— Chris Rawlins 🚙 (@ChrisBH011) December 20, 2018
Showing posts sorted by date for query water theft. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query water theft. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Wednesday 2 January 2019
Water theft within the Murray Darling Basin continues
Labels:
Murray-Darling Basin,
water wars
Sunday 28 October 2018
On past performance it will only take state and federal National Party politicians and their mates a couple of years to drain Morrison's $5 billion Drought Future Fund
On 26 October 2018, in the face of ongoing allegations of financial gouging of the public purse and mismanagement of water resources in the Murray Darling Basin, Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison unveiled his $5 billion Drought Future Fund at a summit attended by farmers, economists, industry bodies and state and federal ministers in Canberra....promising measures to drought-proof the nation's agriculture sector. The first $3.9 billion of the scheme, which would operate similarly to the Medical Future Fund, is to be paid for out of a pool of money originally intended for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
What a brilliant idea.
Rob an already underfunded disability sector and the vulnerable people who depend on its services in order to beef up a proposed drought future fund,
What can possibly go wrong?
Well, on past history it will likely take National politicians and their mates about two years to empty this new fund - with little to no drought-proofing to show for the taxpayer dollars they manage to redirect towards their own businesses.
The
Age, 26
October 2018:
The Nationals' federal
treasurer Peter Schwarz is accused of gouging much of the $850,000 he was
paid by Australia’s largest drought-proofing project and calling
in favours when pressed to account for the taxpayer cash.
As Prime Minister Scott
Morrison launches his drought summit, leaked government files reveal that Mr
Schwarz banked the taxpayer subsidies in November 2011 and then spent years
resisting efforts from water officials to get him to or use it for its intended
purpose – saving water.
The frustration of the
Goulburn-Murray Water authority with the conduct of Mr Schwarz – who as well as
being the Nationals key federal fundraiser is also running in next month’s
Victorian election – is exposed in dozens of damning leaked authority files.
The files provide a case
study of issues which are front and centre at Mr Morrison’s drought summit and
which are being examined by drought envoy and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce: using
taxpayer funds to help farmers deal with drought, and, questions about whether
backroom favours or mismanagement are undermining drought-relief efforts.
Among the leaked files
is a July 15, 2016 memo from a water authority lawyer summing up his view of Mr
Schwarz’s conduct after he joined hundreds of other farmers given cash incentives
as part of Australia’s largest water saving initiative, the Connections
Project. The project aims to help restore the Murray Darling water system.
The lawyer stated that
after Mr Schwarz received $850,505 in 2011 – divided into $473,000 for on-farm
water-saving measures and $300,000 to buy a neighbouring property – he ‘‘failed
to perform any of the obligations despite having received the payment … in
full.’’
‘‘The Schwarzes have
spent much of the ensuing period attempting to make a case that, notwithstanding
they entered into the agreement and received payment, they should not be bound
to perform,’’ the July 2016 legal memo states.
The leaked files also
reveal that Mr Schwarz sought to call on his personal relationship with a
controversial high-ranking water official, Gavin Hanlon, and an unnamed
‘‘minister’’ to ‘‘support [his] cause’’.
Mr Hanlon was a senior
Victorian water official who was headhunted by the NSW government as its
irrigation chief. He quit his NSW post in 2017 after revelations of questionable
dealings with farm lobbyists, sparking an ongoing
investigation by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption……..
In a statement to
Fairfax Media, the water authority said that seven years after it gave Mr
Schwarz the funds, the stand-off over with him has been "substantially
resolved." It is understood that Mr Schwarz and Goulburn-Murray Water have
finally agreed that he will use the funds for water savings, but no work has as
yet been done.
The files reveal intense
frustration inside Goulburn-Murray Water not only about Mr Schwarz’s conduct
but the authority’s inability to recoup taxpayer funds.
A note written by an employee
in April 2014 states that: ‘‘Peter told me on a number of occasions he would
prefer to deal with higher GMW management and would not be accepting the
agreement he had previously signed.’’.......
BACKGROUND
SBC
News, 1
December 2018:
The NSW public has a
right to know whether a senior government executive, fired over her alleged
involvement in the Murray-Darling water theft scandal, received a six-figure
payout, the opposition says.
A report into water
theft in the Murray-Darling Basin, released on Thursday, confirmed that along
with top bureaucrat Gavin Hanlon's public resignation, a second executive was
fired for her role in the alleged misconduct.
AAP understands the
senior executive is a former National Party staffer and irrigation lobbyist,
who was appointed to a senior job within the Department of Primary Industries
in 2015.
Opposition water
spokesman Chris Minns said the Berejiklian government should confess whether
the executive had received a golden handshake on her way out the door......
In September, NSW
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said misconduct proceedings had
started against Mr Hanlon.
Mr Hanlon was forced to
resign as the Department of Industry director general in September following
allegations of misconduct, including promising to share internal government
documents with irrigation lobbyists in 2016.
Thursday's independent
investigation into NSW water management and compliance report, authored by Ken
Matthews, said the second senior executive is alleged to have also been
involved in the teleconference.
According to her
LinkedIn profile, the executive was a policy officer for lobby group Southern
River Irrigators between 2011 and 2013 before becoming an advisor to federal
senator Simon Birmingham for a year......
Thursday's report comes
less than a week after both NSW and Queensland were slammed by a Murray-Darling
Basin Authority (MDBA) review into water theft and regulation.
That inquiry found both
states regularly failed to make sure irrigators complied with the
Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and weren't transparent about their failures......
The
Guardian, 27
September 2018:
A former water industry
lobbyist preselected by the New South Wales National party to
lead its Senate ticket in the next federal election has suggested examining
Barnaby Joyce’s proposal to release more water for irrigators.
Once a lobbyist for
Murray Irrigation, Perin Davey won the No 1 spot on the NSW National party’s
Senate ticket earlier this month, after the longtime Nationals senator and bank
campaigner John “Wacka” Williams retired and the former Nationals deputy leader
Fiona Nash resigned over her dual citizenship.
Davey was part of the
teleconference with NSW government water official Gavin Hanlon, when he
allegedly offered documents stripped of the department logo to help irrigators
lobby against the Murray-Darling basin plan.
Hanlon resigned
following the revelations, which were referred to the NSW Independent
Commission Against Corruption. The former water minister Kevin Humphries was
also referred to the state watchdog. Icac makes it a practice not to
comment any current investigations. Davey said she had not been interviewed by
Icac and Guardian Australia does not allege any wrongdoing.
The meeting was exposed
in the 2017 Four
Corners episode that reported allegations
that water was being harvested by some irrigators in the
Barwon-Darling region of the Murray-Darling
basin to the detriment of the environment and downstream communities.
Joyce, the former
agriculture minister, had nominated
Davey to the board of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority but, as a
result of the fallout from the program, Davey
asked Joyce to withdraw her nomination.
Davey, who now runs her own government
relations company, said she was simply participating in a teleconference
and that it was not unusual......
North Coast Voices:
13 MARCH 2018
Only
a handful of NSW landowners to face court over Murray-Darling Basin water theft
allegations? The NSW Government will prosecute several people over alleged
water theft on the Barwon-Darling, eight months after Four Corners investigated
the issue. WaterNSW has named the people it is taking to the Land and
Environment Court over alleged breaches of water management rules.
13 APRIL 2018
Alleged
irrigator water theft heading for the courts? A
cousin by marriage of the current Australian Minister for Agriculture and
Water Resources David Littleproud, John Norman, finds his agricultural
business practices under scrutiny...
30 APRIL 2018
What
the Australian Government didn’t want the UN to publish During Nationals
MP for New England Barnaby Joyce’s disastrous sojourn as Australian Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources the federal
government began a successfull campaign to have the United Nations delete
all criticism of Australia’s $13bn effort to restore the ailing Murray-Darling
river system from a published study.
Thursday 13 September 2018
Blatant water theft by miners being allowed under Berejiklian Government rules?
IMAGE:
Ros Druce. Maules Creek Mine, January 2016 in New Matilda
ABC
News, 10
September 2018:
A New South Wales coal
mine is being accused of inappropriately taking more surface water than it is
entitled to.
A review of Whitehaven
Coal's Maules Creek Mine near Narrabri by the campaign group Lock the Gate
showed it captured 1,800 million litres (ML) of surface water in 2016, despite
being licenced to take 30 million litres.
Surface water is water
that is collected from rainfall and run off.
An examination of
surface water licences in New South Wales has been unable to find any other
surface water licences held by the mine to justify the additional water.
"It does appear
that the take is much higher than the licence they have explained to the
community," Maules Creek farmer Lochie Leitch said.
Whitehaven Coal declined
to be interviewed.
The company issued a
statement saying it was in compliance with its water licences, and the use of
rainfall and runoff is permissible under legislation.
Farmers whose properties
neighbour the mine have joined forces with the campaign group, Lock the Gate
Alliance, to lodge a complaint with the state's new water watchdog, the Natural
Resources Access Regulator.
The NRAR was set up in
April 2018 following a review of water management and compliance which was
prompted by a story
by the ABC's Four Corners.
The farmers are worried
that the alleged collection of this extra surface water is affecting the
environment.
"[It's] simply
capturing too much water that would otherwise be recharging groundwater and
flowing into surface water systems," Maules Creek farmer Sally Hunter
said.
Labels:
mining,
sustainability,
water wars,
water policy politics
Wednesday 13 June 2018
Trump versus the world
US President Donald J. Trump attended all photo opportunities on first day of the G7 Summit in Canada, but reportedly appeared inattentive during some of the working sessions, arrived late for a working breakfast and left the country before dinner on the second day of three day gathering.
His early departure avoided further climate change discussions, challenging interactions such as this image caught on camera and, being still physically at the summit when he publicly refused to sign the 44th G7 Communique set out below.
Photograph by Jecsco Denzel
Before boarding the plane to leave this summit Trump threatened an all-out trade war.
It appears Economics 101 is a little beyond the intellectual reach of Donald Trump. Though I am certain one section of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, would at least have attempted to inform his senior staff that the economic loss to America in the type of trade war he is threatening would be in the trillions of dollars, with an accompanying reduction in consumer choice and a probable rise in unemployment.
44th G7 Communique
LA
MALBAIE, Quebec (Reuters) - 1. We, the Leaders of the G7, have come together in
Charlevoix, Quebec on June 8–9, 2018, guided by our shared values of freedom,
democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and our commitment to
promote a rules-based international order. As advanced economies and leading
democracies, we share a fundamental commitment to investing in our citizens and
meeting their needs and to responding to global challenges. We collectively
affirm our strong determination to achieve a clean environment, clean air, and
clean water. We are resolved to work together in creating a healthy,
prosperous, sustainable and fair future for all.
Investing
in Growth that Works for Everyone
2.
We share the responsibility of working together to stimulate sustainable
economic growth that benefits everyone and in particular those most at risk of
being left behind. We welcome the contribution of technological change and
global integration to global economic recovery and increased job creation. The
global economic outlook continues to improve, but too few citizens have
benefited from that economic growth. While resilience against risk has improved
among emerging market economies, recent market movements remind us of potential
vulnerabilities. We will continue monitoring market developments and using all
policy tools to support strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth that
generates widespread prosperity. We reaffirm our existing exchange rate
commitments. We commit to promoting smart, sustainable and high-quality
investments – such as in infrastructure – to boost growth and productivity and
create quality jobs. Economic Growth is fundamental to raising living
standards. We also recognize that economic output alone is insufficient for
measuring success and acknowledge the importance of monitoring other societal
and economic indicators that measure prosperity and well-being. We are
committed to removing the barriers that keep our citizens, including women and
marginalized individuals, from participating fully in the global economy. We
endorse the Charlevoix Commitment on Equality and Economic Growth which
reinforces our commitment to eradicate poverty, advance gender equality, foster
income equality, ensure better access to financial resources and create decent
work and quality of life for all.
3.
In order to ensure that everyone pays their fair share, we will exchange
approaches and support international efforts to deliver fair, progressive,
effective and efficient tax systems. We will continue to fight tax evasion and
avoidance by promoting the global implementation of international standards and
addressing base erosion and profit shifting. The impacts of the digitalization
of the economy on the international tax system remain key outstanding issues.
We welcome the OECD interim report analyzing the impact of digitalization of
the economy on the international tax system. We are committed to work together
to seek a consensus based solution by 2020.
4.
We acknowledge that free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade and investment,
while creating reciprocal benefits, are key engines for growth and job
creation. We recommit to the conclusions on trade of the Hamburg G20 Summit, in
particular, we underline the crucial role of a rules-based international
trading system and continue to fight protectionism. We note the importance of
bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements being open, transparent,
inclusive and WTO-consistent, and commit to working to ensure they complement
the multilateral trade agreements. We commit to modernize the WTO to make it
more fair as soon as possible. We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff
barriers and subsidies.
5.
We will work together to enforce existing international rules and develop new
rules where needed, to foster a truly level playing field, addressing in
particular non-market oriented policies and practices, and inadequate
protection of intellectual property rights such as forced technology transfer
or cyber enabled theft. We call for the start of negotiations – this year – to
develop stronger, international rules on market-distorting industrial subsidies
and trade distorting actions by state-owned enterprises. We also call on all
members of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity to fully and promptly
implement its recommendations. We stress the urgent need to avoid excess
capacity in other sectors such as aluminum and high technology. We call on the
International Working Group on Export Credits to develop a new set of
guidelines for government supported export credits, as soon as possible in
2019.
6.
To support growth and equal participation that benefits everyone, and ensure
our citizens lead healthy and productive lives, we commit to supporting strong,
sustainable health systems that promote access to quality and affordable
healthcare and to bringing greater attention to mental health. We support
efforts to promote and protect women’s and adolescents’ health and well-being
through evidence based healthcare and health information. We recognize the
World Health Organization’s vital role in health emergencies, including through
the Contingency Fund for Emergencies and the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency
Financing Facility, and emphasize their need for further development and
continued and sustainable financing. We recommit to support our 76 partners to
strengthen their implementation of the International Health Regulations,
including through their development of costed national action plans and the use
of diverse sources of financing and multi-stakeholder resources. We will
prioritize and coordinate our global efforts to fight against antimicrobial
resistance, in a “one health” approach. We will accelerate our efforts to end
tuberculosis, and its resistant forms. We reconfirm our resolve to work with
partners to eradicate polio and effectively manage the post-polio transition.
We affirm our support for a successful replenishment of the Global Fund in
2019.
7.
Public finance, including official development assistance and domestic resource
mobilization, is necessary to work towards the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, but alone is insufficient to support the
economic growth and sustainable development necessary to lift all populations
from poverty. As a result, we have committed to the Charlevoix Commitment on
Innovative Financing for Development to promote economic growth in developing
economies and foster greater equality of opportunity within and between
countries. We will continue to invest in quality infrastructure with open
access. Given rising debt levels in Low Income Countries and the importance of
debt sustainability, we call for greater debt transparency not only from Low
Income Debtor countries, but also emerging sovereign lenders and private
creditors. We support the ongoing work of the Paris Club, as the principal
international forum for restructuring official bilateral debt, towards the
broader inclusion of emerging creditors. We recognize the value in development
and humanitarian assistance that promotes greater equality of opportunity, and
gender equality, and prioritizes the most vulnerable, and will continue to work
to develop innovative financing models to ensure that no one is left behind.
8.
We are resolved to ensure that all workers have access to the skills and
education necessary to adapt and prosper in the new world of work brought by
innovation through emerging technologies. We will promote innovation through a
culture of lifelong learning among current and future generations of workers.
We will expand market-driven training and education, particularly for girls and
women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. We
recognize the need to remove barriers to women’s leadership and equal
opportunity to participate in all aspects of the labor market, including by
eliminating violence, discrimination and harassment within and beyond the
workplace. We will explore innovative new approaches to apprenticeship and
vocational learning, as well as opportunities to engage employers and improve
access to workplace training.
9.
We highlight the importance of working towards making social protection more
effective and efficient and creating quality work environments for workers,
including those in non-standard forms of work. Expanding communication and
collaboration between governments and businesses, social partners, educational
institutions and other relevant stakeholders will be essential for preparing
workers to adapt and thrive in the new world of work. To realize the benefits
of artificial intelligence (AI), we endorse the Charlevoix Common Vision for
the Future of Artificial Intelligence. We recognize that a human-centric
approach to AI has the potential to introduce new sources of economic growth,
bring significant benefits to our societies and help address some of our most
pressing challenges.
Advancing
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
10.
We recognize that gender equality is fundamental for the fulfillment of human
rights and is a social and economic imperative. However, gender inequality
persists despite decades of international commitments to eliminate these
differences. We will continue to work to remove barriers to women’s
participation and decision-making in social, economic and political spheres as
well as increase the opportunities for all to participate equally in all aspects
of the labor market. Our path forward will promote women’s full economic
participation through working to reduce the gender wage gap, supporting women
business leaders and entrepreneurs and recognizing the value of unpaid care
work.
11.
Equal access to quality education is vital to achieve the empowerment and equal
opportunity of girls and women, especially in developing contexts and countries
struggling with conflict. Through the Charlevoix Declaration on Quality
Education for Girls, Adolescent Girls and Women in Developing Countries, we
demonstrate our commitment to increase opportunities for at least 12 years of
safe and quality education for all and to dismantle the barriers to girls’ and
women’s quality education, particularly in emergencies and in conflict-affected
and fragile states. We recognize that marginalized girls, such as those with a
disability, face additional barriers in attaining access to education.
12.
Advancing gender equality and ending violence against girls and women benefits
all and is a shared responsibility in which everyone, including men and boys,
has a critical role to play. We endorse the Charlevoix Commitment to End Sexual
and Gender-Based Violence, Abuse and Harassment in Digital Contexts, and are
resolved to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. We strive for a
future where individuals’ human rights are equally protected both offline and
online; and where everyone has equal opportunity to participate in political,
social, economic and cultural endeavors.
Building
a More Peaceful and Secure World
13.
We share a responsibility to build a more peaceful and secure world,
recognizing that respect for human rights, the rule of law, and equality of
opportunity are necessary for lasting security and to enable economic growth
that works for everyone. The global security threats we face are complex and
evolving and we commit to working together to counter terrorism. We welcome the
outcome of the international conference on the fight against terrorist
financing held in Paris April 25-26, 2018. Foreign terrorist fighters must be
held accountable for their actions. We are committed to addressing the use of
the internet for terrorist purposes, including as a tool for recruitment,
training, propaganda and financing, and by working with partners such as the
Global Internet Forum for Counter Terrorism. We underscore the importance of
taking concrete measures to eradicate trafficking in persons, forced labor,
child labor and all forms of slavery, including modern slavery.
14.
Recognizing that countries that are more equal are also more stable, more
peaceful and more democratic, we are resolved to strengthen the implementation
of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Gender-sensitive measures that
include women’s participation and perspectives to prevent and eradicate
terrorism are vital to effective and sustainable results, protection from
sexual and gender-based violence, and preventing other human rights abuses and
violations.
15.
We commit to take concerted action in responding to foreign actors who seek to
undermine our democratic societies and institutions, our electoral processes,
our sovereignty and our security as outlined in the Charlevoix Commitment on
Defending Democracy from Foreign Threats. We recognize that such threats,
particularly those originating from state actors, are not just threats to G7
nations, but to international peace and security and the rules-based
international order. We call on others to join us in addressing these growing
threats by increasing the resilience and security of our institutions,
economies and societies, and by taking concerted action to identify and hold to
account those who would do us harm.
16.
We continue to call on North Korea to completely, verifiably, and irreversibly
dismantle all of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles
as well as its related programs and facilities. We acknowledge recent
developments, including North Korea’s announcement of a moratorium on nuclear
testing and ballistic missile launches, a commitment to denuclearization made
in the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration – assuming full implementation – and the
apparent closure of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site on May 24 but reiterate
the importance of full denuclearization. The dismantlement of all of its WMD
and ballistic missiles will lead to a more positive future for all people on
the Korean Peninsula and a chance of prosperity for the people of North Korea,
who have suffered for too long. However, more must be done and we call on all
states to maintain strong pressure, including through full implementation of
relevant UNSCRs, to urge North Korea to change its course and take decisive and
irreversible steps. In this context, we once again call upon North Korea to
respect the human rights of its people and resolve the abductions issue
immediately.
17.
We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing behavior, to undermine democratic
systems and its support of the Syrian regime. We condemn the attack using a
military grade nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom. We share and agree
with the United Kingdom’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian
Federation was responsible for the attack, and that there is no plausible
alternative explanation. We urge Russia to live up to its international
obligations, as well as its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN
Security Council, to uphold international peace and security. Notwithstanding,
we will continue to engage with Russia on addressing regional crises and global
challenges, where it is in our interests. We reiterate our condemnation of the
illegal annexation of Crimea and reaffirm our enduring support for Ukrainian
sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally
recognized borders. We maintain our commitment to assisting Ukraine in
implementing its ambitious and necessary reform agenda. We recall that the
continuation of sanctions is clearly linked to Russia’s failure to demonstrate
complete implementation of its commitments in the Minsk Agreements and respect
for Ukraine’s sovereignty and we fully support the efforts within the Normandy
Format and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for a
solution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Should its actions so require, we
also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase
costs on Russia. We remain committed to support Russian civil society and to
engage and invest in people-to-people contact.
18.
We strongly condemn the murderous brutality of Daesh and its oppression of
civilian populations under its control. As an international community, we
remain committed to the eradication of Daesh and its hateful ideology. In Syria
we also condemn the repeated and morally reprehensible use of chemical weapons
by the Syrian regime and by Daesh. We call on the supporters of the regime to
ensure compliance with its obligation to declare and dismantle remaining
chemical weapons. We deplore the fact that Syria assumed the Presidency of the
Conference on Disarmament in May, given its consistent and flagrant disregard
of international non-proliferation norms and agreements. We reaffirm our
collective commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention and call on all States
to support the upcoming Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW) special Conference of States Parties and to work together to strengthen
the ability of the OPCW to promote the implementation of the Convention. We
call upon those who have yet to do so to join the International Partnership
Against the Use of Chemical Weapons. We call for credible, inclusive and
non-sectarian governance in Syria, facilitated by free and fair elections held
to the highest international standards of transparency and accountability, with
all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate.
19.
We remain concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and
reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that could escalate
tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based
order. We urge all parties to pursue demilitarization of disputed features. We
are committed to taking a strong stance against human rights abuse, human
trafficking, and corruption across the globe, especially as it impacts
vulnerable populations and we call upon the international community to take
strong action against these abuses all over the world. We welcome the recent
commitments made by Myanmar and we pledge to coordinate efforts to build
lasting peace and support democratic transition in Myanmar, particularly in the
context of the ongoing Rohingya crisis, to allow safe and unhindered
humanitarian access and the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of refugees
and displaced people. We are deeply concerned about the lack of respect for
human rights and basic democratic principles in Venezuela, as well as the
spiraling economic crisis and its humanitarian repercussions. We express our
concern at the continuous deterioration of the situation in Yemen and renew our
call for all parties to fully comply with international humanitarian law and
human rights law.
20.
Recognizing the threat Iran’s ballistic missile program poses to international
peace and security, we call upon Iran to refrain from launches of ballistic
missiles and all other activities which are inconsistent with UNSCR 2231 –
including all annexes – and destabilizing for the region, and cease proliferation
of missile technology. We are committed to permanently ensuring that Iran’s
nuclear program remains peaceful, in line
21.
We remain concerned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially in the
light of recent events. We support the resumption without delay of substantive
peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at achieving a negotiated
solution that ensures the peace and security for both parties. We stress the
importance of addressing as soon as possible the dire and deteriorating
humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza strip.
22.
Africa’s security, stability, and sustainable development are high priorities
for us, and we reiterate our support for African-led initiatives, including at
a regional level. We reiterate our commitment to work in partnership with the
African continent, supporting the African Union Agenda 2063, to realize
Africa’s potential. We will promote African capabilities to better prevent,
respond to, and manage crisis and conflicts and to strengthen democratic
institutions. We reiterate our commitment to the stabilization, unity and
democracy of Libya, which is key for the stability of the Mediterranean region
and of Europe. We support the efforts of the Special Representative of the UNSG
Salamé in pursuing an inclusive political process founded on his Action Plan
and we encourage all Libyan and regional actors to uphold their constructive
engagement as outlined in the June 2018 UNSC Presidential statement. We support
the efforts of the Presidency Council and the GNA to consolidate State
institutions.
Working
Together on Climate Change, Oceans and Clean Energy
23.
A healthy planet and sustainable economic growth are mutually beneficial, and
therefore, we are pursuing global efforts towards a sustainable and resilient
future that creates jobs for our citizens. We firmly support the broad
participation and leadership of young people, girls and women in promoting
sustainable development. We collectively affirm our strong determination to
achieve a clean environment, clean air, clean water and healthy soil. We commit
to ongoing action to strengthen our collective energy security and demonstrate
leadership in ensuring that our energy systems continue to drive sustainable
economic growth. We recognize that each country may chart its own path to
achieving a low-emission future. We look forward to adopting a common set of
guidelines at UNFCCC COP 24.
24.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European
Union reaffirm their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement,
through ambitious climate action, in particular through reducing emissions
while stimulating innovation, enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening and
financing resilience and reducing vulnerability, as well as ensuring a just
transition, including increasing efforts to mobilize climate finance from a
wide variety of sources. We discussed the key role of energy transitions
through the development of market based clean energy technologies and the
importance of carbon pricing, technology collaboration and innovation to
continue advancing economic growth and protect the environment as part of
sustainable, resilient and low-carbon energy systems, as well as financing
adaptive capacity. We reaffirm the commitment that we have made to our citizens
to reduce air and water pollution and our greenhouse gas emissions to reach a
global carbon-neutral economy over the course of the second half of the
century. We welcome the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution
titled “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment” and look forward to the
presentation of a report by the Secretary-General in the next General Assembly.
25.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European
Union will promote the fight against climate change through collaborative
partnerships and work with all relevant partners, in particular all levels of
government; local, Indigenous, remote coastal and small island communities; as
well as with the private sector, international organizations and civil society
to identify and assess policy gaps, needs and best practices. We recognize the
contribution of the One Planet conferences to this collective effort.
26.
The United States believes sustainable economic growth and development depends
on universal access to affordable and reliable energy resources. It commits to
ongoing action to strengthen the worlds’ collective energy security, including
through policies that facilitates open, diverse, transparent, liquid and secure
global markets for all energy sources. The United States will continue to
promote energy security and economic growth in a manner that improves the health
of the world’s oceans and environment, while increasing public-private
investments in energy infrastructure and technology that advances the ability
of countries to produce, transport, and use all available energy sources based
on each country’s national circumstances. The United States will endeavor to
work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more
cleanly and efficiently and help deploy renewable and other clean energy
sources, given the importance of energy access and security in their Nationally
Determined Contributions. The United States believes in the key role of energy
transitions through the development of market-based clean energy technologies
and the importance of technology collaboration and innovation to continue
advancing economic growth and protect the environment as part of sustainable,
resilient, and clean energy systems. The United States reiterates its
commitment to advancing sustainable economic growth, and underscores the
importance of continued action to reduce air and water pollution.
27.
Recognizing that healthy oceans and seas directly support the livelihoods, food
security and economic prosperity of billions of people, we met with the heads
of state or government of the Argentina, Bangladesh, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya,
Marshall Islands, Norway, Rwanda (Chair of the African Union), Senegal,
Seychelles, South Africa, Vietnam, and the heads of the United Nations, the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, to discuss concrete actions to protect the health
of marine environments and ensure a sustainable use of marine resources as part
of a renewed agenda to increase global biodiversity protection. We endorse the
Charlevoix Blueprint for Healthy Oceans, Seas and Resilient Coastal
Communities, and will improve oceans knowledge, promote sustainable oceans and
fisheries, support resilient coasts and coastal communities and address ocean
plastic waste and marine litter. Recognizing that plastics play an important
role in our economy and daily lives but that the current approach to producing,
using, managing and disposing of plastics and poses a significant threat to the
marine environment, to livelihoods and potentially to human health, we the Leaders
of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the European Union
endorse the G7 Ocean Plastics Charter.
Conclusion
28.
We share the responsibility of working together to stimulate sustainable
economic growth that benefits everyone, and, in particular, those most at risk
of being left behind. We would like to thank our citizens, civil society, the
Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Formal G7 Engagement Groups and other
partners for their meaningful input to Canada’s presidency. We welcome the
offer of the President of France to host our next Summit in 2019 and his pledge
to continue G7 leadership on our common agenda.
Sunday 6 May 2018
Problems with the Murray-Darling Basin plan just keep mounting and the NSW Northern Rivers needs to make sure these problems don't become ours
When it comes to the Murray-Darling Basin river systems there is never any really good news - we go from reports of town water shortages, pictures of permanently dry river beds and allegations of widespread water theft to the possibility of a fundamental legal
error in the master plan circa 2012.
The
Guardian, 2
May 2018:
One of Australia’s
foremost lawyers has issued an extraordinary warning that the Murray-Darling
basin plan is likely to be unlawful because the authority overseeing it made a
fundamental legal error when it set the original 2,750-gigalitre water recovery
target in 2012.
Bret Walker QC, who
chairs the South Australian royal
commission into the Murray-Darling basin plan, issued the warning
in a
second issues paper. He also spelled out the far-reaching implications of
the plan being unlawful.
Not only does it mean
that the original water recovery target of 2,750GL was likely to have been set
too low to deliver the environmental goal of the Water Act and
could be challenged in court, but it also means that amendments to the plan now
being debated by the Senate are likely to be invalid as well.
These include a
plan to trim 70GL from the northern basin water recovery targets and a suite
of projects, known as the sustainable
diversion limit adjustment projects, which would be funded in lieu of recovering
605GL in the southern basin.
Both are being strongly
criticised by scientists and environmentalists because they believe that they
further undercut the environmental outcomes of the plan.
The Murray-Darling
Basin Authority (MDBA) says it has relied on the best available
science in recommending the changes.
The new uncertainty over
the validity of the amendments will make it difficult for crossbenchers to
support them as the Coalition government has urged.
Walker has provided a
roadmap for environmental groups or an individual affected to challenge the
plan in court.
At the heart of his
advice is his view that the Water Act directs the MDBA to ensure environmental
outcomes are achieved when it set the environmentally sustainable level of take
(ESLT) from the river system. This is the flipside of setting the water
recovery target.
But instead of
considering the environmental outcomes only, the MDBA applied a triple bottom
line approach, giving equal weight to social and economic impacts of water
recovery.
“The MDBA also appears
to have approached the word ‘compromise’ in the definition of ESLT in a manner
involving compromise between environmental, social and economic outcomes rather
than in relation to the concept of ‘endangering’ or ‘putting in danger’
environmental criteria such as key environmental assets, and key ecosystem
functions,” the SA royal commission said.
“The commissioner is inclined to take the view
that this approach to the word ‘compromise’ in s4 of the Water Act is not
maintainable, or alternatively that he is presently unable to see how it is
maintainable,” the paper says.
“There is also evidence
that recovering an amount of water for the environment of 2,750GL does not, as
a matter of fact, represent an ESLT in accordance with the definition of that
term under the Water Act.”
Walker pointed to
numerous reports, including a 2011 CSIRO report which said modelling based on a
2,800GL recovery target “does not meet several of the specified hydrological
and ecological targets”.
There is also evidence
that the MDBA received legal advice on more than one occasion, consistent with
the commissioner’s concerns.
The issue of
water sustainability in the Murray-Darling Basin affects not just those living
in the basin and the economies of the four states this large river system runs
through – it also affects the bottom line of the national economy and those
east coast regions which will be pressured to dam and divert water to the Basin
if its rivers continue to collapse.
One such
region is the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and in particular the Clarence
River catchment area and the Clarence Valley Local Government Area.
Almost every
year for the past two decades there have been calls to dam and divert the
Clarence River – either north into south-east Queensland or west over the
ranges into the NSW section of the Murray Darling Basin.
The latest
call came last month on 18 April from Toowoomba Regional Council in south-east Queensland:
The response came on 24 April via NBN News and it was a firm NO:
NO TO CLARENCE WATER DIVERSION via @nbnnews https://t.co/w6DcTaIt4M— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) May 1, 2018
However, because
communities in the Murray-Darling Basin have for generations refused to face
the fact that they are living beyond the limits of long-term water
sustainability and successive federal governments have mismanaged water policy
and policy implementation, such calls will continue.
These calls for water from other catchments to be piped into the Basin or into SE Queensland are not based on scientific evidence or sound economic principles.
They are based on an emotional response to fact that politicians and local communities looking at environmental degradation and water shortages on a daily basis are still afraid to admit that they no longer have the amount of river and groundwater needed to maintain their way of life and, are wanting some form of primitive magic to occur.
These calls for water from other catchments to be piped into the Basin or into SE Queensland are not based on scientific evidence or sound economic principles.
They are based on an emotional response to fact that politicians and local communities looking at environmental degradation and water shortages on a daily basis are still afraid to admit that they no longer have the amount of river and groundwater needed to maintain their way of life and, are wanting some form of primitive magic to occur.
The Clarence
River system is the most attractive first option for those would-be water
raiders, but experience has shown the Northern Rivers region that once a formal
investigation is announced all our major rivers on the NSW North Coast become
vulnerable as the terms of reference are wide.
The next National General Assembly of Local
Government (NGA) runs from 7-20
June 2018.
If Toowoombah
Regional Council’s motion is placed on the assembly agenda it is highly likely
that a number of councils in the Murray-Darling Basin will announce their support of the proposal.
Northern Rivers
communities need to watch this NGA closely.
Friday 13 April 2018
Alleged irrigator water theft heading for the courts?
A cousin by marriage of the current Australian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud, John Norman, finds his agricultural business practices under scrutiny.....
The
Guardian, 9
April 2018:
Fraud charges are
expected to be laid against one of Queensland’s biggest cotton irrigators, John
Norman, within a matter of weeks.
If the trial of the
owner-operator of Norman Farming, and former cotton
farmer of the year goes ahead, it is likely to draw attention to the
links between the irrigator’s family and that of the federal minister for
agriculture and water resources, David Littleproud.
If the charges are laid,
they will also throw the spotlight on the Queensland government’s failure
in administering a key plank of the $13bn Murray-Darling basin plan, how it
withheld critical information about the alleged crimes, and how it raises
queries as to whether it lied about its own investigation.
For the past 18 months,
an expanding team of undercover detectives, cybercrime experts and forensic
accountants have been investigating Norman’s business on the Queensland/New
South Wales border, an irrigated cotton aggregate stretching 45km north from
the McIntyre river.
The investigation has
focused on whether Norman Farming misused upwards of $25m in
Murray-Darling basin infrastructure funds that were supposed to make the
irrigator more efficient and deliver water back to the ailing river system
downstream.
The plan for the basin
is funded by the commonwealth and administered by state governments. But
allegations that the $150m Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency
projects in Queensland, part of the MDB plan, lacked any genuinely independent
checks on projects, means it may have been left open to corruption.
“It’s been a
loosey-goosey slush fund helping irrigators get richer,” according to Chris
Lamey, a dry-land farmer who’s seeking compensation from Norman, his neighbour.
“It’s achieved the opposite of what was intended. There’s a lot of water not
getting into NSW now and it’s backed up in dams next door to me.”
Queensland’s covert
police investigation into Norman Farming went
public in October 2017, when dozens of major crime squad detectives holding
multiple subpoenas fanned out from Goondiwindi in early-morning high-speed
convoys, heading across the floodplain to the irrigator’s properties and
several of its contractors in and around the border river town…..
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