NSW Minns Labor Government to provide built for purpose rental accommodation in Lismore City - 50 rental apartments of which 10 will be affordable housing

 

The NSW Minns Labor Government is providing built for purpose rental accommodation in Lismore City - 50 rental apartments of which 10 will be affordable housing - with construction due to start in 2025.

The Northern Star, 23 July 2024:

Landcomreveal designs for $30m state government-backed build-to-rent housingproject in East Lismore

A concept image. Picture: Supplied

Design plans for a pilot $30 million, 50 apartment state government backed build-to-rent project in the Northern Rivers have been revealed.

Plans have been aired for the dozens of apartments in East Lismore by state owned corporation Landcom, spruiked as well-designed, climate-resilient and sustainable.

The plans have been released for community and stakeholder feedback.

Located at the corner of Crawford Rd and 138-146 Military Rd, the development is aimed at delivering affordable rental housing in a region impacted by rising costs and low availability.

The development is set to include a mix of apartment sizes to suit the lifestyles and budgets of different households.

Future residents will be close to shops, schools, open spaces like parks, Southern Cross University and other community infrastructure.

State Lismore MP Janelle Saffin said battlers were already doing it tough before the 2022 floods and there was increasingly “essential need” for more housing.

Ms Saffin strongly advocated for the project and said it would be a “welcome investment” for Lismore.

“It’s good to see Landcom seeking to help local renters to put a roof over their head as soon as practical, while also planning to deliver housing that is in tune with the local environment,” she said.

A pair of apartment buildings will follow the site’s slope to the south and are planned to be of a similar scale to surrounding homes. The site for the homes is not flood prone.

The three-storey northern building screens the lower-level southern building, which includes three levels above a ground floor car park.

The 50 apartments would be a mix of studios up to three-bedroom apartments. 20 per cent of the units are designated as rentals for people on low to moderate incomes.

Additionally, the development is set to have 58 secure ground floor parking spaces with access from Military Rd.

Landcom states facades, roof treatments and materials will reflect local architectural character and the project will blend in with its surrounds.

Work is underway to finalise the design and planning before lodgement of a development application with Lismore City Council in coming months. Landcom states it wants to maximise light and ventilation in the design.

Construction is projected to begin in 2025 with residents expected to move in 2026 – subject to approvals.....

Lismore residents can have their say about the draft design by completing an online survey on Landcom’s website by August 7.

The developer is also due to hold a community information and feedback session at East Lismore Bowling Club on August 1.

Residents can drop into the club to learn more, ask the project team questions and share their thoughts between 5pm-8pm.....

Landcom statement on intended Management of Housing Complex

The build-to-rent properties and tenancies at our East Lismore project will be managed by a government agency or community housing provider. Details will be made available closer to project completion.

Landcom statement on Affordable Housing

What is affordable housing?

Safe, secure and affordable housing is essential to the wellbeing of individuals, the vibrancy of our communities and the productivity of the NSW economy.

At our East Lismore project, 20% of homes will be affordable rental housing.

Affordable rental housing is housing that meets the needs of people on low to moderate incomes, such as essential workers. Rent is priced so tenants can afford other basic living costs such as food, clothing, transport, medical care and education. It is managed in accordance with the rent setting provisions of the NSW Housing Ministerial Guidelines.

Affordable rental housing is usually managed by community housing providers, which are not-for-profit, mission driven organisations who own, develop and maintain rental housing for people on very low, low and moderate incomes who require affordable homes.

Affordable housing is not the same as social housing, which is available to people on very low to low household incomes. This includes those who are struggling to afford rent and are often on the brink of homelessness. Landcom does not provide social housing.

If you are a Lismore City local government area resident you can give your opinion on this project via an online portal at:

https://landcom.com.au/projects/eastlismore

Winter temperatures have been rather chilly at times in the Northern Rivers region in NSW but hopefully the last six weeks will be slightly warmer

 

2024 Winter temperatures recorded by Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather stations this July month from the 1st to the 23rd regularly showed maximum and minimum temperatures at an uncomfortable level for those Northern Rivers residents who either have no heating in their homes or cannot afford to turn their heating on due to rising costs.

Yamba recorded only 8 July days where the maximum reached in the 20°C range (20.3°C-20.7°C) and 10 days with minimums under 9.7°C (7.3°C-9.6°C). With the coldest maximum ambient temperature occurring on Monday 1 July at 16.0°C and the coldest minimum ambient temperature recorded on Tuesday 23 July at 7.3°C.

Grafton recorded its coldest maximum ambient temperature at 16.5°C on Monday 8 July and its coldest minimum ambient temperature at 1.3°C on Friday 19 July.

Evans Head recorded its coldest maximum ambient temperature as 15.2°C on Monday 1 July and its coldest minimum ambient temperature as 5.3°C on Monday 15 July.

Ballina recorded a coldest maximum ambient temperature on Monday 1 July at 16.5°C and a coldest minimum ambient temperature coming in at 3.5°C on Tuesday 23 July.

Byron Bay's coldest recorded maximum ambient temperature was 15.6°C on Tuesday 16 July and its coldest recorded minimum ambient temperature was 8.3°C on the same day.

Lismore's coldest recorded its coldest maximum ambient temperature was at 14.9°C on Monday 1 July—when temperatures only rose or fell between between 0.6°C all day—and coldest minimum ambient temperature was 1.5°C on Tuesday 23 July.

Casino's coldest maximum ambient temperature was 15.3°C on Monday 1 July and coldest minimum ambient temperature was 2.8 °C on Monday 22 July.

Tabulam recorded its coldest maximum ambient temperature at 11.1°C on Tuesday 2 July and its coldest minimum ambient temperature at a chilly 2.6°C on Monday 15 July.

Murrwillumbah's coldest recorded coldest maximum ambient temperature was at 16.5°C on Tuesday 2 July and its coldest minimum ambient temperature at an icy 1.0°C on Saturday 20 July.

This is the BOM latest temperature outlook issued:

Temperature—Summary

Issued: 18 July 2024

Warmer August to October days and nights likely across most of Australia

August to October

• Above average maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to very likely (60% to greater than 80% chance) across most of Australia, however, it is the cool season and periods of unusually cold weather are still possible.

• There is an increased chance of unusually high maximum temperatures² for most of Australia, particularly across northern Australia and Tasmania.

• There is an increased chance of unusually high minimum temperatures² across Australia, particularly across northern, central and eastern Australia.

1 Unusually high maximum and minimum temperatures refer to the warmest 20% of August to October days and nights, respectively, between 1981 and 2018.

For the Northern Rivers region these predicted high maximum and minimum temperatures are spatially distributed thus:

Chance of exceeding median maximum

 

Chance of exceeding median minimum

The landscape changed suddenly this week in the two party - two person political cage fight that is a US presidential election campaign in the 21st Century

On the afternoon of Sunday 21 July 2024 President Joe Biden Jr. announced he would not be standing for re-election as U.S. president and endorsed his Vice-President Kamala Harris as a presidential nominee in his place.

Nationwide News, 22 July 2024:

Trump’s chances drop as Democrats rake in millions

Donald Trump’s re-election odds have taken a dip after Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, according to bookmakers.

MarketWatch reports betting websites are giving Trump about a 60 per cent chance of winning the November election.

While still the clear favourite, the former president had previously reported a 65 per chance before Mr Biden’s announcement and 69 per cent chance after his assassination attempt.

Meanwhile, Harris has a 38 per cent chance of winning the race to the White House, the outlet reports.

It comes as Democratic fundraising platform, ActBlue, announced it raised $27.5 million in just five hours after Mr Biden announced his withdrawal and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Small-dollar donors raise over $27.5 million on ActBlue in the first five hours of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Grassroots supporters are energised and excited to support her as the Democratic nominee,” it wrote in a post on X.

Within hours of Biden's announcement AJC Politics released these polling numbers from Georgia:

Thumbnail sketch of who will be voting in November 2024

An est. 224 million Americans will be eligible to vote in November 2024. Around 161 million are registered voters of which est. 49% are Democrats or favour the Democratic Party & est. 47% are Republicans or favour the Republican Party. [Pew Research Centre, online, July 2024]

In 2024 Hispanic, Black and Asian citizens make up only est. 15% of Republican voters and est. 39% of Democrat voters. It appears that historically the majority of those voting at US national elections are "non-Hispanic Whites" over 30 years of age. [ibid]

On past national voter turnout since World War Two it is likely only est. 50-66% of those eligible to vote will actually do so. The fate of 339.8 million men, women and children hangs on the outcome of that vote.

Only eight more Saturdays to go until the 2024 NSW Local Government Elections polling day

 

Australian citizens 18 years of age and older who are resident in New South Wales are obliged by law to cast their vote on Saturday, 14 September 2024 in the 2024 state local government elections.

If you are not enrolled to vote or have moved house and are nor sure which local government area you are living in, the NSW Electoral Commission has some easy links to follow at:

https://elections.nsw.gov.au/voters/enrolment.

If you are considering nominating to stand for election to your local council there is more information at:

https://elections.nsw.gov.au/elections/local-government-elections/2024-nsw-local-government-elections/becoming-a-candidate-for-the-2024-local-government-elections.

This second link has the schedule for candidate information webinars.

To have your name included on a ballot paper, you must be nominated as a candidate for the election.

To be nominated as a candidate for an election in a local government area or ward, you must be enrolled to vote in the local government area by 6pm Monday, 5 August 2024.

The nomination period commences Monday, 5 August 2024 and ends at 12 noon Wednesday, 14 August 2024.

You may be nominated by either:

• a registered political party; or

• two electors enrolled in the local government area or ward in which you intend to stand.

A $125 Nomination Deposit must be paid for the nomination to be valid. This can be paid by cash or card.

The NSW Electoral Commission's Nominations Online Management System for the upcoming 2024 NSW Local Government elections can be found at:

https://noms.elections.nsw.gov.au/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2F

Eligibility and Disqualification for Local Government Election Candidates can be found at:

https://elections.nsw.gov.au/political-participants/candidates-and-groups/candidate-nominations-for-local-government-elections/eligibility-and-disqualification-for-local-government-election-candidates#registeringandnominatingasacandidate.

There is NSWEC Telephone Helpline at

1300 022 011.

Along with a handy contact webpage at:

https://elections.nsw.gov.au/contact-us

covering general & specific enquiries with postal address, telephone numbers and email links.

In the Northern River region there are 7 local government areas:

Tweed Shire

Byron Shire

Ballina Shire

Kyogle Shire

Lismore City

Richmond Valley and

Clarence Valley

In total the Northern Rivers region will be electing 62 local government councillors on 14 September 2024.

Michael & Natalie Hercus along with 10 other landowners are allegedly seeking to harm or destroy up to 1.5 million Indigenous artefacts on North Lismore Plateau

Banyam Baigham, The Sleeping Lizard
Click on image to enlarge

Michael McDonald Macky Hercus and Natalie Hercus (née Michaels) appear to be ensconced in one half of a $5 milllion dollar duplex on a leafy upmarket street in Point Piper, Sydney NSW. With her father Harry occupying the other unit.

Michael is the director and company secretary of Mackcorp Pty Ltd whose sole shareholder is Hercus Investments Pty Ltd. Hercus Investments in turn has both Michael & Natalie as directors and Natalie as the sole shareholder. Michael is also sole director, sole shareholder & company secretary of Allura Parklands Pty Ltd.

This former rugby union player & investment advisor and active property developer along with his former Sky News presenter wife are whimsically classified by realestate.com.au among the celebrity buyers and sellers of Sydney's waterside suburbs.

It could be considered unfortunate that they chose to become active participants in a move to effectively destroy the Widjabul Wia-bal People's spiritually and culturally significant Banyam Baigham (the Sleeping Lizard).

In was in May 2020 that the Winten Property Group's 2018 proposal for a large-scale 433-lot residential development on the North Lismore Plateau was rejected by the NSW Land & Environment Court.

In May 2021 Michael Hercus and Allura Parklands Pty Ltd, with other landholders Mr A J & Mrs D L Purtle, Mrs V Giacomini, Giacmor Pty Limited, Mr F Basso & Ms S Novkovic, Mrs M L & Mr G & Mrs L Mazzorana, Mrs L Massorana and Mr A R & Mrs F M Riordan, submitted their own large-scale 742 lot residential development plan for the same general area and had it refused by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) in December 2022.

Refusing to take no for an answer this 'celebrity buyers and sellers' couple, through Mackycorp Pty Ltd, presumably along with the other ten owners, have appealed the NRPP decision in the Land & Environment Court. In the process submitting the amended development proposal for 714 residential lots, including 7 large lots and 2 ‘super’ lots for future development), 2 neighbourhood business lots, plus residual lots, public reserves and associated infrastructure.

It appears to matter not a jot to 45 year-old Michael and 46 year-old Natalie Hercus - or indeed any of the other ten owners - that they are seeking to make money from the proposed destruction of a land form respected and guarded by a people and culture which has existed on Country since time immemorial. 

Given that Mackycorp's submitted Aboriginal Heritage Assessment (May 2024) indicates that many of the artefacts found on the proposed development site would on further investigation probably fall into a pre-1199 Common Era time period, this supports the presence of ancestors of the current Widjabul Wia-bal people living in the Lismore local government area since time immemorial.

It probably wouldn't even occur to any of them that their connection to the North Lismore Plateau is as ephemeral as the aerial lifespan of a Mayfly when compared to the Widjabul Wia-bal community's presence there.

Banyam Baigham, The Sleeping Lizard

Images: Change.org & David Lowe

North Lismore Plateau rejected development proposal with the light yellow section representing "Allura Parklands" containing 45 new roads, infrastructure and more than 700 residential dwellings. IMAGE: Echo, 18 January 2023.

ECHO, 18 January 2023:

On Thursday 15 December, it took the four panellists on the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) less than half an hour, to unanimously decline the Development Application (DA) 5.2021.221.1 for the northern section of the North Lismore Plateau (NLP) also known as The Sleeping Lizard. Their overall reason? ‘Not in the public interest’.

ECHO, 20 July 2024:

The development of Lismore’s Sleeping Lizard – Banyam Biagham (the North Lismore Plateau) as a 742-residential-lot subdivision was rejected by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) as ‘not in the public interest’.

The DA is the biggest single development ever proposed in Lismore and includes massive bulk earthworks for infrastructure.

The developer, Mackycorp, is continuing to appeal the NRPP rejection of the staged development for 742 residential lots, two business lots, a future residential lot, 45 new roads, bulk earthworks and significant infrastructure following the failed Land and Environment Court (L&EC) conciliation meeting in February this year.

On July 15, 2024 Bundjalung Elder Mickey Ryan sought to join the ongoing North Lismore Plateau Court appeal following the developer recently submitting to the court a Cultural Heritage Assessment Report, containing test pit results carried out earlier this year.

‘The Report recommends that the developer obtain a permit to allow the estimated half to 1.5 million sub-surface artefacts be directly impacted by construction works, i.e harmed, destroyed or desecrated,’ explained Al Oshlack from the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network representing Mr Ryan. [my yellow highlighting]

‘This development with all its flaws such as traffic, flooding, storm water, and even landslides will irretrievably destroy one of the most significant Aboriginal sites in the Bundjalung country. It’s vandalism and sacrilege to such a sacred place, this development is a toxic mix of stupidity and greed,’ Mr Oshlack said.

Lismore Council failed to defend Indigenous heritage

The L&EC accepted the application by Mr Ryan to be a party to the developer’s appeal to overturn the NRPP decision.

This was based on the fact that Lismore Council had chosen not to defend the cultural heritage of the site despite this being one of the key factors in the NRPP refusing the DA, Mr Oshlack told The Echo. [my yellow highlighting]

‘In the statement of facts and contentions Lismore Council was not going to defend the Aboriginal cultural heritage component. Even though it was a key basis for the rejection by the NRPP,’ he said.

‘The developer strenuously objected to Mickey Ryan being allowed to join the case.

‘Mickey Ryan won the joinder on Monday based both on the arguments of public interest and for justice – they were considered valid by the court thus Mickey Ryan has now been joined as second responder.’

The L&EC hearing is set down for an onsite hearing on August 12 followed by four days in Sydney.

NOTE: The Widjabul Wia-bal are recognised in law as holding native title over more than 11,500 hectares of what remains of their land and waters held by public authorities/government agencies in the Lismore local government area.

Quote of the Week

 

"279. Moreover, the Court considers that, in view of the character and importance of the rights and obligations involved, all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It is for all States, while respecting the Charter of the United Nations and international law, to ensure that any impediment resulting from the illegal presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to the exercise of the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end. In addition, all the States parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention have the obligation, while respecting the Charter of the United Nations and international law, to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention."

[International Court of Justice, "ADVISORY OPINION", 19 July 2024, p.76]

Climate change is beginning to lengthen the amount of daylight hours according to researchers

 

When looking at world maps it is easy to point to the fixed geographic North Pole where all the world's longitudinal lines converge, but the magnetic North Pole is another matter, it currently wanders around 55km annually, now moving faster than pre-2018 records according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Similarly the magnetic South Pole also has an historic tendency to wander.

However in recent decades the sheet ice melt that is changing Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctic has added another twist to the story.

The annual cycle of daylight length is also changing. This is of more than passing interest as human physiology and behaviour are shaped by the Earth’s rotation around its axis and the human brain responds to light changes in the environment.

The Guardian, 16 July 2023:

The climate crisis is causing the length of each day to get longer, analysis shows, as the mass melting of polar ice reshapes the planet.

The phenomenon is a striking demonstration of how humanity’s actions are transforming the Earth, scientists said, rivalling natural processes that have existed for billions of years.

The change in the length of the day is on the scale of milliseconds but this is enough to potentially disrupt internet traffic, financial transactions and GPS navigation, all of which rely on precise timekeeping.

The length of the Earth’s day has been steadily increasing over geological time due to the gravitational drag of the moon on the planet’s oceans and land. However, the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets due to human-caused global heating has been redistributing water stored at high latitudes into the world’s oceans, leading to more water in the seas nearer the equator. This makes the Earth more oblate – or fatter – slowing the rotation of the planet and lengthening the day still further.

The planetary impact of humanity was also demonstrated recently by research that showed the redistribution of water had caused the Earth’s axis of rotation – the north and south poles – to move. Other work has revealed that humanity’s carbon emissions are shrinking the stratosphere.

“We can see our impact as humans on the whole Earth system, not just locally, like the rise in temperature, but really fundamentally, altering how it moves in space and rotates,” said Prof Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “Due to our carbon emissions, we have done this in just 100 or 200 years. Whereas the governing processes previously had been going on for billions of years, and that is striking.”

Human timekeeping is based on atomic clocks, which are extremely precise. However, the exact time of a day – one rotation of the Earth – varies due to lunar tides, climate impacts and some other factors, such as the slow rebound of the Earth’s crust after the retreat of ice sheets formed in the last ice age.

These differences have to be accounted for, said Soja: “All the datacentres that run the internet, communications and financial transactions, they are based on precise timing. We also need a precise knowledge of time for navigation, and particularly for satellites and spacecraft.”....