Now is not the time for the NSW North Coast to be complacent about the COVID-19 pandemic

NSW Police, News, 4 January 2021:

A 27-year-old Cronulla woman has received two PINs in three days for failing to self-isolate as required under the Public Health Act. Officers from Tweed/Byron Police District attended a resort at Byron Bay about 8.30pm on Thursday (31 December 2020), after receiving information in relation a possible breach of public health orders. Police were told the woman had been notified she was a close contact of a positive COVID case but was not self-isolating and had not been tested. The woman was provided advice about testing facilities and self-isolation before being given PPE to assist with safe travel to the facility. Officers returned to the resort about 8pm the following day (Friday 1 January 2021), and found the woman was not self-isolating. The woman was issued a $1000 PIN for failing to comply with the direction under S7/8/9 of the Public Health Act. About 3.30pm yesterday (Sunday 3 January 2021), police were again called to resort after reports the woman was not self-isolating, instead swimming in the resort pool. Following inquiries, the woman was issued with another $1000 PIN for failing to comply with the direction under S7/8/9 of the Public Health Act.

Two people have been issued PINs after leaving their Northern Beaches home to holiday on the state’s north coast. On Saturday (3 January 2021), police were notified that a man and woman, both aged 32, had left their Collaroy home the previous day to travel to Yamba for a holiday. Officers from Coffs/Clarence Police District spoke with the pair and determined they didn’t have a lawful excuse for leaving their home and, in doing so, had breached the Public Health (COVID-19 Northern Beaches) Order. Both were issued an $1000 PIN.

Northern NSW Local Health District, media release excerpt, 5 January 2021: 

There have been no new confirmed cases of locally acquired COVID-19 reported in Northern NSW Local Health District residents since 25 July, 165 days ago. 

Two new case have been recorded in Lismore City Council area residents on 3 January who acquired their infection overseas. 

These two people are currently in hotel quarantine and will be released from isolation once health staff confirm that it is safe to do so.

US President Donald Trump trying to pressure fellow Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to alter the 2020 presidential election results

 

"The real truth is that I won by 400,000 votes at least" 

[Donald J. Trump, 2 January 2021]

In a phone call on 2 January 2021, outgoing US President Donald J. Trump insisted he won the state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election as well as the presidential election itself and, threatened vague legal consequences if votes were not "recalculated" and found for him - specifically 11,780 votes in Georgia

Here are excerpts from the hour-long call, which was obtained by The Washington Post.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hrN0cP58Y

Audio of the full phone call can be found here at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW_Bdf_jGaA

Perspectives on Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook's one-word change to the 36 year-old* Australian national anthem

Luke Person writing at Indigenous X on 1 January 2021:

Last night the Morrison government announced that they were changing the national anthem, to be more inclusive of Indigenous peoples and of migrants (the not white ones anyways), by changing a single word, ‘young’. It’s now ‘one’.

We are one and free.

We are One Nation.

Pauline must be stoked.

This, from the same political party who every Invasion Day assure us that Indigenous peoples aren’t interested in meaningless symbolic gestures like Australia no longer throwing a party on the anniversary of invasion, are now confident that Indigenous peoples will be so excited about this meaningless symbolic change that presumably we will no longer refuse to sing it at national sporting events.

Changing the anthem from ‘young’ to ‘one’ is not only problematic because it’s symbolic tokenism aimed at silencing dissent that completely misses the nature of the dissent in the first place, but it’s also problematic because it’s the same wrongly labelled ‘one’ as the one made famous by ‘One Nation’.

The original version of ‘we are one’ was a view of multiculturalism which tried to encourage white Australia away from its traditional view of a fair go meaning ‘if your skin ain’t fair, you gots to go’ and to accept instead the notion that we could be ‘one nation with many cultures’.

This was quickly co-opted by racist ideologues who replaced that sentiment with the assimilationist idea that one nation meant ‘one culture with many races’ and that was quickly cemented into the national consciousness by Pauline Hanson who seized the moment and took the name for her political party ‘One Nation’.

Despite One Nation tainting the concept of ‘one nation,’ both meanings have persisted in Australia without much national discourse or reflection on which one we should have, but it’s been pretty clear from a Liberal Party standpoint since the days of John Howard that they aren’t huge fans of the multiculturalism actually meaning multiple cultures.

They are generally more on the side of white/western supremacy, which many liberals have hinted at, and which Tony Abbott flat out stated on multiple occasions when he was PM.

Their views on Indigenous assimilation are much the same.

This can be seen by their political insistence that reconciliation can only be achieved by ‘closing the gap’ rather than by recognising Indigenous Rights as defined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Having an ambiguous working definition of multiculturalism began as a contest between the two, which the nation should have chosen between by now. Instead, both definitions have been left unchallenged to ensure that politicians can conveniently dog whistle to both sides whenever they talk about us being the ‘most successful multicultural country on Earth’.

This change plays right into that blurring of the lines between the two definitions.

We are one. And we are free. And from all the lands on earth we come.

You’d have thought they would have just straight up changed the anthem to ‘I am Australian’ by the Seekers, but I guess it has too much brand association with QANTAS these days, and because you don’t want to be seen as caving in to the politically correct demands of the slightly left of centrists who were presumably campaigning for this change.

Yesterday, on the last day of 2020, IndigenousX published a powerful piece from Gregory Phillips called ‘Can We Breathe?’ talking staunchly about truth telling, and about Indigenous empowerment.

Today, on the first day of 2021, we are talking about the anthem, or at least we are meant to be.

Instead of continuing to explain why the new anthem is just as shit as the old one though, I’m going to remind people of what some of our Indigenous Rights are:

Article 3: Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Article 4: Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

Article 5: Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 8.1: Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.

That’s only four of them, there are 46.  Read them. There will be a test.

This is the test, and Australia is failing at it.

These are what needs to be informing our discussions around change.

Australia has worked hard for decades now to poison the well of Indigenous Rights discourse by reframing any such discussion as ‘Indigenous people want special treatment and free handouts’.

We need to move beyond the fear of being shown in this light and embrace the reality that being the Indigenous peoples of these lands and waters is special, and it brings with it special rights and responsibilities.

This is not us wanting something for nothing. This is us demanding our rights, and we have already paid far more than we should ever have had to for them.

You can sing that anthem backwards for all I care, it’ll still be shit.

— 2020 Hater (@pauldutton1968) January 1, 2021

Adjunct associate professor at the School of Psychology, University of Queensland, and proud Wiradjuri man, Joe Williams, writing in The Guardian on 1 January 2021:

I was made aware on Thursday by a friend of the incoming changes to the national anthem. My reply was an “eye roll” emoji with the words: “But we aren’t all one, we certainly aren’t treated as one; and many, sure as hell, aren’t free”.

I put out a tweet on Friday with my thoughts:

For we are one and free, is like a present from yr nerd uncle, who tries to be cool, but fails hard. I mean, is that line trying to convince us, or you? Cos’ we definitely aren’t treated as one, & many sure as hell aren’t free”

Prime minister Scott Morrison was quoted as saying the change “takes away nothing … but adds much”.

'We are one and free': Australia's national anthem to change in attempt to recognise Indigenous history

Is it supposed to hit the “warm and fuzzies”, taking away the notion of “us and them” by pretending that all people who live on this continent are one big happy family?

Let’s be brutally honest, we aren’t.

You all know the rates of incarceration when it comes to First Nations v non-Indigenous Australians, deaths in custody, the drastic health disparity and the difference in life expectancy between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians. You know of the negative profiling when it comes to mainstream media between the two (if you don’t, it’s not hard to Google). Why on earth would anyone think that the changing of just one word would encourage First Nations people to feel as “ONE” with any Australian?

To me, changing just one word with the view of inclusion does very little for actual inclusion, and does next to nothing for the hope of uniting a nation......

The song I believe is a beautiful representation of a united, multicultural Australia is the one written by Judith Durham, Uncle Kutcha Edwards, Lou Bennett, Camilla Chance and Bill Hauritz. It’s time for a fresh start and to get a new song. And if we are genuine about this word “reconciliation”, we need to start a relationship before we try to heal one that never existed. 

Me in ⁦@canberratimes⁩

“Please excuse us if we don't view the anthem change as a "good start". Aus is further down the road to substantive change than that. We are in the middle of a very serious, complex reform agenda, entering its second decade”. https://t.co/L9GU7qWniH

— Prof Dr M Davis (@mdavisqlder) January 1, 2021

Well said, #JessicaSavage keeps her eye on the dodgy colonial ball ...

I like her page. Thanks for sharing this 👏🏽https://t.co/DkZ4LFrvY3

— Girrali 😎 (@Girrali) January 2, 2021

NOTE:

* Advance Australia Fair became the national anthem on 19 April 1984.

"There are no monuments to those who have risked their lives and liberty in the defence of Australia’s unique and precious ecology": David Lowe

Echo NetDaily, 1 January 2021:

In Australia, it’s not easy being green. There are no monuments to those who have risked their lives and liberty in the defence of Australia’s unique and precious ecology.

When the protectors win, their reward is a surviving chunk of the world they have fought for, whether that’s Kelly’s Bush in the case of the green bans, or the Franklin River in the 1980s, or the unpolluted air and water of the Northern Rivers of NSW in the 21st century, saved from gasfields.

Australia’s original environmentalists, those who were here before and after European contact, paid a heavy price for their defence of country.

Uncle Yillah at Bentley.

The first Australians were fighting for their lives, as well as their home – these two things were completely intertwined. More than two centuries on, it’s become clear that we’re all in the same boat, even if some of us don’t yet want to admit it.

The idea of healthy human life in the absence of a healthy natural world is dangerous nonsense. This is the only home we have. Whatever the battlefield, the fight for our environment and our fellow species is fundamentally a fight for life and reality, in the face of invented, abstract concepts such as economic growth and shareholder profit.

The truisms of a thousand protest banners – no jobs on a dead planet, no Planet B – have become self-evident, no longer even controversial. But the environmental fight continues. If anything, it has intensified……

For many activists, myself included, there’s a strange internal tension between feelings of power and powerlessness.

Once you have been part of a movement that’s won a battle against great odds, it is harder to settle back into the anaesthetising idea that one person can’t make a difference. Unlike most members of society, you are no longer off the hook. The cause may seem almost unwinnable, but if there’s a chance that it’s not – and there always is – it becomes unethical not to act.

For Benny Zable, the difficulty of the ‘hopeless’ cause makes it ‘worth doing non-violent actions that are demanding – it makes for trying harder to communicate your point convincingly across to the public.’

As George Woods puts it, ‘Taking right action and acting out of love are always worthwhile, regardless of the outcome.’

Muzz Drechsler told me, ‘I don’t like losing but I don’t do it to win. I do it because this is how I choose to show my love of Mother Earth.’

Costs

Many activists, particularly women, are reluctant to dwell on the personal, human costs of their activism. The wounds are just too deep.

That said, most have told me they had ‘no choice’ but to stand up….

Read the full article here. 

New Yaegl signage as Clarence Valley enters a new year

People driving south down the Pacific Highway in past years will remember the sign welcoming people to Yaegl Country. Well now there are six new signs being erected to properly reflect the Yaegl people's recognised connection to Country.... 

(l-r) Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC CEO William (Billy) Walker, YTOAC director and manager Dianne Chapman and artist Charlene Williams. Image: Geoff Helisma.Clarence Valley Independent

 

The Daily Telegraph, 29 December 2020: 

Colourful new signs are popping up on roads along the east coast in what local Indigenous leaders hope will be a precedent across the state. 

Minister Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said the statewide pilot of the new signs kicked off this week on Yaegl Country in the NSW Northern Rivers region. 

“Many of the transport routes we take for granted today follow traditional Aboriginal Songlines, trade routes and ceremonial paths in Country followed by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years,” Mr Toole said. 

“These include roads, rail lines and water crossings around the state, so it’s a step forward to recognise the lands these routes cross by incorporating the new Acknowledgement of Country signs at important locations.” ......

Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC CEO Bill Walker said: “Yaegl people always have and always will have the physical and spiritual connection to the land, rivers and sea and will keep maintaining their culture through Caring For Country”. Transport for NSW has also worked closely with other Aboriginal Nations to roll out similar signs across the state.

IMAGE: NBN News

This logo will be displayed at six sites along the Pacific Highway and Big River Way commencing at the northern and southern boundaries of Yaegl Country.

NSW Government update of COVID-19 public health restrictions effective from midnight Saturday, 2 January 2021

NSW Government update of COVID-19 public health restrictions, 2 January 2021:

Given the risk of COVID-19 transmission on the Northern Beaches and across Greater Sydney (including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains), the following adjustments are being made.

From midnight tonight, the southern zone of the Northern Beaches will be subject to the same restrictions as Greater Sydney.

Restrictions for the northern zone of the Northern Beaches remain the same with stay at home orders in place until 9 January 2021;

• No visitors to the home.

• Five northern zone residents can gather outdoors (not at homes) for exercise and recreation, from within the same zone.

• Non-essential businesses remain closed.

Given the general risk in Greater Sydney, new measures are required to reduce the transmission potential of COVID-19 while maintaining economic activity.

The following measures for Greater Sydney (including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains) are effective from midnight tonight:

• Face masks will be mandatory in the following indoor settings:

• shopping (retail, supermarkets and shopping centres)
• public/shared transport, indoor entertainment (including cinemas and theatres)
• places of worship
• hair and beauty premises.
• Face masks will also be mandatory for all staff in hospitality venues and casinos and for patrons using gaming services.
• Compliance will start from Monday, 4 January 2021 with $200 on the spot fines for individuals for non-compliance. Children under 12 are exempt but are encouraged to wear masks where practicable.

• Gym classes reduced to 30 people.

• Places of worship and religious services limited to 1 person per 4sqm up to a maximum of 100 people per separate area.

• Weddings and funerals limited to 1 person per 4sqm up to a maximum of 100 people.

• Outdoor performances and protests reduced to 500 people.

• Controlled, outdoor gatherings (seated, ticketed, enclosed) reduced to 2,000 people.

• Night clubs not permitted.

People are still encouraged to limit non-essential gatherings and reduce their mobility where possible to further minimise the risk of transmission in the community.

Whilst these measures do not apply to areas outside Greater Sydney (including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains), we urge all residents and visitors across the State to practise COVID safe behaviours and get tested even if symptoms are mild.

Northern NSW Local Health District advice for those living in the NSW Northern Rivers region:

To help stop the spread of COVID-19:

• If you are unwell, get tested and isolate right away – don’t delay. Remain isolated until you receive your test result.

• Wash your hands regularly. Take hand sanitiser with you when you go out.

• Keep your distance. Leave 1.5 metres between yourself and others.

• Wear a mask when using public transport, rideshares and taxis, and in shops, places of worship and other places where you can’t physically distance. When taking taxis or rideshares, commuters should sit in the back.

To find your nearest testing clinic visit https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others/clinics or contact your GP.

One of the looming threats to NSW forests in 2021

Hunter Energy Limited, formerly Hunter Energy Pty Ltd, was registered on 6 March 2018.

Its current spokespersons appear to believe that cutting down native forest to supply a power plant with biomass is a “closed loop” with no cilmate or environmental consequences.

However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration; “although the CO2 released from biofuel or bioenergy combustion is assumed to be fully accounted for by the uptake of carbon during the growth of the feedstock used to produce the biofuels or bioenergy…..analysts have debated whether the increased use of biomass energy may result in a loss of terrestrial carbon stocks and foregone future sequestration by natural vegetation. The initial loss of carbon stocks in natural vegetation cleared to grow biomass feedstocks and the foregone future removal of CO2 are not captured in energy sector emissions.”

Dependent on species, it would probably take 25 years for a single tree to store est. 400 to 544 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Eucalypts reaching 8 meters in height might store up to 1 tonne of carbon

So when one is cut down after 25 years and burnt that’s basically how much initial greenhouse gas emissions are released back into the atmosphere from the tree itself – where emissions will remain until 25 years later when hopefully another tree has survived long enough to store a similar amount of carbon.

Multiple that first tree by the up to 1.8 to 3 billion 25 year-old trees estimated to be annually required to feed Hunter Energy’s proposed Redbank Power Station fuelled by biomass and, one begins to see that biomass-generated power is not a closed system at all – it is simply one predicated on at best naked hope and at worst a complete denial of climate change realities regarding Australian native forest tree growth.

Nevertheless, the Berejiklian Coalition Government under blackmail threat by Deputy-Premier and Nationals MLA for Monaro John Barilaro, will push ahead with legislation which allows biomass logging in north east New South Wales.

Logging which would lead inevitably to the destruction of our remaining closed-cover mature native forests.

In this Barilaro will be aided and abetted by NSW Nationals MLA Chris Gulaptis and Nationals Federal MP for Page Kevin Hogan.

BACKGROUND

According to Wikipedia:

On 5 October 2013, Redbank Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary Redbank Project Pty Ltd (Redbank Project) was notified by its secured lenders of the appointment of receivers to Redbank Project, Redbank Construction Pty Ltd and the shares in Redbank Project held by Redbank Project Holdco Pty Ltd,[5] with debts of $192 million.[6]

In Oct 2014, receivers KordaMentha announced immediate closure of the Plant with its remaining assets including the turbine, generator and plant and equipment to be sold.[7]

On 17 September 2015 Redbank Energy (REL) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Biogreen Energy Pty Limited (Biogreen), had purchased the land, plant and equipment and water rights owned by Redbank Project for $5 million, but that it intended "to commence the work to raise the funds necessary to recommence the operation of the Redbank Power Station".[8][9]

On 25 August 2016 Redbank Energy issued the following statement to shareholders via the ASX. "In response to shareholder enquiries, Redbank Energy Limited (ASX: AEJ) (REL) wishes to provide the following market update. Unfortunately, REL will be removed from the ASX official list on 29 August 2016. The immediate catalyst for delisting will be the non-payment of the 2016/17 ASX annual listing fee, which falls due on 27 August 2016. The reason for REL not paying the 2016/17 ASX listing fee is because REL will automatically be suspended on 9 October 2016 due to continual suspension." Redbank was subsequently delisted from the close of trading on Monday, 29 August 2016 pursuant to Listing rule 17.15.[10]

On 10 April 2018, Fairfax Media announced that the power plant could be restarted in Q1 2019 to provide cheap off-the-grid power for blockchain mining applications.[11]

Financial Review, 26 May 2020:

The Redbank Power Station in NSW, formerly owned by ASX-listed Redbank Energy and its predecessors Alinta Energy and Babcock & Brown Power, is set for a comeback to the ASX-boards.

This time Redbank will be housed in a new company called Hunter Energy, which was set up by a bunch of former Australian Power & Gas execs, and acquired Redbank in 2018. (It is run by Richard Poole, a former investment banker and Cascade Coal director).

Hunter Energy has turned the dormant Redbank into a "green energy power plant", according to marketing materials in front of potential investors, able to produce enough energy to power 200,000 to 250,000 homes using waste biomass for fuel.

Hunter Energy wants to switch the plant on by the end of this year to provide what it says would be around the clock and reliable baseload power with zero net emissions….

Financial Review, 26 May 2020:

The Redbank Power Station in NSW, formerly owned by ASX-listed Redbank Energy and its predecessors Alinta Energy and Babcock & Brown Power, is set for a comeback to the ASX-boards.

This time Redbank will be housed in a new company called Hunter Energy, which was set up by a bunch of former Australian Power & Gas execs, and acquired Redbank in 2018. (It is run by Richard Poole, a former investment banker and Cascade Coal director).

Hunter Energy has turned the dormant Redbank into a "green energy power plant", according to marketing materials in front of potential investors, able to produce enough energy to power 200,000 to 250,000 homes using waste biomass for fuel.

Hunter Energy wants to switch the plant on by the end of this year to provide what it says would be around the clock and reliable baseload power with zero net emissions….

Echo NetDaily, 26 November 2020:

As glaciers, ice sheets, and the poles continue to melt due to the human impacts on the environment it is bordering on criminal for the Australian and NSW governments to be supporting the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, let alone clearing and burning trees for biomass energy production.

According to studies being done on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet reported in phys.org it is becoming clear ‘that increasingly warming climate, as expected for the near future, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet could be less stable than previously thought’.

‘The future melting of polar ice sheets and the associated rise in global sea level as a consequence of climate change will have a substantial impact on low-elevation coastal areas.’

Yet the Federal government is promoting a gas led COVID-19 recovery, the NSW government has facilitated the approval of the Narrabri Gas Project, and the biomass Redbank Power Station near Singleton appears to be planning a reboot.

‘The imminent rebooting of the mothballed Redbank Power Station (near Singleton) with north-east NSW’s forests will make it Australia’s most polluting power station and an existential threat to the future of our children and wildlife,’ according to the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA).

According to NEFA Hunter Energy is currently seeking expressions of interest for timber from across north-east NSW to fuel their Redbank Power Station, with plans to restart the facility in mid-2021 fed by native forests to make it one of world’s ten biggest biomass power plants.

‘The claims are that it will power 200,000 homes, which was identified in 2017 North Coast Residues Report as requiring one million tonnes of biomass to be taken from north-east NSW’s forests and plantations each year, with 60 per cent of this coming from private forests,’ said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

‘This is sheer madness as burning this volume will release some 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year to fuel climate heating, increased droughts, heatwaves, and more intense bushfires, while increasing forest degradation and hastening species extinctions.

‘The community needs to urgently speak up to stop the NSW and Commonwealth Governments from allowing this environmental disaster,’ Mr Pugh said.

NEFA have said that biomass is even more polluting than coal and releases up to 50 per cent more CO2 to generate the equivalent amounts of energy.

‘Then there’s all the CO2 released by machines during logging and in hauling the wood from across north-east NSW to Singleton,’ said Susie Russel from NEFA.

‘It will be a nightmare for rural communities with thousands of extra trucks plying narrow rural roads, crossing small deteriorating bridges, passing through peaceful villages and then roaring down the Pacific Highway to Redbank.

‘This will be subsidized by taxpayers under the pretense that burning trees is renewable energy as the trees will regrow and decades or centuries later take up the carbon released by burning them.

‘We are in a climate emergency and cannot afford to spew millions of tonnes of additional carbon into the atmosphere at a time when we need to be urgently reducing atmospheric carbon, and we need to leave our trees alive to do it as they are the only viable means of carbon capture and storage,’ Ms Russell said.

Mr Pugh continued, ‘Our suffering forest wildlife will be impacted most severely as forest degradation skyrockets with all those previously uneconomic trees taken……

NEFA have said that biomass is even more polluting than coal and releases up to 50 per cent more CO2 to generate the equivalent amounts of energy. [my yellow highlighting]

Hunter Energy, retrieved 28 December 2020:

Upon re-start, Redbank will be one of the largest green baseload renewable energy providers in NSW and the ONLY existing facility capable of providing urgently required green 24/7 baseload power, adding to grid stability.