Cabbage Tree Island community dispersed during the February-March 2022 Northern Rivers flooding, remain in limbo twenty months later

Echo, 10 November 2023:

Member for Ballina Tamara Smith MP is today calling on the NSW Premier and the Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Harris to undertake an urgent and independent review of the NSW government’s decision not to allow the residents of Cabbage Tree Island to return to live on the island after the 2022 floods.

Cabbage Tree Island is a discrete Aboriginal community located on the Richmond River, between Broadwater and Wardell, part of the Bundjalung Nation. At the time of the 2022 floods there were 220 Aboriginal people living on the island. Their homes are rented from Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council, who own and manage the land on behalf of the Aboriginal community.

As Tamara Smith points out, since April 2022 the former Liberal National government, (and since March 2023 the current NSW Labor government) have claimed that they have consulted appropriately with the Cabbage Tree Island community, and that as Aboriginal people it would be the community of Cabbage Tree Island that would be determining their own future.

Promises

Former Premier Dominic Perrottet promised the community of Cabbage Tree Island that they could rebuild their homes on the island and go home. This was also promised by the CEO of Jali Land Council Chris Binge.

However, in a letter to Jali Land Council on 25 August 2023 the NSW Department of Planning and Environment removed the decision from Jali, by saying that the government would not financially support a rebuild on the island for residential purposes.

Last Tuesday, Tamara Smith attended with NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs David Harris and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin a series of meetings with Cabbage Tree Island community members and other key Aboriginal organisations in the Ballina electorate.

She says it became patently clear that the people who are being dispossessed of their homes – the 24 families – have had almost no voice or agency in the process that saw the government intervene and deny them the option of returning home to the island.

Ms Smith told The Echo, ‘I heard directly from families on Tuesday and over the months since the decision that all but a few of the community want to return home to the island. They have been denied self determination and agency in their own lives and it is unacceptable....

Bridge to Cabbage Tree Island. Photo Tree Faerie.

‘I have seen the Water Technology report that the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs commissioned at the behest of Jali Land Council to investigate options for the families to return to the island and there is a very clear pathway outlined for a return to the island.

‘Why then did the Labor government override Aboriginal self-determination and processes at the 11th hour?’ she asks.

‘I have had reported to me over the last 16 months repeated instances of failures in the consultation processes leading to the decision including only junior bureaucrats representing agencies and ministries throughout the process despite the seriousness of the situation, and the devastating trauma and impact of any decision on the Cabbage Tree Island community,’ said Tamara Smith.

Shameful

‘Why has the Labor government lied to the community and put traumatised people though a long process of so-called consultation only to dictate their fate in the end?

‘It is shameful and a review of the whole process over the last 17 months must be undertaken immediately before it is too late, and to allow for the voices of the residents and community who lived on the island to have their voices heard by government,’ concluded the Ballina MP.....

Read the full article at:

https://www.echo.net.au/2023/11/mp-tamara-smith-calls-for-halt-on-cabbage-tree-island-dispossession/

BACKGROUND

NORTH COAST VOICES:

MONDAY, 4 APRIL 2022

Cabbage Tree Island 2 April - post Northern NSW Floods Feb-March 2022 the island community's homes are in ruin and its families scattered and longing to return home

https://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2022/04/cabbage-tree-island-2-april-post.html

MONDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2023

Nineteen long months after record flooding swept across much of the NSW Northern Rivers region and the future of Cabbage Tree Island is still unresolved

https://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2023/10/nineteen-long-months-after-record.html

El Niño continues and its warming effect predicted to last though to the early months of the southern hemisphere Autumn

Bureau of Meteorology, 08.11.23

Bureau of Meteorology, Climate Diver Update Summary, by email, 8 November 2023:

El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole continue

• El Niño continues in the tropical Pacific. Climate model forecasts indicate some further warming of the central to eastern Pacific is likely, with SSTs remaining above El Niño thresholds into the early southern hemisphere autumn 2024.

• The positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event persists. All models indicate that this positive IOD will likely continue into early December.

• The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index is currently positive with forecasts indicating it will return to neutral in the coming days.

• The Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is currently weak. Approximately half of international climate models suggest the MJO will strengthen and move eastwards across the western Pacific later this week. When the MJO is in the western Pacific, there is an increased chance of showers and rain over northern parts of the NT and Queensland.

• Global warming continues to influence Australian and global climate. Global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were highest on record for their respective months during April to October.

 

Cartoons of the Week

 

John Shakespeare

Alan Moir

David Rowe

Cathy Wilcox

Tweet of the Week

 

All we wanted for Christmas was a new Reserve Bank Governor. Be careful what you wish for! pic.twitter.com/l9rKtElfiy

— john shakespeare (@johnshakespeare) November 8, 2023

 

Landmark High Court ruling delivered on 8 November 2023 in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor [2023]

NZYQ is an undocumented stateless person whose age cannot be established, who entered Australian territorial waters by boat in 2012 seeking asylum.

The Minister for Immigration at that time was Labor MP Chris Bowen. During the subsequent years to date the following members of the government of the day have held that office: Labor MPs Brendan O'Connor & Tony Burke; Liberal MPs Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, David Coleman, Alan Tudge (acting) & Alex Hawke; with the current incumbent being Labor MP Andrew Giles.

Since June 2017 NZTQ has been seeking resolution of his matter in the Australian lower courts and finally in the High Court of Australia in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor [2023] HCATrans 153 before the full Court.

Human Rights Law Centre, media release, 8 November 2023:

Indefinite immigration detention unlawful: High Court rules

The High Court has today ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention.

Nearly 20 years ago, the High Court upheld the constitutional validity of indefinite immigration detention in the case of Al-Kateb v Godwin. Today, a majority of judges of the Court overruled that decision. 

In this landmark legal challenge, brought by a person referred to by the pseudonym NZYQ, it was argued that Al-Kateb was wrongly decided, and that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to continue to detain a person where there is no real prospect that they could be removed from Australia. 

Subsequent to the 2004 decision, attempts to overturn it failed. As a result, the Australian Government has routinely detained people for prolonged periods of time – some for over a decade. 

Today, the average period of time for which the Australian Government holds people in immigration detention is 708 days. There are 124 people in detention today whom the Government has detained for over five years. Many of those people are stateless or owed protection by Australia, meaning that they cannot be returned to their countries of origin as a matter of international law. 

The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law appeared as amici curiae – friends of the court – to successfully argue that detention is unlawful for any person the Government is unlikely to remove in the foreseeable future.  

Quotes attributable to Sanmati Verma, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre:

“Indefinite detention ends today. The High Court has overturned a two-decades-old authority that allowed the Government to lock people up in immigration detention potentially for the rest of their lives. Today, the High Court held that the Government can no longer detain people if there is no real prospect that it will become practicable to remove them from Australia in the reasonably foreseeable future. Detention in these circumstances is unconstitutional.

“This has life-changing consequences for people who have been detained for years without knowing when, or even if, they will ever be released.

“The government must respect the constitutional limits of detention and act immediately to free people who have been indefinitely detained.”

Quotes attributable to Professor Jane McAdam AO, Director of UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law:

“Indefinite detention has always been arbitrary and unlawful under international law. We welcome the High Court’s decision today, which will mean that Australia can no longer detain people for years on end. For decades, Australia’s approach to detention has been completely out of step with that of other democratic countries. As a result of this significant decision, this will now have to change.

“This is an important and long-awaited victory for human rights.”

Excerpt from NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor [2023] HCATrans 154 (8 November 2023), 8 November 2023:

AT 4.17 PM SHORT ADJOURNMENT

UPON RESUMING AT 4.33 PM:

GAGELER CJ: The order I am about to pronounce is the order of the Court with which at least a majority agrees. The Court will publish its reasons for the order in due course. The order is:

The questions stated for the opinion of the Full Court in the further amended special case filed on 31 October 2023 be answered as follows:

Question 1: On their proper construction, did sections 189(1) and 196(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) authorise the detention of the plaintiff as at 30 May 2023?

Answer: Yes, subject to section 3A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

Question 2: If so, are those provisions beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth insofar as they applied to the plaintiff as at 30 May 2023?

Answer: Yes.

Question 3: On their proper construction, do sections 189(1) and 196(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) authorise the current detention of the plaintiff?

Answer: Yes, subject to section 3A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

Question 4: If so, are those provisions beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth insofar as they currently apply to the plaintiff?

Answer: Yes.

Question 5: What, if any, relief should be granted to the plaintiff?

Answer: The following orders should be made:

It is declared that, by reason of there having been and continuing to be no real prospect of the removal of the plaintiff from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future:

(a) the plaintiff’s detention was unlawful as at 30 May 2023; and

(b) the plaintiff’s continued detention is unlawful and has been since 30 May 2023.

A writ of habeas corpus issue requiring the defendants to release the plaintiff forthwith. [my yellow highlighting]

Question 6: Who should pay the costs of the further amended special case?

Answer: The defendants.

The Court will now adjourn until 9.30 am tomorrow for the pronouncement of orders and otherwise until 10.00 am.

AT 4.36 PM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED

The Dept. of Home Affairs has reportedly stated that there are 92 detainees who were in a similar position to the Rohingya man, NZYQ.

AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY STATE OF PLAY: Interest rates and cost of living - there is no good news in November 2023

Reserve Bank Logo

The Reserve Bank of Australia as one of its monetary policy decision tools employs a cash rate target.

In the Reserve Bank's own words:

The cash rate is the interest rate that banks pay to borrow funds from other banks in the money market overnight. It influences all other interest rates, including mortgage and deposit rates.

In technical terms, it is the interest rate on unsecured overnight loans between banks (loans banks use to manage their liquidity). It is our operational target for the implementation of monetary policy.

The Bank's inflation target is; to keep annual consumer price inflation at between 2 and 3 per cent, on average, over time.

On 7 September 2016 the Australian Reserve Bank cash rate target stood at 1.50% and it remained unchanged for over two year and seven months, until it fell by 25 basis points to 1.25% on 5 June 2019.

The cash rate target continued to fall the next five months until it reached 0.10% on 4 November 2020 and remained unchanged until 4 May 2022 when it rose to 0.35%.

Since then the monthly cash rate target announcements began to tread water on 5 July 2023 at 4.10%.

Sadly, on 8 November 2023 the cash rate target again rose by 25 basis points to 4.35% - the 13th rate hike since May 2022.

The Reserve Bank's next monthly target announcement is due on Tuesday, 5 December 2023.

As for the Reserve Bank's inflation target of keeping consumer price inflation at between 2 and 3 per cent, this target range had been met consistently for the ten and a half years up to December Quarter 2021 and ever since been consistently exceeded. Peaking at 7.8% in December Quarter 2022 before gradually falling to 5.4% in September Quarter 2023 with a monthly indicator of 5.6%.

I suggest that readers do not anticipate any interest rate relief this coming December. Nor expect any significant fall in the Living Cost Index or Consumer Price Index as the country enters 2024.

If The Guardian article on the latest Essential Research poll is correct, it is likely that the more than half of all Australian voters who reportedly are struggling financially will read the following with a jaundiced eye.......

Reserve Bank of Australia, MediaRelease, 7 November 2023:

Statement by Michele Bullock, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision Number 2023-30

Date 7 November 2023

At its meeting today, the Board decided to raise the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.35 per cent. It also increased the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent.

Inflation in Australia has passed its peak but is still too high and is proving more persistent than expected a few months ago. The latest reading on CPI inflation indicates that while goods price inflation has eased further, the prices of many services are continuing to rise briskly. While the central forecast is for CPI inflation to continue to decline, progress looks to be slower than earlier expected. CPI inflation is now expected to be around 3½ per cent by the end of 2024 and at the top of the target range of 2 to 3 per cent by the end of 2025. The Board judged an increase in interest rates was warranted today to be more assured that inflation would return to target in a reasonable timeframe.

The Board had held interest rates steady since June following an increase of 4 percentage points since May last year. It had judged that higher interest rates were working to establish a more sustainable balance between supply and demand in the economy. Furthermore, it had noted that the impact of the more recent rate rises would continue to flow through the economy. It had therefore decided that it was appropriate to hold rates steady to provide time to assess the impact of the increase in interest rates so far. In particular, the Board had indicated that it would be paying close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in household spending, and the outlook for inflation and the labour market.

Since its August meeting, the Board has received updated information on inflation, the labour market, economic activity and the revised set of forecasts. The weight of this information suggests that the risk of inflation remaining higher for longer has increased. While the economy is experiencing a period of below-trend growth, it has been stronger than expected over the first half of the year. Underlying inflation was higher than expected at the time of the August forecasts, including across a broad range of services. Conditions in the labour market have eased but they remain tight. Housing prices are continuing to rise across the country.

At the same time, high inflation is weighing on people’s real incomes and household consumption growth is weak, as is dwelling investment. Given that the economy is forecast to grow below trend, employment is expected to grow slower than the labour force and the unemployment rate is expected to rise gradually to around 4¼ per cent. This is a more moderate increase than previously forecast. Wages growth has picked up over the past year but is still consistent with the inflation target, provided that productivity growth picks up.

Returning inflation to target within a reasonable timeframe remains the Board’s priority. High inflation makes life difficult for everyone and damages the functioning of the economy. It erodes the value of savings, hurts household budgets, makes it harder for businesses to plan and invest, and worsens income inequality. And if high inflation were to become entrenched in people’s expectations, it would be much more costly to reduce later, involving even higher interest rates and a larger rise in unemployment. To date, medium-term inflation expectations have been consistent with the inflation target and it is important that this remains the case.

There are still significant uncertainties around the outlook. Services price inflation has been surprisingly persistent overseas and the same could occur in Australia. There are uncertainties regarding the lags in the effect of monetary policy and how firms’ pricing decisions and wages will respond to the slower growth in the economy at a time when the labour market remains tight. The outlook for household consumption also remains uncertain, with many households experiencing a painful squeeze on their finances, while some are benefiting from rising housing prices, substantial savings buffers and higher interest income. And globally, there remains a high level of uncertainty around the outlook for the Chinese economy and the implications of the conflicts abroad.

Whether further tightening of monetary policy is required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe will depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks. In making its decisions, the Board will continue to pay close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in domestic demand, and the outlook for inflation and the labour market. The Board remains resolute in its determination to return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that outcome.