Water Wars: Not good enough, Richie!

“DANGEROUSLY high levels of arsenic and antimony in Mine Creek, which feeds into Wild Cattle Creek, has ignited debate about antimony mining in an area which leads into the water supply of the Clarence and Coffs Harbour regions.

Wild Cattle Creek is one of the major tributaries of the Nymboida River which leads into the Clarence and also supplies water to Shannon Creek Dam.

A map commissioned by Anchor Resources, the company which is licenced to explore, but not mine the site at Beilsdown, shows Mine Creek at one point had 377 ug/litre (parts per billion) of antimony which is 126 times the Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council's (ANZECC) guidelines for drinking water.

Arsenic levels at the same spot were 85 ug/litre - more than 12 times the ANZECC drinking water guidelines.

The map is dated September 19, 2011.” {The Daily Examiner on 5th October 2011 in Significant threat to waterways}

This is a section of the map published alongside the quoted article (hat tip to Clarencegirl's friends):

Even I can work out that if past antimony and gold mining in parts of the Clarence River catchment have resulted in persistent pollution which is likely to remain for centuries, then it’s not a brilliant idea to sit back and let the O’Farrell Government in faraway Sydney agree to new mining in the area which can possibly stuff up Clarence waterways and increase health risks faced by local communities and the businesses which keep them afloat.

But lord luvva duck! Sometimes you have to wonder what happens to some men’s spines after they catch a glimpse of a golden chance – the right to strut down Macquarie Street and plant their behinds on the government pews in Parliament House alongside Bazza and his mates.

Faced with evidence from a report commissioned by the Chinese-owned mining exploration company, Anchor Resources, Clarence Valley Mayor and Nationals pre-selection candidate, Richie Williamson, had this to say in The Daily Examiner on 5^th October 2011; “Should the mine progress, council will not be taking a back seat on the issue".  

Gone is any hint of outright opposition – or heaven forfend, a proactive approach - to this latest threat to the quality and safety of fresh water flowing down the Nymboida River and on into the kitchen taps of Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour homes. Instead there is p*ss weak acceptance that what China wants China gets.

Seems the boys from Anchor really did a number on Richie at that last meeting with council.

The Australian gets caught out kicking at The Greens

No incentive for jobseekers to get off disability pension opined journalist Patricia Karvelas in The Australian  on 9 March 2011 with this opening shot at The Greens:

NEW social security rates reveal that the "payment gap" between disability pensions and the dole has risen dramatically to $127.20 a week, as welfare groups vow to ramp up the issue -- with Greens support -- ahead of the May budget.

They argue there is no incentive for people to get off the more lucrative pensions and into work……

This was the outcome of the inevitable complaint to the Press Council of Australia:

Adjudication No. 1511: Naomi Anderson/The Australian (September 2011)

Document Type:

Complaints

Outcome:

Adjudications

Date:

23 Sep 2011

The Australian Press Council has considered a complaint by Naomi Anderson about a report in The Australian on 9 March 2011 concerning the difference in payment rates between the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and the Newstart Allowance.

The headline of the article was No incentive for jobseekers to get off disability and, after mentioning welfare groups and Greens, the second paragraph read: "They argue there is no incentive for people to get off the more lucrative [DSP] and into work". Later paragraphs quoted a named representative from the National Welfare Rights Network and another one from the Greens. No other person was quoted or mentioned.

Ms Anderson complained that the article was inaccurate because the representatives did not say that there was no incentive to get off DSP or that DSP is "more lucrative" than Newstart. She said this inaccuracy was unfair to the representatives and to people receiving DSP. She also complained that the headline presented a matter of opinion as if it was a fact.

The newspaper said the second paragraph accurately and fairly summarised the quoted comments. It said that the headline was a fair summary of the opinions expressed in the article, not a purported statement of fact.

The Council has concluded that the second paragraph inaccurately described the quoted comments in the article because those comments did not assert that there was no incentive to get off DSP or that either the DSP or Newstart could be described as in any way "lucrative". Those misstatements were unfair to the quoted people and to people receiving DSP. Accordingly, this aspect of the complaint is upheld.

The Council has concluded that the headline presented as a matter of fact an assertion which is actually a matter of opinion. Accordingly, this aspect of the complaint was also upheld.

 Well done, Naomi.

Southern Ocean Sky 2011

Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo

It has to be a joke, Joyce

You’d think I would be used to the idiocy coming out of the Nats camp and the Coalition Gazette, but this takes the blue ribbon:

“ROCKER Angry Anderson is eyeing two federal seats in NSW as he plots a bid to represent the Nationals in Canberra.

The 63-year-old anti-carbon tax campaigner has the Labor-held seat of Throsby, based in Wollongong, in his sights, but could also make a run for the northern NSW seat of Page, at the suggestion of Tony Abbott.”

Angry Anderson representing Page? Fair dinkum – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The eejit says he's "been reading the science" and doesn't believe it. He knows global warming doesn't exist because scientific opinions are "polluted by a wage", carbon dioxide is a natural harmless element, pollution is not new -its been around since the industrial revolution, it's all a U.N. conspiracy and he didn't design power generators so "it's not our fault".

Pic from Google Images

Water Administration Ministerial Corporation has to pay own costs after judgment in its favour

From the NSW Environmental Defender’s Office - a case of poetic justice as the the WAMC is left holding the legal bill:

With assistance from the EDO , the Snowy River Alliance (SRA) recently challenged the validity of the Snowy Hydro water access licence in the Supreme Court. The challenge was unsuccessful. The general rule is that the unsuccessful party must pay the successful party's legal costs. However, the Court can make an exception in public interest litigation so that persons seeking to represent the public interest are not deterred by the prospect of paying the other party's costs. But this exception only applies when the litigation is genuine public interest litigation, and where there is ‘something more' that justifies a departure from the general rule. In this case, Justice Hislop held that the proceedings could be characterised as public interest litigation because there is a wide public interest in the protection of the Snowy River , and because the plaintiffs were not pursuing any personal gains. There was also ‘something more' in these proceedings because they dealt with issues that were novel and important. Therefore, the Court ordered that the SRA did not need to bear the defendant's costs.

For more information, please click .

Judgment[PDF 3.08 MB]

Reading the tea leaves......

Between late March and early September 2004 the Australian Remuneration Tribunal had all but finished topping up parliamentary remunerations for that particular year. By mid-September the country was weighing up those candidates who were standing for the 9^th October 2004 federal election.

In October 2007 the Tribunal again increased Federal MPs’ wage and allowance packages and - in what could only be the wildest coincidence-  by the start of November that year a federal election campaign was in full swing.

In May 2010 federal pollies were granted a healthy pay rise to take effect just in time for the August 2010 federal election campaign to kick off in earnest.

In June 2011 those same pollies’ pay packets grew fatter yet again with a base salary of $140,910, and now we find that an MP’s wallet will probably grow positively obese sometime during the first quarter of next year.

Which makes me wonder if we will see a general election called in early August 2013.

Because if meeja speculation on the size of the 2012 pay jump is close to the mark then there is unlikely to be a further major pay rise in the following year - so going to the polls at the earliest opportunity will not be seen by Government MPs as the chance of a pay increase missed.

Clarence By-election: Nat's preselection candidate Williamson rapidly losing fans

Today's episode in the Nats' pre-selection skirmish in Clarence has been given a bit more heat, thanks to a contributor's letter to the editor of The Daily Examiner.

Be warned

Unsurprisingly, the Valley's serial claim jumper has put his name up for National Party pre-selection for the seat of Clarence.

I was more than a little surprised when I first heard of his move for the following reason.

Shortly before the March election, Mr Williamson phoned me, and the main purpose of his call seemed to be to win me over to his and his supporting team's belief that the next New South Wales government could very well be controlled by a party of independents that included himself. He assured me that he was a dedicated independent who could never be tied to a particular party's dogma. He also divulged that contact had been established with other candidates statewide and that there was growing confidence that they could pull it off. They were never going to, of course.

Anyway, be warned. There's now a cuckoo flying around looking for a spare nest. Let it settle at your peril.

Thomas Macindoe, Yamba

Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 3/10/11

Is NSW Nationals Clarence pre-selection candidate Chris Gulaptis compromised by his employment history?

As NSW Nationals in the North Coast seat of Clarence prepare to pick their candidate at the forthcoming by-election caused by the sudden resignation of disgraced Nationals MP, Steve Cansdell, one has to wonder about the agenda of many.

Take former land developer, sometime mayor of Maclean Shire and one time councillor on Clarence Valley Shire Council, Chris Gulaptis, whose disastrous tilt at the federal seat of Page in 2007 saw him retreat first overseas and then north of the border to become a senior operations manager for Brazier Motti Pty Ltd in Mackay, Queensland.

A position he used to enthusiastically support the mining industry:

After enjoying some time overseas, Chris moved back to Australia when a job opportunity became available in Mackay.
"I was so happy to get involved back into a community where mining was big again," he said.

So far Mr. Gulaptis has been silent as to his recent employment history, including whether he is still employed or under contract to this company which has at least one mining corporation on its client list.

However, the subject is one he cannot ignore given the interest being displayed by interstate and multinational mining corporations in the prospect of coal seam gas, antimony, gold and copper mining right across the Clarence electorate and beyond.

He needs to tell North Coast Nationals and the electorate whether he intends to further mining industry interests should he ever be elected to the NSW Parliament and O’Farrell Coalition Government.

Chris Gulaptis is not the only pre-selection candidate who needs to state their current position on mining.

On 13 September 2011 Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson was due to attend a presentation by Anchor Resources on its plan to establish an antimony mine in the environmentally sensitive Nymboida River high country which provides both Clarence Valley and Coffs Habour local government areas with urban drinking water.

In June 2011 Mayor Williamson did initially express concern about the proposed antimony mine, backpedalled a bit thereafter and since then has been remarkably quiet about the issue.

While in 2009-10 Richmond Shire councillor Stuart George threw his support behind coal seam gas mining on the NSW North Coast and Metgasco's plans for a power station in the Richmond Valley and gas pipeline into Queensland and, in 2011 was attempting to block a transparent flow of information to agencies managing urban water supplies which might be affected by contentious mining methods.

New ICAC investigation begins this week with a focus on state and local councils - including Ballina and Byron shire councils

ICAC public notice Wednesday 28 September 2011:

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is conducting an investigation into allegations that employees of 110 state and local council authorities including Lithgow City, Ballina Shire, Orange City, Walgett Shire, City of Sydney, Waverley, Burwood, Botany Bay, Liverpool City, Bathurst Regional, Broken Hill City, Byron Shire and Narrandera Shire councils, and the Roads and Traffic Authority, accepted benefits including gift cards and other items from companies including Hilindi Pty Ltd trading as R&R Tape Supplies, Momar Australia Pty Ltd and NCH Australia Pty Ltd in return for placing orders and continuing business relationships with these companies.

The Commission is also investigating allegations that Geoffrey Hadley, former Senior Council Storeman at Bathurst Regional Council and Kerry Smith, former Storeman at Yass Valley Council, facilitated payment of fraudulent invoices generated by Robin Newman and others totalling up to $1.5 million.

As part of its investigation, the ICAC will hold a public inquiry starting at 10:00 am on Tuesday, 4 October 2011, at L21, 133 Castlereagh St., Sydney.
Persons claiming to be substantially and directly interested in this matter may seek leave to be represented at the inquiry, and are invited to contact Cassie Lee on (02) 8281-5999 to advise of their interest.

Members of the public with information relevant to the investigation are encouraged to provide it in writing at GPO Box 500, Sydney, NSW 2001, or by facsimile (02) 9264-5364. The ICAC will treat all information confidentially and has legislative powers to protect people who provide information to the Commission.

Roy Waldon
Solicitor to the Commission