Coal Seam Gas Baseline Research - watch the fur fly on the Northern Rivers

The Northern Star 22 January 2013:

 

THE peak body for councils on the Northern Rivers will be asked to fund new research into the potential impacts the coal seam gas industry could have on creeks, groundwater and the atmosphere.

Rous Water has already supported a motion calling for the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils - NOROC - to fund the Southern Cross University research project.

Ballina Shire Council will debate the matter at Thursday's meeting.

A notice of motion by deputy mayor Sue Meehan (pictured) calls on NOROC to provide $30,000 a year for three years to match Australian Research Council funds.

The research would be done by Dr Isaac Santos from SCU, whose recent work with Dr Damien Maher found CSG mining could be responsible for the escape of significant quantities of methane into the atmosphere.

Cr Meehan said it was important to get some baseline data.

 

Local government watchers on the NSW North Coast should see fur fly when this is debated, as councillors and senior staff whom Metgasco has assiduously wooed come out for their ‘mining mate’ during meetings which discuss this issue.

 

Expect to see attempts to scuttle the creation of a genuinely independent study.

NSW Local Government: Is this the mates' club in action again?

South Grafton has quite rightly been benefiting from a change in attitude by local government and now has a plaza (first mooted in 2006-07) to enhance the Lane Boulevard streetscape.

The Daily Examiner reported on 18 April 2012:
 
Clarence Valley Council deputy general manager Rob Donges said council would be putting together a business case for a cafe there and, should the cost of establishing be realistically recovered, it would be opened to private tender.....
The Plaza was funded by a $250,000 grant under Round 3 of the Australian Government's Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program with council contributing $55,000.

 

A strong rumour has surfaced about which Clarence valley business person might like to run this cafe and, it doesn’t take a genius to work out who local residents think may have the inside running.

 

Clarence Valley Council Ordinary Monthly Meeting ,11 December 2012 ,Item 13.226/12: South Grafton Plaza –Stage 2:

 

OFFICER’S RECOMMENDATION

That following the issue of appropriate amended development consent, Council calls for tenders for the construction of toilet facilities and a café on the South Grafton Plaza.

Having declared an interest Cr Challacombe left the meeting at 9.43pm

COUNCIL RESOLUTION – 13.226/12

(Crs Howe/Hughes)

That

Following the issue of appropriate amended development consent, Council calls for tenders for the construction of toilet facilities and a café on the South Grafton Plaza.

Voting recorded as follows:   For:	Councillors Williamson, McKenna, Howe, Simmons, Kingsley and Hughes
Against:	Councillors Baker and Toms

Cr Challacombe returned to the meeting 10.11pm

In 1979 it was Terania Creek, in 1996 it was Timbarra, in 2006 it was the Clarence River - and in 2013 it's Glenugie, Doubtful Creek and the Casino region

 

In 1979 Northern Rivers communities took on the NSW Government and forestry industry interests at Terania Creek in sustained direct action. The end result was cessation of logging in the disputed area and the later creation of the Nightcap National Park incorporating  Mount Nadi, Griers Scrub and Terania Creek.

 

In 1997 Northern Rivers communities again took on the NSW Government, local government and mining interests by direct action and through the courts. The end result was the closure and rehabilitation of the Timbarra gold mine site.

 

In 2006 Northern Rivers communities opposed the Federal Coalition Government and inland irrigators over the proposal to dam and divert Clarence River catchment water. The end result was bi-partisan support of the home-grown Not A Drop campaign by both Labor and the Coalition during the 2007 federal election campaign.

 

In 2013 Northern Rivers communities are continuing to oppose the NSW Coalition Government, elements within the Federal Labor Party and Metgasgo Limited over plans to create gas fields crisscrossing rural lots, improved pastures and agricultural land.

 

That these communities are again in for the long haul is rather prosaically demonstrated by these preparations at Doubtful Creek.

 

 

 

If the O’Farrell Government and Metgasgo think opposition from local communities will just fade away over time, they are likely to be disappointed.

Will British peer Lord Ashcroft donate to the Liberal Party of Australia in 2013?

 

Every time I meet William Hague, he reminds me that throughout the British Conservative Party’s long purgatory in Opposition, John Howard was a frequent visitor and a constant source of advice and inspiration and I should say that in the three years that I have been Opposition Leader, my British colleagues, particularly William Hague, have likewise been a great encouragement. [Tony Abbott,Speech introducing UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Guest Speaker, Menzies Research Centre, January 2013]

 

 

According to the Australian Electoral Commission billionaire principal of the British Caribbean Bank Michael Anthony Ashcroft (Lord Ashcroft of Chichester), a conservative life peer in the UK House of Lords, donated $1million to the Federal Secretariat of the Liberal Party of Australia in September 2004  and, another $250,000 in July 2010 (listed as $27,938 in Liberal Party annual return).

 

The Guardian UK reports that he is one of the biggest political donors in British history. He has given more than £10m to the Conservative party and has been an influential figure for some years.

Of his sizable donation to the Liberal Party, Lord Ashcroft stated in his book Dirty Politics, Dirty Times:

The donation of Australian $1 million – £410,000 – was believed to have been the largest single political donation in the country’s history. I made it prior to the 2004 general election as a show of support for John Howard, the country’s Prime Minister and leader of the International Democratic Union. I have long been a great admirer of John and he was struggling against the Labour Party, which seemed poised to take power. In fact, in October 2004, John secured a fourth term and, if my donation helped him to victory at the polls, then I am delighted.
 

One wonders if Lord Ashcroft likes Liberal Party Leader Tony Abbott enough to make another donation - this time to the Coalition federal election campaign in 2013.

 

*Photograph of Lord Ashcroft from The Guardian UK