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
Sunday 20 January 2019
South Australian Liberal Government attempting to erase state Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin from memory
However this Royal Commission did not convene until after the March 2018 South
Australian general election at which time a Liberal Government was in power.
This same Liberal Government headed by SA Premier and Liberal MP for Dunstan Steven Marshall is now trying to come to the aid of the beleaguered Berejiklian and Morrison governments (facing their own elections in March and May 2019) by attempting to make Royal Commission correspondence, hearing transcripts
and final report fade from view as soon as possible.
This move is not going down well with the Royal Commission.......
Murray-Darling
Basin Royal Commission Report update
18 January 2019
The Murray-Darling Basin
Royal Commission report is being finalised to deliver to the South Australian
Governor by 1 February, 2019.
There has been an
exchange between the Commissioner, Bret Walker SC, and the Attorney-General’s
Department (AGD) in relation to the public release of the report.
The AGD indicated on 17
January 2019 that the Commissioner’s report will be made available on the
website for the Department for Environment and Water. The Commission has also
been advised that the Commission’s website (containing transcripts of hearings,
Commission exhibits, and other documents) will remain “live” until 30 March
2019, following which an archived copy of the website will be held by the
National Library.
By way of response dated
18 January 2019, the Commissioner:
ADVISED that the report
should be released immediately after delivery to the Governor as the “public
interest demands it”;
CALLED for the
Commission’s website to remain available to the public for a year after release
of the report to provide key background information and permit full
understanding of the Commission’s report, and
ADVISED he would be
willing to accept a limited extension of time for the Commission to consider
and report on the recent issues concerning fish kills in the Lower Darling
River.
The Commissioner said
that “the public expenditure on the Basin Plan (and this Commission) is such
that the only legitimate expectation is that my findings, conclusions,
recommendations and the reasons for them should all be available to be read,
considered and criticised, once I have delivered the report ... The national
implications of the report’s subject matter are also a reason for the report to
be made available for consideration and criticism without delay”.
The relevant
correspondence is attached.
Level 9 East, 50
Grenfell Street, Adelaide SA 5000
For more information
please contact:
GPO
Box 1445, Adelaide SA 5001
Catherine
Hockley Email: mdbroyalcommission@mdbrc.sa.gov.au
Media/Communications
Adviser Telephone: 8207 1483
Email:
Catherine.hockley@mdbrc.sa.gov.au Toll free: (from landlines) 1800 842 817
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See the
correspondence here
South Australian
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman has responded to the Commissioner's letter. See
the correspondence here
Friday 18 January 2019
State of Play: Australian Water Wars in 2019
Time lapse images of part of the Lake Menindee system in the Murray Darling Basin drying up through mismanagement, 2016 to 2018.Lake Menindee in 43 images pic.twitter.com/bHCn06EXfN— Chris Rawlins 🚙 (@ChrisBH011) January 16, 2019
It won't be long before multiple talking heads from the Liberal and National parties will be penning opinion pieces in national newspapers and popping up as guests on radio or television accusing those who are acutely concerned, about water sustainability and the plight of the Murray-Darling Basin, of bashing the poor hardworking farmer and telling us that all irrigators are ethical individuals who are only trying to feed the nation.
Now that may be true of some, it probably isn't true of many and it is definitely not true of all irrigators.
The amount of water being taken from Murray-Darling Basin rivers is eye watering.
According to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA); Irrigated agriculture in the Basin consumes about 60% of Australia’s available water.1
Again according to the MDBA, by 2017-18 this 60% was being harvested by only 9,200 irrigated agricultural businesses.
In 2017 the National Water Account stated that total surface water and groundwater entitlements in the Basin equalled 19,374 gigalitres.
In 2017 the National Water Account stated that total surface water and groundwater entitlements in the Basin equalled 19,374 gigalitres.
The whole Murray-Darling Basin receives just 6.1 per cent of Australia’s distribution of water run-off and the MDBA admits that approximately 42% of this surface water run-off is diverted from Basin river systems primarily by irrigators.
Professor Sheldon of the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University states that more than 50% of average water inflows into the Murray and Darling rivers are extracted for irrigation.
Overall, the Murray-Darling Basin contains 77,000 km of rivers, with flows said to total some 35,000 gigalitres on average.2 A figure which now appears unreliable.
At the beginning of the 2017–18 water year, the total volume of held water for the environment was nominally about 2,871 gigalitres (in long-term available water terms).3
Professor Sheldon of the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University states that more than 50% of average water inflows into the Murray and Darling rivers are extracted for irrigation.
Overall, the Murray-Darling Basin contains 77,000 km of rivers, with flows said to total some 35,000 gigalitres on average.2 A figure which now appears unreliable.
At the beginning of the 2017–18 water year, the total volume of held water for the environment was nominally about 2,871 gigalitres (in long-term available water terms).3
Science has been telling the Federal Government and the governments of Qld, NSW, Vic and SA that Murray-Darling Basin rivers cannot sustain the rates of water extraction they have been experiencing since the second half of last century and more water needs to be returned to the rivers as environmental flows.4
Government does not appear to be listening. Probably because implementing an effective response to years of mismanagement of Basin water resources would mean reducing the over allocation of water rights by commencing a policy of permanently buying back at least 7,000 gigalitres of water entitlements from irrigators and reducing the annual amount of water their remaining water entitlements represent.
Here are just three examples of excessive water consumption in the face of declining national water security.
WEBSTER
Webster Ltd (WBA):
“Webster owns a diverse portfolio of
over 200,000 megalitres of water entitlements, stretching from southern
Queensland, through New South Wales to northern Victoria and Tasmania. It’s
also fundamental to our strategy of streaming water to areas where we can
generate greatest return for each megalitre of water applied….. we are
able to extract further value by exploiting opportunities in water markets. A
significant component of this entitlement holding resulted from the acquisition
of Kooba along the Murrumbidgee and the subsequent acquisitions of Tandou and
Bengerang with significant water entitlements in the Murray Darling Basin. Our
portfolio is a complementary mix of high and general security water with
supplementary and groundwater entitlements. This scale, diversity and surety of
our water holdings underpins our competitive advantage…”
Webster states
that its “primary crop focus is on cotton, using technology and expertise to
maximise yield and water efficiency, with capability to produce over 200,000
bales of cotton annually”.
Chris Corrigan is the Chairman Webster Ltd and Joseph Corrigan is the Alternate for Chris Corrigan.
Corrigan
(formerly Managing Director of Patricks
Corporation Ltd who colluded with the Howard Government's attempt to break a union) became chairman of the ASX listed agribusiness in March
2016, soon after it had completed a major takeover. In that play, Webster bought
land and water company Tandou, assembling the nation’s top private water rights
portfolio, according to
Irrigation Australia.
Webster Ltd landholdings include 40,000 irrigable hectares as well as extensive grazing farmland.
Webster Ltd landholdings include 40,000 irrigable hectares as well as extensive grazing farmland.
Webster
holds its most of its water rights in perpetuity. As
at 30 September 2018 the company listed the value of its water rights as $161.9
million.
In 2017 the company sold the water rights at its Tandou property to the Turnbull Government for $78 million which was reportedly almost twice the recommended value of the water.
Current WBA share price is in the vicinity of $1.565. In 2018 the company listed its assets value as $760.44
million. Combined salary & fees received by Webster directors exceeded
$1.49 million in that year.
Its substantial
shareholders in 2017-2018 were: AFF
Properties No 1 Pty Ltd ATF The AFF Operations Trust (14.41%), Verolot Limited (8.92%), Mr Peter Robin Joy (8.43%), Belfort Investment Advisors Limited
(5.89%) and Mr Bevan David Cushing as
trustee of the KD Cushing Family Trust (5.60%).
CUBBIE
Cubbie
Station is an
aggregate of three properties owned by CS
Agriculture Pty Ltd, which in turn is 20% owned by RF CSAG & 80% Chinese-owned through Shandong Ruyi Technology
Group Co.5
Cubbie Station is 93,000
ha in size and sources its water from the from
the Condamine and Balonne river systems in the upper reaches of the
Murray-Darling Basin.
Cubbie has annual water entitlements of 460,000 megalitres. In addition it holds back in off-river storage up to 45,000 megalitres of surface water from the flood plain.
Its water storage area covers 12,000ha configured in a cell arrangements with an estimated capacity of 540,000 megalitres. It is reportedly the largest irrigation property in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cubbie has annual water entitlements of 460,000 megalitres. In addition it holds back in off-river storage up to 45,000 megalitres of surface water from the flood plain.
Its water storage area covers 12,000ha configured in a cell arrangements with an estimated capacity of 540,000 megalitres. It is reportedly the largest irrigation property in the Southern Hemisphere.
The company’s
water storage dams are said to stretch for more than 28 kilometres along the
Culgoa River.
Cubbie's principal crop appears to be cotton.6
Cubbie's principal crop appears to be cotton.6
In 2017 the Australian Taxation Office listed the company’s total annual income as $161,911,344.
The value of the Cubbie Station aggregate is
est. $350 million.
NORMAN FARMING
Norman
Farming Trust trading as Norman Farming has a combined land area of over 18,000 ha across two
properties in the Macintyre River delta of the Border Rivers region.
The company has an entitlement of 76,000
megalitres of annual water diversion capable of being pumped at 7,000
megalitres take-per-day, with the potential for 500 megalitres per day of
additional water harvesting from rainfall/runoff without an annual limit. An est.1,218ha are used for water
storage.
Norman Farming's principal crop is cotton.
Norman Farming's principal crop is cotton.
Estimated
value of the company is $100 million.
The owner is currently charged with defrauding
the Australian Government of $20 million in Murray-Darling Basin water funding.
Webster, Cubbie and Norman Farming between them have annual water entitlements which exceed the volume of water in Sydney Harbour.
Webster, Cubbie and Norman Farming between them have annual water entitlements which exceed the volume of water in Sydney Harbour.
Footnotes
1. MDBA, Water
markets and trade:
5. The volume of water entitlements owned by businesses with some level of foreign ownership was 1.9 million megalitres at 30 June 2016 or 12.5% of the total volume of water entitlements for agricultural purposes in Australia. Of the water entitlements with some level of foreign ownership, the majority (1.6 million megalitres or 83%) was held by businesses that were more than 50% foreign owned. [Australian Bureau of Statistics, 7127.0 - Agricultural Land and Water Ownership, 2015-16]
Water
in the Murray–Darling Basin can be bought and sold, either permanently or
temporarily.
This
water is traded on markets – within catchments, between catchments (where
possible) or along river systems. This form of trading allows water users to
buy and sell water in response to their individual needs. Water trading has
become a vital business tool for many irrigators.
The
majority of water traded in the Murray–Darling Basin is surface water, however
some groundwater also changes hands.
Irrigated
agriculture in the Basin consumes about 60% of Australia’s available water….
There
are more than 150 classes of water entitlement in the Basin….
Water
trading in the Basin is worth about $2 billion annually.
The
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australian and Victorian governments are
primarily responsible for managing water markets, and each state has its own
process and rules for allocating water.
Irrigation
infrastructure operators create and maintain trading rules within their
networks.
In November 2018 in the NSW section of the Murray-Darling
Basin est. 2,988 megalitres of water was transferred between trading parties.
2. For comparison Sydney Harbour is estimated to hold 500 gigalitres.1 giglitre of water equals 1,000 megalitre.
3. Water theft appears to be an ongoing issue. In 2018 one NSW irrigator pleading guilty to the theft potentially involving billions of litres at a Mungindi property near the NSW-Queensland border, while another at Brewarrina has been charged with taking water when the flow conditions did not permit it, and breaching licence and approval conditions.
4. Initially a scientific assessment by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority identified that 6,000-7,000 GL per year would be required to return the environmental assets of the Murray-Darling Basin to sustainable ecological health. This was reduced by almost half to 3,000-4,000 GL per year in the Basin Guide. Eventually, the Australian Government considered 2,800 GL, even lower than the minimum proposed, was a reasonable target. This was further reduced to 2,750 GL before the Queensland Government agreed to sign up to the Basin Plan, a reduction from the Northern Basin. Reduction of the target by another 70 GL represents a further significant reduction in environmental flows which will exacerbate environmental decline. [Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW, submission]
2. For comparison Sydney Harbour is estimated to hold 500 gigalitres.1 giglitre of water equals 1,000 megalitre.
3. Water theft appears to be an ongoing issue. In 2018 one NSW irrigator pleading guilty to the theft potentially involving billions of litres at a Mungindi property near the NSW-Queensland border, while another at Brewarrina has been charged with taking water when the flow conditions did not permit it, and breaching licence and approval conditions.
4. Initially a scientific assessment by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority identified that 6,000-7,000 GL per year would be required to return the environmental assets of the Murray-Darling Basin to sustainable ecological health. This was reduced by almost half to 3,000-4,000 GL per year in the Basin Guide. Eventually, the Australian Government considered 2,800 GL, even lower than the minimum proposed, was a reasonable target. This was further reduced to 2,750 GL before the Queensland Government agreed to sign up to the Basin Plan, a reduction from the Northern Basin. Reduction of the target by another 70 GL represents a further significant reduction in environmental flows which will exacerbate environmental decline. [Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW, submission]
In
2018, the Turnbull government won support from Labor to amend the amount of
environmental water allocated to the system, while the Greens and some senators
were opposed. The amendments cut 605 billion litres a year that were allocated
from the southern basin's environmental water flows, and 70 billion litres a
year from the northern basin's flows. [ABC
News, 17 January 2019]
5. The volume of water entitlements owned by businesses with some level of foreign ownership was 1.9 million megalitres at 30 June 2016 or 12.5% of the total volume of water entitlements for agricultural purposes in Australia. Of the water entitlements with some level of foreign ownership, the majority (1.6 million megalitres or 83%) was held by businesses that were more than 50% foreign owned. [Australian Bureau of Statistics, 7127.0 - Agricultural Land and Water Ownership, 2015-16]
In
2016 in New South Wales in 847,250 megalitres of water entitlements were 100%
foreign owned and in Queensland 744,957 megalitres were totally foreign owned.
6. According to the Dept of Agriculture and Water Resources ABARES, the Murray–Darling Basin accounts for around 91 per cent of Australia’s total cotton farms and cotton area. It is estimated that the total area in the Basin under cotton production is 490,000 hectares.If all of this land was planted for cotton in a given year then it is likely that the crops would require somewhere between 2.19 million to 3.82 million megalitres of water.
Labels:
Murray-Darling Basin,
water wars
Tuesday 15 January 2019
Ecological Disaster in Murray-Darling River Systems January 2019: Trump-lite Scott Morrison blames Labor and the drought
@michaeldaleyMP, 13 January 2019 |
In March 2012 it was the O’Farrell Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government who received the above Memorandum on the Water Sharing Plan for the Barwon-Darling Unregulated and Alluvial Water Sources which covered both the Barwon-Darling unregulated river water source and the Upper Darling Alluvial groundwater source.
This NSW water
sharing plan was clearly prefaced on creating a market for the sale of water
rights and the needs of commercial irrigators and the mining industry:
2.0 Purpose of the plan (at Page 3)
2.1
Why are water sharing plans being prepared? Expansion of water extraction
across NSW in the 20th century has placed most valleys at or close to the limit
of sustainable water extraction. This has seen increasing competition between
water users (towns, farmers, industries and irrigators) for access to water.
This has also placed pressure on the health and biological diversity of our
rivers and aquifers.
Plans
provide a legal basis for sharing water between the environment and consumptive
purposes. Under the Water Management Act 2000, the sharing of water must
protect the water source and its dependent ecosystems and must protect basic
landholder rights. Sharing or extraction of water under any other right must
not prejudice these rights. Therefore, sharing water to licensed water users is
effectively the next priority for water sharing. Among licensed water users,
priority is given to water utilities and licensed domestic and stock use, ahead
of commercial purposes such as irrigation and other industries.
Plans
also recognise the economic benefits that commercial users such as irrigation
and industry can bring to a region. Upon commencement, access licences held
under the Water Act 1912 (WA 1912) are converted to access licences under the
Water Management Act 2000 and land and water rights are separated. This
facilitates the trade of access licences and can encourage more efficient use
of water resources. It also allows new industries to develop as water can move
to its highest value use.
In
conjunction with the Water Management Act 2000, plans also set rules so that
commercial users can also continue to operate productively. In general,
commercial licences under the Water Management Act 2000 are granted in
perpetuity, providing greater commercial security of water access entitlements.
Plans also define the access rules for commercial users for ten years providing
all users with greater certainty regarding sharing arrangements.
The warning
in the Memorandum was ignored by the O’Farrell. Baird and Berejiklian Coalition Governments and, by the Murray-Darling
Basin Authority when it drained 2,000 gigalitres of water from the Menindee
lakes in 2017.
Obviously
fearing the electorate will remember: a) that when the Abbott Coalition Government
came to power it handed even more power over water resources back to the states & abolished the independent National Water Commission1 and b) then recall the rampant abuse of water resources under then Deputy PM and
Nationals MP for New England as Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce as well as multiple allegation of water theft; Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison sought to wrongly blame first Federal Labor and then the drought for the
ecological devastation which is occurring in the NSW section of the Murray-Darling river systems.
ABC News, 14 January 2019:
The State
Government is bracing for another mass fish kill in the Darling River this
week, with soaring temperatures forecast in western NSW.
The mercury is expected
to reach up to 46 degrees Celsius in the town of Menindee, where up to 1 million native species were killed in an
algal bloom over the New Year.
The Bureau of
Meteorology said a heatwave, caused by hot air being blown from Central
Australia, would persist until Saturday and could break temperature records
around Broken Hill.
Primary Industries
Minister Niall Blair said state and local governments would work with the
community to manage the possibility of another ecological disaster.
"Well we know that
we've got high temperatures right across the state and a lot of poor water
quality situations particularly brought on by the extended drought so
unfortunately we are expecting that we may see more fish killed," Mr Blair
said.
The warning comes
as contractors prepare to clear the 40-kilometre stretch of
the Darling River of dead fish before their rotting carcasses compound the
situation.
Federal Agriculture
Minister David Littleproud will convene a meeting of State and Federal
environmental and water stakeholders working under the Murray-Darling Basin
Plan.
Mr Littleproud proposed
using $5 million for a native fish recovery strategy and will seek agreement
for the money to come from Murray-Darling Basin funds.
"The reality is
we're in a serious drought and the only silver bullet is rain," he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuted a report released
by NSW Labor at the weekend claiming the Liberal Government ignored warnings
about low water levels.
"I'm concerned today that some might want to play
politics," he said.
"There were reports done by scientists under Labor's
contribution to that plan back in 2012, the plan has been operating in
accordance with that advice and so we need to just keep on working on the
issue."
Mr Morrison said the fish kill was because of the
drought.
"It's a devastating
ecological event, particularly for those all throughout that region the sheer
visual image of this is terribly upsetting," he said.
However, that is
disputed by many people in Menindee, who argue poor water management has
compounded the mass kill. [my yellow highlighting]
Morrison in blaming everyone but successive Federal (since September 2013) and NSW (since March 2011) Coalition governments forgets that Australian voters can read and, as late as June 2018 the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office as part of the NSW Interagency Working Group for Better Managing Environmental Water offered advice on the Barwon-Darling which both the current Australian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Drought Preparation and Response & Liberal MP for Maranoa David Littleproud and current NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Regional Water & Nationals MLC Niall Blair appear to have ignored until it was too late.
Footnote
1. One of the last things the National Water Commission (NWC) did before then Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott abolished it was to inform the Abbott Coalition Government that:
"Ten years on from the
signing of the NWI, water reform in Australia is at a cross roads. Many reform
gains are now taken for granted and the multi-party support that has been a
hallmark of this historic agreement is at risk of breaking down.
Given the substantial
government investments and hard-won progress so far, and the valuable but
challenging gains yet to be realised, it is critical that there is no
backsliding from reform principles.
Strong leadership is
essential to realise the full benefits of water reform and to embed proven NWI
principles into the decision making of all Australian governments."
NWC also wrote to the prime miniser warning of the perils which lay ahead it governments didn't learn from past mistakes.
Thursday 10 January 2019
What did National Party federal ministers know about allegations of water theft & fraud and when did they know it?
Before unlawfully
entering federal politics in 2004, Nationals MP for New England Barnaby
Joyce was an accountant in St. George, Queensland just 119 km up the
Barwon Highway from the extensive Norman cotton farming complex.
As a senator
for Queensland he was Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Infrastructure
and Water from 25.3.2010 to 14.9.2010 and Shadow Minister for Regional
Development, Local Government and Water from 14.9.2010 to 18.9.2013.
He became a
Cabinet Minister in the Abbott Coalition Government and Deputy Prime Minister of
Australia in the Turnbull Coalition Government.
From 21.9.2015
to 27.10.2017 and then from 6.12.2017 to
20.12.2017 he was also the federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.
Lawfully
elected to the Australian Parliament for the first time in the 2017 New England
by-election, thereafter he has sat as a National Party backbencher.
Given what we
now know about Joyce’s attitude to control of water resources and his favouring
of the needs of irrigators over those of dryland farmers and the environment the
question must be asked – what did he know about this alleged $20 million fraud
and when did he know it?
The same question
also needs to be asked concerning current Minister for Agriculture and Water
Resources & Nationals MP for Maranoa David
Littleproud’s knowledge of this matter.
ABC
News, 9
January 2018:
Two senior figures in
Queensland cotton conglomerate Norman Farming have been arrested over an
alleged $20 million fraud involving federal funds earmarked for Murray-Darling
water savings.
Norman Farming CEO John
Norman, 43, and his chief financial officer Steve Evans, 53, surrendered
themselves at the Brisbane watch house Tuesday morning with their lawyers at
their sides.
The men appeared in the
Brisbane Magistrates Court Tuesday afternoon and were granted bail.
Police are alleging the
rural fraud operation involved the director of the company submitting
fraudulent claims, including falsified invoices related to six water-efficiency
projects on the southern border property near Goondiwindi, known as Healthy
Headwater projects.
Mr Evans will face
charges in relation to four of those projects.
Police said the
sophisticated fraud spanned seven years.
It has taken the rural
arm of the major and organised crime squad more than a year to conduct what
Detective Inspector Mick Dowie called, "a very protracted, very complex
investigation".
Inspector Dowie said
they had to trawl through thousands of documents and call in forensics
accountants because of the sheer scale of the activities.
"There has
obviously been a significant amount of documentation that's had to be analysed,
and the offences particularly relate to the modification of invoices from
contractors or service providers to the farming community," he said.
"We'll allege the
company contracted harvesters or machinery operators to prepare for farming.
"And [we'll allege]
those invoices were modified to show it was actually for earthworks related to
the improvement of water efficiency, modified to suit the needs of the claim,
and, we will allege, purely fabricated claims for use of machinery to fulfil
the needs of the claims."
Norman Farming, a large
cotton operation near Goondiwindi in Queensland's southern border region, was
raided last October as part of a major criminal investigation, after a long
covert operation.
At that time, the ABC's
Lateline program reported the agricultural conglomerate was on the market for
more than $100 million.
It also reported local
farmers' concerns the Healthy Headwaters scheme had failed because there was
never any checking of invoices by department officials.
According to Lateline,
the Federal Government was made aware of allegations Norman Farming was
diverting floodwaters in late 2016.
But the $154 million
Healthy Headwaters budget was being administered by Queensland's Department of
Natural Resources.
Inspector Dowie said in
the department's defence it did not have any power of compulsion like police.
"So they can't
force people to hand over documentation like we can, so they can compare
original against what is produced," he said…..
BACKGROUND
Excerpt from SA Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission Exhibit |
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.
The first person police
met at Norman’s main Kalanga property, according to a source close to the
investigation, was a teenage office worker who, when asked where the financial
records were kept, explained they had been cleared out only days before by
backpackers hired by her boss through a local publican. She took police to a
locked shipping container where they had been moved.....
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
17 July 2017:
Deputy Prime Minister
Barnaby Joyce has stoked the controversy over claims of water theft in NSW
aired by the ABC, dismissing the report as a ploy to strip more water off rural
communities.
The comments have
prompted the South Australian government to call for his removal from the post
of federal water minister.
Mr Joyce told a
gathering in a pub on Wednesday evening in the northern Victorian town of
Shepparton, that it was important the Nationals had taken control of the Murray
Darling Basin Plan.
"[We've got] $13
billion invested in it," Mr Joyce said, referring to the plan, according
to a recording by the ABC. "We've taken water and put it back into
agriculture [ministry] so we can look after you and make sure we don't have the
greenies running the show, basically sending you out the back door."
Mr Joyce took aim at
the Four Corners investigation broadcast this week that
identified apparent rorting by some irrigators of billions of litres in the
Barwon-Darling region of northern NSW.
The program stirred
national concern and prompted NSW water minister Niall Blair on
Wednesday to appoint a former head of the National Water Commission Ken
Matthews to conduct an independent probe of the claims.
Mr Joyce downplayed the
impact of the alleged water theft at a media conference in Canberra on
Wednesday - likening it cattle rustling - before dismissing the claims further
at the Shepparton gathering......
Wednesday 2 January 2019
Water theft within the Murray Darling Basin continues
— Chris Rawlins 🚙 (@ChrisBH011) December 20, 2018
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.
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