Due to illness North Coast Voices will not be 

posting again until Saturday, 26 February 2022.

 

And the tale of Rous County Council decision making under new pro-dam majority continues......

Echo, 21 February 2022: 

During last week’s Rous County Council (RCC) meeting, Cr Big Rob spoke of contact he had with Professor Stuart White regarding the proposed Dunoon Dam. 

 Professor White is the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS in Sydney where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. 

 With over twenty years experience in sustainability research, Professor White’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes at least cost for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. 

The Echo spoke to Professor White who made a late video submission to Rous that missed the deadline. A representative of Rous said it was too late to be screened in public access and was ‘forwarded to all Councillors on the morning of the Council meeting for their info’. The rep also mistakingly thought the video was a submission from the Northern Rivers Water Alliance who already had a space in Public Access. 

Rous County Council meeting 

During the meeting Cr Rob did not give Councillors all of the information he received from Professor White. 

At the meeting, Cr Rob said: ‘I circulated an email overnight relating to the experts that have been relied on – Professor Stuart White for example. You know, his position was the cost and when I made inquiries with Professor White, he finally agreed that yes, that dam should be considered. So if you take the cost out of it, then his position [is] all options on the table, the dam must be considered because that is one of the options.’ 

The Echo asked Professor White about his conversation with Cr Rob because Cr Rob’s comments seemed to be at odds with the information Professor White has been giving other interested parties. 

‘I have not spoken to Cr Big Rob,’ said Professor White. ‘I only had email correspondence. 

‘My position on the Dunoon Dam is clear and I’ve been public about it: it is too expensive, too risky, not useful for the purpose it is intended for, and not needed within the planning horizon. This is before considering the environmental and Aboriginal heritage risks.’ 

Time to rule out dam 

Professor White said that this does not mean the Dunoon Dam, or any supply option should not be considered and investigated alongside other options. ‘It is just that under any reasonable analysis it would be rejected. The proponents have already had a chance to make their case, at great public expense, and my view is that this case has not been made, so it is now reasonable to rule the Dunoon Dam option out.’ 

‘My understanding of the decision by Rous last year was to reject it primarily due to the Aboriginal heritage considerations, which are of course very important and remain very important.’ 

The Echo does not know if any Rous Councillors saw this submission before they voted 6 to 2 to put the dam back on the table.  [my yellow highlighting]

BACKGROUND

NORTH COAST VOICES, FRIDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2022 

Rous County Council and that Dunoon Dam proposal now risen from the dead

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION 2022: #ScottyFromPhotoOps strikes again

 

“Personal Responsibility”pic.twitter.com/XNUfCgkVuq

— Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) February 19, 2022

 

In an election year all incumbent governments tend to casually toss around figures which paint rosy pictures. Given the growing reputation of the Morrison Government, perhaps it is wise to at least start off with reliable labor force, cost of living, consumer confidence & job numbers for the first month of 2022 in Australia & New South Wales

 

The first labor force and household economy breakdowns of 2022.

Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), LABOR FORCE: Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey, January 2022 – released 17 February 2022:

Key statistics

Seasonally adjusted estimates for January 2022:

• Unemployment rate stood at 4.2%

580,000 unemployed - up from 574,400 in December 2021.

• Participation rate increased to 66.2%

Up from 66.1% in December 2021. However, participation decreased by 0.4 pts for men to 70.4% and increased by 0.6 pts to 62.1% for women

• Employment increased to 13,255,000

An increase of 12,900 people or 0.1% since December 2021.

Full-time employment decreased by 17,000 to 9,077,300 people, and part-time employment increased by 30,000 to 4,177,600 people. Part time employed made up 31.5% of all employment.

• Employment to population ratio increased to 63.4%

Up 0.3% since December 2021.

• Underemployment rate increased to 6.7%

Up from 6.6% in December 2021.

• Monthly hours worked decreased by 159 million hours

A decrease of 8.8% (in seasonally adjusted terms) between December 2021 and January 2022.

In New South Wales in January 2022

• Unemployment rate stood at 4.2%

Up 0.2% from December 2021

• Participation rate stood at 64.8%

A 0.2% fall since December 2021.

• Employment stood at 4,137,200

A 0.2% fall since December 2021.

Full time employment fell by 27,100 people and part time employment fell by 42,100 people. Part time employment made up est. 29% of all employment.

• Employment to population ratio fell to 58.2%

Down from 58.4% since December 2021.

• Underemployment rate increased to 6.4%

Up from 6.2% in December 2021.

• Monthly hours worked deceased by est. 78.18 million hours.

Going from 578,333.6 hours in December 2021 to 500,148.7 hours in January 2022.

ANZ Job Ads report, 7 February 2022:

ANZ Australian Job Ads fell 0.3 per cent in January following a downwardly revised 5.8 per cent drop in December. Despite the surge in Omicron cases, Job Ads remained 9.6 per cent above the Delta-lockdown lows. 

Based on ABS, Cost Price Index - Weighted average of eight capital cities, All groups - going into January 2022:

In December Quarter 2021 the Cost Price Index totalled 121.3 - a rise of 1.3% on the September Quarter. The 5 Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) having risen for all 5 household types. 

In the period 1 January to 31 December 2022 the LCI rise across all categories was between 2.6% and 3.4%:

• Transport was the main contributor for all five population sub-groups, with the price of Automotive fuel rising 32%.

• The Age pensioner household sub-group had the highest annual increase (+3.4%). Food makes up a higher proportion of this sub-group compared to the others. This household group also had the highest annual increase in housing costs.

• The Employee household sub-group had the lowest annual increase (+2.6%) due to Mortgage interest charges falling over the year. Excluding Mortgage interest charges, this household group would have risen 3.1%.

Based on ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence: 

17-23 January 2022

 Australia - 101.1 up 2.2%, rising above the neutral level of 100 but dropping in NSW by -2.4%.

14-30 January 2022

Australia - 101.8 up 1.7% and, after three weeks of decline in NSW state consumer confidence rose to 6.2%.

The ePetition 'Critical Koala Habitat in Port Macquarie' was formally debated in the NSW Legislative Assembly on 17 February 2022.

NSW Parliament, YouTube: "On Thursday 17 February 2022, the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales debated an ePetition presented to the Parliament by Tamara Smith, Member for Ballina, on critical koala habitat in Port Macquarie. The petition called on the Legislative Assembly to direct the Government to purchase critical koala habitat in Port Macquarie. If an ePetition gains 20,000 signatures, it is debated in the Chamber. Debates feature members who speak to the petition including the relevant Minister." 

The e-petition Purchase Critical Koala Habitat in Port Macquarie closed on 23 November 2021. It was only open to signatures of New South Wales residents and 24,970 people responded.

As a result the NSW Government purchased 194 hectares of prime koala habitat located adjacent to the Lake Innes Nature Reserve, south-west of Port Macquarie.

However, the state government's record on protecting New South Wales koala populations is a poor one, heavily influenced by the demands of property developers as well as those of forestry & mining industries and agricultural land clearing.  The Koala remains in danger of extinction by 2050.

Riposte of the Week

 

Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison, to the cameras in Alice Springs, 18 February 2022: 

“I'm the son of a police officer. I understand law and order issues.”

In response, 

Mr. Bailey OAM to the Twitterverse, 18 February 2022:

“Two Legs is the daughter of a boilermaker/ farmer. She knows how to weld sugar cane.”

Quote of the Week

 

“It's a rare thing for the boss of ASIO to publicly push back at the government's political line of attack. It's rarer still for the spy chief to intervene twice in the space of 48 hours. Yet this is where we've arrived, leaving the Prime Minister's "reds under the beds" scare campaign against his opponent look, well, desperate.” [“Insiders” host David Speers, writing in ABC News online, 17 February 2022]