In 2023 is Clarence Valley Council preparing to walk away from a drowning town?

Aerial view of a section of Yamba township precinct during flooding in 2022. IMAGE: Clarence Valley Independent

On Tuesday, 18 March 2023 Clarence Valley Council held its Ordinary Monthly Meeting.

Officially present at that meeting according to the Minutes were:

Cr Greg Clancy [Deputy Mayor], Cr Bill Day, Cr Peter Johnstone, Cr Debrah Novak, Cr Steve Pickering, Cr Jeff Smith, Cr Ian Tiley [Mayor], Cr Karen Toms and Cr Allison Whaites, General Manager (Laura Black), Director – Corporate & Community (Alex Moar), Director – Environment & Planning (Adam Cameron), Director – Works & Civil (Jamie Fleeting) and Minutes Secretary (Lee Boon).

The fourth item of business for Council In The Chamber that day was the following Notice of Motion:

Item 06.23.004 Rezoning Lands on West Yamba Floodplain

Note: Crs Tiley and Johnstone left the Chamber ahead of this motion at 2:08pm, having asserted a non-pecuniary conflict of interest existed in relation to Item 06.23.004. Both noting sitting members on Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel. Under s6.1 of the Code of Meeting Practice, the Deputy Chair became the chair in the Mayor’s absence.

MOTION

Clancy/Smith

That Council:

1. note the legal advice tabled at the February Ordinary Council Meeting that compensation would not be

payable in the event that the Department of Planning and Environment, on the recommendation of

Council, was to approve a rezoning of lands in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) from

residential R1 to C2 or a mix of C2 and RU2 depending on the results of the planning study;

2. prepare a planning proposal for submission to the Department of Planning and Environment requesting

that the vacant land, which do not have development approvals for subdivision, in the West Yamba

Urban Release Area (WYURA) be rezoned from Residential (R1) to Conservation (C2) zoning or a mix

of Conservation (C2) and Rural (RU2) based on the impacts of further development on the environment

and the risk to human life and property from future flooding.

Voting recorded as follows

For: Clancy, Smith

Against: Day, Novak, Pickering, Toms, Whaites

The Motion was put and declared LOST

[my yellow highlighting]

To say that the writer of this post is disappointed beyond measure at this outcome is an understatement.

Those names listed as voting down the re-zoning motion, Bill Day, Debrah Novak, Steve Pickering, Karen Toms and Allison Waites, should be noted for future reference by Yamba residents & ratepayers when - as landfill proceeds apace -  the next inevitable major Lower Clarence River flood arrives.

An alternate Motion in Item 06.23.004 was put up by Cr. Day & seconded by Cr. Smith and lost. That particular risible motion all but issued an invitation to the NSW Nationals to turn any rezoning of the West Yamba Urban Release Area into both a regional and state brawl along partisan political lines in which property developers would have eagerly participated. It was voted down by Crs. Clancy, Novak, Toms, Whaites.

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

Approved development of the Yamba floodplain under the provisions of the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) planning approval has resulted in large amounts of fill being transported to the site, particularly along Gardeners Road, Yamba Road and Carrs Drive. The constant truck movements (1 every 10 minutes), has caused great consternation among a number of Yamba residents. The large amount of fill would appear to be exacerbating localized flooding around the Carrs Drive roundabout and the area surrounding it. There is also concern that the large amount of fill is affecting, and will increasing affect, the drainage of the area, adversely affecting low lying residences and the environment.

PROPOSED MOTION

That Council:

1. note the legal advice tabled at the February Ordinary Council Meeting that compensation would not be payable in the event that the Department of Planning and Environment, on the recommendation of Council, was to approve a rezoning of lands in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) from residential R1 to C2 or a mix of C2 and RU2 depending on the results of the planning study;

2. prepare a planning proposal for submission to the Department of Planning and Environment requesting that the vacant land, which do not have development approvals for subdivision, in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) be rezoned from Residential (R1) to Conservation (C2) zoning or a mix of Conservation (C2) and Rural (RU2) based on the impacts of further development on the environment and the risk to human life and property from future flooding.

The eighth item of business at that 18 April ordinary council meeting was a development application for a 6 lot subdivision of an existing parcel of land in West Yamba Urban Release Area, lodged on behalf of a commercial fisher-cum-property developer. 

It was refused as per COUNCIL RESOLUTION - 07.23.050

Clancy/Johnstone

That council refuse Development Application SUB2021/0045 for the following reasons covered by

Section 4.15 of the Environmental, Planning and Assessment Act 1979:

a) The land being a wetland (Swamp Forest of Swamp Oak) making it unsuitable for the proposed development;

b) The nine submissions raised major concerns about the potential for flooding, impacts of stormwater runoff and clearing of natural vegetation.

c) The likely impacts of the development on the natural environment;

d) Impact on areas of C2 zoning for some infrastructure.

Voting recorded as follows

For: Clancy, Day, Johnstone, Pickering, Smith, Tiley

Against: Novak, Toms, Whaites

DISCLAIMER: The author of this post is a Yamba resident living alone in a single storey dwelling in a street adjoining a 20 year-old 6.65ha landfill comprising est. 90,000 cubic metres of river dredge & soil. The street is regularly cut off by riverine floodwater, or a combination of floodwater and storm water, preventing access to the town's nominal evacuation centre. The author has no independent means of leaving the town if residents are advised to do so ahead of a large flood front. In 2022 a small number of houses within this short street experienced flooding.

It doesn't come as a surprise that the federal electorate of Page sees a low return from Morrison & Frydenberg's legislated Stage 3 tax cuts

 

Page is a large electorate covering an area from Sapphire Beach in the south to Nimbin in the north on the coastal side, and from Nymboida in the south to the Queensland border on the inland side. The main towns include Casino, Dunoon, Evans Head, Grafton, Iluka, Kyogle, Lismore, Nimbin, Sapphire Beach and Wooli. [Australian Electoral Commission, 2023]

It is one of only two federal electorates found in the Northern River region of north-east New South Wales.

That section of Page electorate that contains Kyogle local government area (LGA) has a SEIFA Index relative disadvantage score of 910 - most disadvantaged part of the electorate. The section that takes in Richmond LGA has a SEIFA Index score of 902, Clarence Valley section a SEIFA Index score of 926 and Lismore LGA section a SEIFA Index score of 954 - the least disadvantaged score in found in the electorate.

Page electorate receives only $57 million in Stage 3 tax cuts in 2024-25, compared with the metropolitan North Sydney electorate whose residents draw in a total of $331 million in that same financial year and the largest total listed in the The Australian Institute April 2023 discussion paper.

If the discussion paper's projections hold true then around half of that $54 million in tax cuts will be received by less than 7,000 people currently living and working in the Page electorate.

 

The federal electorate of Richmond having a SEIFA Index disadvantage score ranging from 973 to 1,003 did not rate a mention in the discussion paper, so at this point in time we are all left to wonder what portion of the Stage 3 tax cuts come to the people of Tweed, Ballina and Byron LGAs.

According to Regional Development Australia, in 2022 the median weekly income for the est.124,5742 people who live & work in NSW Northern Rivers region was between $800 to $999. Therefore half of those in this regional workforce had weekly incomes between $0 and $799 dollars.

A total of 55 electorates (around 36% of all electorates) will receive a higher-than-average benefit from the Stage 3 tax cuts. Only four of these are Provincial or Rural seats and, importantly, each has characteristics that makes it atypical. Specifically, each of these seats either enjoys significant mining industry employment, which pushes up average earnings, or contains a large number of people commuting to capital cities…..

 “Many lower-income electorates and individuals will get comparatively little from this quarter of a trillion-dollar cost to the budget and those electorates are more likely to be rural and regional.

“People living in National Party seats and in Tasmanian electorates are some of the biggest losers from Stage 3 when compared to their city counterparts.

“At the other end, high income earners are more likely to be clustered in the inner metro areas of our largest capital cities which is why inner metro electorates get the largest benefit from Stage 3.

“The Stage 3 tax cuts will cost more than a quarter of a trillion dollars to the budget, which will only put pressure on funding essential health, education and community programs outside major cities.  [The Australia Institute, Discussion Paper, "Divided nation: The Stage 3 tax cuts broken down by city and country electorates", April 2023]

At the level of the individual; Around half the Stage 3 tax cuts go to those earning over $180,000, with the total plan costing more than a quarter of a trillion dollars ($254b). Those on less than $45,000 per year will get nothing from Stage 3. [The Australia Institute, media release, 19 April 2023] 

According to The Guardian columnist and policy director at the Centre for Future Work, Greg Jericho, median-income earners pay up to $1,500 more in tax in 2022-23 than they did in 2021-22, while around 75% of all taxpayers will pay more tax in 2025 compared with what they did in 2022.

GRAPH: The Guardian, 20 April 2023

This should come as no surprise. However, because the temporary financial 'bridge' created by the low-middle income tax offset (LMITO) was in effect extended twice and increased once, in an effort to sow the seed of another Morrison presidential-style election victory, the collapse of that bridge under its own unsustainable weight was inevitable. A fact perhaps not at the forefront of inequalities being debated during the April-May 2022 election campaign.

Like many of Scott Morrison's policy manoeuvres, the downside was not timed to present itself until post-May 2022. 

Now there is time to reflect on the fact that only those earning over $100,000 per year will see a noticeable change in take home pay under the 'flattened' personal marginal tax rate 

system. 

When it comes to income earners in the 25th ($40k pa) to 50th ($65k pa) percentile ranges they are just planned collateral damage, having got little enough from previous stages of the Morrison-Frydenberg long-term strategy to have those in the highest wealth percentile inherit Australia.

Marginal Tax Rate for 2024-05 and financial years thereafter.

https://atotaxrates.info/individual-tax-rates-resident/ato-tax-rates-2025

Note:

• The tax exempt earned income range of 0 to $18,200 has not changed since 1 July 2012. Nor has the marginal personal tax rate for those earning between $18,201 to $35,000 changed since 1 July 2012 when it was increased by 4 cents to 19 cents for every dollar over $18,000 and, both remain unchanged in the new 2024-05 tax schedule.

• From 1 July 2020 the marginal personal tax rate for individuals then earning between $37,001 to $45,000 fell to 19 cents in every dollar earned over $18,200 and remains unchanged in the new 2024-05 tax schedule.

• For those with a current taxable income of between $45,001 to $120,000 their marginal personal tax rate falls by 2.5 cents to 30 cents in the dollar earned over $45,000 as they enter a different bracket in the new 2024-05 tax schedule.

• While wage earners with a taxable income between $120,001 to $180,000 see their marginal personal tax rate drop by 7 cents to 30 cents in every dollar earned over $120,000 and, those with a taxable income between $180,001 to $200,000 will see their tax rate drop 15 cents to 30 cents in every dollar earned over $180,000 in the new 2024-05 tax schedule.

• When it comes to annual earned income of $200,001 per year and higher, the marginal personal tax rate will be 45 cents in each dollar over $200,000. This tax rate has remained unchanged for this income group since 1 July 2006. However, as is indicated by past media reports those in the highest income brackets in this income group are nothing if not inventive when it comes to how much or how little they pay in personal income tax.

• According to the former Morrison Government: "As a result of the Government’s plan, around 94 per cent of Australian taxpayers are projected to face a marginal tax rate of 30 per cent or less in 2024-25". 

Some of the assumptions on which Morrison and Frydenberg built their new tax system can be found at: 

https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-09/foi_2558_document_set_for_release_re.pdf

Cartoons of the Week

 

Cathy Wilcox

David Pope

Mark David

Sometimes in 2023 humour is all you have left if you live on one of the many once-sealed Northern Rivers roads

Google Earth snapshot, March 2023
Click on image to enlarge

ECHO, 18 April 2023:

I moved to the Byron Shire in 1986, the year this great little paper started expressing the views of our community. I remember back then the complaints about the state of our roads… It’s like this paralysing brain fog descends at the mere mention of our roads, and this has now been going on for decades. Throw in a couple of ‘once in a lifetime weather events’ and now we’ve got 200 road projects in waiting. Is mine one of them?

Yankee Creek Road is only 1.4 kilometres and is a dead end (in more ways than one). Last Monday night I had to tow my friends out after they tried to avoid the craters.

So far this year four different friends have said they cannot visit me anymore because they don’t feel confident negotiating the road.

There are now four sections where you have to drive offroad to avoid the potholes and craters that remain unfixed in the road.

It was really bad before the 28 February and 30 March 2022 floods, but now it’s atrocious.

The repair work to my car last week cost me $1,570; that entailed replacing the strut mounts, shock absorbers, bump stop boot kits, and of course I’m constantly visiting my mates down at Tyre Power!

So, I thought I should wave my feeble hand in the air, and I wrote to the Mayor and all councillors with photos and a detailed description of how bad things are. I did get a response from Sarah Ndiaye and Duncan Dey that the matter had been forwarded on to Byron Shire Council (BSC) staff, but no other confirmation.

Like Navaya Ellis (Echo, 29 March) I would like questions answered. These are: when will someone come and take a look at Yankee Creek Road? What classifies a ‘bad’ road versus a ‘dangerous’ one? What designates a high priority? Is there anybody out there? Yoohoo, drowning not waving!

Gosh, a courteous reply saying my letter had been received would be a good start.

I think I’m experiencing what I’ll coin FF: ‘futility fatigue’. It certainly took me out last year after nine months enduring the endless fob offs from insurance companies.

Yes, I have a beautiful new home, albeit, now a leaky one. Here, I have to thank Byron Council for giving me a ‘Completion Certificate’ when parts of my roof had no flashing – my insurance company sure loves you dudes.

Sorry, I digress… you see FF is insidious because there are so many other people with way worse war stories; I don’t have the right to winge and complain about insurances and roads when others are so much worse off.

Then FF inertia sets in and the paralysing brain fog returns, making any attempt for resolution and clarity feel like crawling across cut glass… best just give up, right?

Nup! Maybe we can generate some income to help BSC, perhaps a new reality TV show called Survivor on North Coast Roads, city dwellers can pay an exorbitant amount to be given four bald tyres and a road map of our worst roads; an experience of a life time! Spine tingling action with search and rescue at the ready.

Mishaela Simpkins, Mullum Creek 

Partial eclipse of the Sun fully visible in Yamba sky at 2:41pm AEST today, Thursday 20 April 2023

 

 With the Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecasting partly cloudy sky with a high chance of showers in the Northern Rivers region today, it is probably not the best of days to observe the Moon passing in front of the Sun. 

For Yamba this will only be seen as a partial eclipse covering est. 19 per cent of the Sun, as the full eclipse shadow will only be seen in part of coastal north-west West Australia near Exmouth.

Stages and times of the local view of this eclipse are outlined below. All times are local time (AEST) for Yamba.

GRAPHIC: www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@11828511?iso=20230420

Search for partial eclipse times and details for your Australian region or town at:

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2023-april-20

Iluka community plans for emergency management during adverse weather events, including storm and flood, progressing thanks to local ICOPE

Clarence Valley Independent, 12 April 2023:

In a community first for the Clarence Valley, ICOPE – Iluka Community Organisation Planning for Emergencies has been approved to run a Community Managed Evacuation Centre in the event of wild weather or disasters isolating locals.

ICOPE President Cheryl Dimmock said the group had been working with the Clarence Valley Local Emergency Management Committee LEMC since October 2022 to have a Community Managed Evacuation Centre CMEC in Iluka, which would take in residents from Woody Head, The Freshwater, and if access is available, Woombah.

Ms Dimmock said the group was motivated to act to establish the CMEC by the predicted increase in wild weather induced by climate change and the fact Iluka can be isolated for several days in times of flood.

“We had to put an action plan together to present to the LEMC and we’ve had it approved that we could have a Community Managed Evacuation Centre CMEC,” she said.

“ICOPE will be allowed to run the CMEC if it is activated by the Local Emergency Operations Controller (high ranking local police officer).

“The CMEC would be at the Iluka Community Hall in Spencer Street, in the event that it was safe to evacuate to the community hall.

“The reason why we have been so proactive in doing this is because we get cut off, there is only one road in and one road out, we get cut off for days, and we don’t want to see the community in a situation like what has happened in Lismore.”

In addition to the CMEC, Ms Dimmock said ICOPE plans to transform the Iluka Community Hall over the next year.

“We are hoping to work with council to get grants and make improvements to the hall and we’re hoping to have Iluka Community Hall as a hub where the community can actually come…say on a Saturday morning where they can come and have cuppa and a chat about disaster preparedness and community events,” she said.

“We want to encourage the community to prepare for disasters, we don’t want it to be scary, but we want them to prepare and be ready in the event that something happens, that they will know what to do, where to go, and the communication they receive comes from one central place, so they are getting information that is current and from a reliable source.”…..

Coastal Emu: glimpse of a disappearing species in 2023

 

A Coastal Emu in the paddock outside Wynyabbie House last week. Image: Facebook Cody Pepper.
Clarence Valley Independent, 12 April 2023

 

Still commonly sighted in the Richmond and Clarence Valleys up to the 1980s, Coastal Emu numbers had markedly declined by the turn of the century. 

Since commencement of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service annual surveys in 2000, the number of Coastal Emus is estimated to have declined from approximately 140 individuals to just 40 of these unique endangered birds in 2017. 

Whilst gaining accurate estimates of small populations ranging over a large area can be difficult, opportunistic sightings between 2018 and 2019 suggest that there are around 26 adults and 20 juveniles left in the area (CVC 2020). The current best estimate is under 50.

What sighting there are in the Lower Clarence are possibly more common in Bundjalung National Park in Iluka and Yuraygir National Park south of Yamba. 

However sighting are now rare along the road between Maclean and Yamba. 

So this bird spending time in paddocks alongside the Palmers Channel section of Yamba Road is pleasing locals.