation and
ongoing conflict — included climate change risks for the first time this year
to evaluate links between climate hazards and violence.
It found climate
pressures can adversely impact resource availability and affect population
dynamics, which can impact socioeconomic and political stability.
"When
you start to get massive effects from climate change you start to get large
flows of refugees," Mr Killelea said, adding that this migration can
increase instability and the impact of terrorism on host nations.
Mr Killelea listed
several countries where climate change has caused or exacerbated violence
including Nigeria, where desertification has led to conflict over scarce
resources, Haiti in the aftermath of multiple hurricanes and earthquakes, and
South Sudan, where the drying of Lake Chad has exasperated tensions.
In 2017, over 60 per
cent of total displacements around the world were due to climate-related
disasters, while nearly 40 per cent were caused by armed conflict……
[my yellow highlighting]
In the Global
Peace Index 2019: Measuring peace in a complex world Australia only
ranks 13th on the global peace scale, having fallen one place since
2018 mainly because of ‘’Militarisation, namely weapons imports,
military expenditure (% GDP), and nuclear and heavy weapons. The incarceration
rate in Australia also rose”.
Australia had
a 31 percentage point gap between the per cent of men and women who feel safe
walking alone, the highest gap in all surveyed countries – a dubious honour it
shared with Moldova.
The most peaceful countries in the world in 2019— General Knowledge (@BORN4WIN) June 14, 2019
1. Iceland 🇮🇸
2. New Zealand 🇳🇿
3. Portugal 🇵🇹
4. Austria 🇦🇹
5 . Denmark 🇩🇰
6. Canada 🍁
7. Singapore 🇸🇬
8. Slovenia 🇸🇮
9. Japan 🇯🇵
10. Czech Republic 🇨🇿#GlobalPeaceIndex@GlobPeaceIndex @ipinst pic.twitter.com/QWuEAVdDr6
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