Peter Broelman |
David Rowe |
This blog is open to any who wish to comment on Australian society, the state of the environment or political shenanigans at Federal, State and Local Government level.
IMAGE: White v Ballina Shire Council [2021] NSWLEC 1468 |
Echo, 16 November 2021:
A new precedent has been set in the NSW Land and Environment Court (LEC) that could give property investors and developers a reason to rethink project designs.
It’s cost Ballina Shire ratepayers around $100,000 of the council’s budget to win the landmark case but independent councillor and Labor mayoral candidate Keith Williams says the benefits to the environment and for protecting local planning rules are priceless.
‘I actually trained as an environmental economist,’ Cr Williams told The Echo on Monday, ‘we tried to measure the environmental value of what we’re protecting by doing this stuff but it’s impossible to come up with the figure’.
Court decision proves council staff advice wrong
Ballina Shire councillors elected to take on the case against council staff advice.
But whereas certain Byron Shire Council candidates accuse staff of pursuing their own agendas and undermining elected representatives, Cr Williams chose to give the Ballina team the benefit of the doubt by emphasising how uncharted the legal waters of the local case were.
The Echo has so far been unable to contact the property owners in question, Jason and Joanne White, who last month appealed a council decision against their plans to build a new house on their rural block along Newrybar’s Old Byron Bay Road.
The block is part of a protected environmental area between one and two kilometres long on a ridgeline known as the Scenic Escarpment.
‘It’s a little bit of our 1987 local environment plan (LEP) that we’ve hung on to, because the state government won’t let us have environment zones,’ Cr Williams said.
‘So in Ballina, we actually decided that we wouldn’t adopt the new zones and we would leave a whole bunch of things as what’s called “deferred matters” in our new LEP,’ he said, ‘and so the old provisions for 1987 still apply’…..
The trouble with causeways
The main concern, and the focus of the case, was a driveway the Whites had illegally built in 2016.
The driveway included a causeway across a creek, effectively blocking it in some places, Cr Williams said, and made of compressed gravel that posed a threat to water quality as it eventually eroded and leaked silt.
Cr Williams said the driveway was also a threat to the rest of the rainforest because it could change the way water flowed and was absorbed during rain.
In the neighbouring Byron Shire, the council had, in recent years, started to shift away from causeways in favour of bridges owing to adverse environmental impacts on rivers and creeks.
But in Ballina, the council was so far powerless to have the Whites remove the driveway and causeway, despite successfully prosecuting them over the unauthorised project in an earlier court case.
The property owners received fines but the court failed to give deconstruction orders, Cr Williams said.
Walking the road to destruction
Instead, the Whites lodged a development application [DA] with the council to knock down their existing roadside house in favour of a new one nestled further back in the forest.
Council staff told councillors at the time they could vote only on the matter of the house and couldn’t take the illegal driveway into account because it had already been built and therefore wasn’t part of the DA, even though anyone living in or visiting the new house would presumably rely on the driveway to get there.
Councillors initially accepted the staff advice and approved the DA before carrying out a site visit and having second thoughts, Cr Williams said.
‘We went and walked the road, we went and walked down into this rainforest gully, and it was really the few of us standing there at once going, how can this be?’ Cr Williams said.
‘You know, that’s when we began to really question: is us approving this DA really approving this road?’
Councils on notice to stop ignoring unauthorised works in new Das
The councillors’ concerns inspired Cr Williams to declare a rescission motion against the DA’s approval that won majority council support and sparked another legal battle with the Whites.
Contrary to what council staff had advised, the LEC found that because the 2016 works weren’t authorised and never had been, councillors had to do the new DA assessment from the land’s pre-2016 status.
‘That’s a really clear instruction now to all the councillors and to all those councillors’ staff that where there is illegal works, that’s not your starting point,’ Cr Williams said.
‘Your starting point is actually what was the state before those illegal works were done and if those illegal works aren’t rectified by your DA, should you really be approving it?’
Two wrongs don’t make a right: Labor candidate tells developers they can’t ‘cover’ breaches later
Cr Williams said the LEC didn’t typically award costs but he believed the expensive case would ultimately save the council money as it was a preventative outcome.
Mr and Mrs White now owned a road that led to effectively nowhere and Cr Williams said one of the key criteria for determining whether or not they could build a new house on the block was whether or not there was already a suitable site elsewhere.
‘One of the foundational issues here is that there is because there’s already another house on the block,’ Cr Williams said.
‘I think the message is to developers that you need to work with us,’ the mayoral candidate told The Echo, ‘if you do the wrong thing we’re not just going to allow you to cover it up later on’.
Cr Williams praised the efforts of the Scenic Escarpment Protection Alliance, a group made up mostly of the Whites’ neighbours, and others who supported the council in court.
The Saturday Paper, Post, 17 November 2021, excerpt:
In Victoria:
Up to 500 protesters occupying the steps of Parliament forcibly ejected a journalist and issued violent threats, including one speaker who said of Premier Daniel Andrews, “I look forward to the day I get to see you dance on the end of a rope” (The Age);
Video of the protesters shows them gathered around a wooden gallows on Monday chanting “Freedom”, “Traitor”, and “Hang Dan Andrews” while attempting to place the head of an inflatable doll of the premier through the noose;
Four state Liberal MPs mingled with the protesters on Tuesday, including Bernie Finn, who last week shared a doctored picture of Andrews dressed as Adolf Hitler;
Finn posted a selfie with the mob, which he described as “a couple of thousand of my closest friends”;
The protests are against a bill that gives the premier and health minister the power to declare a pandemic and make public health orders, with debate extending late last night (7News);
It is all but guaranteed to pass after the government made amendments to secure the support of three crossbench MPs, including that parliament will be given immediate ability to scrutinise any order (The Guardian).
In NSW:
Premier Dominic Perrottet dumped a bill seeking to expand the state’s Covid-19 emergency powers until 2023 (The Australian);
It had been approved by cabinet but faced opposition from Liberal backbenchers in a bitter partyroom backlash;
Health Minister Brad Hazzard had been pushing to retain the powers to require quarantine or self-isolation for people exposed to Covid-19 (7News);
Perrottet said he’d defer the decision on extending the powers until 2022.
As at 8pm on 16 November 2021 there have now been 177 confirmed COVID-19 cases across the 7 local government arears within the Northern NSW Local Health District since 13 September 2021 when the Delta Variant Outbreal first reached Northern NSW reached .
A total of 64 of these confirmed COVID-19 infections (36.15 per cent of all Northern NSW cases since 13 September 2021) have been recorded in the first 16 days since NSW Premier & Liberal MP for Epping Dominic Perrottet opened up Northern NSW to Greater Sydney, interstate & overseas travellers. That is equivalent to 4 new COVID-19 infections a day.
CONFIRMED LOCALLY ACQUIRED COVID-19 CASE LOCATION BREAKDOWN IN NORTHEN NSW BETWEEN 13 SEPTEMBER & 16 NOVEMBER 2021:
Tweed Shire - 7 cases + 2 infections contracted elsewhere in NSW
Byron Bay - 7 cases + 2 confirmed infections within the LGA not entered into NNSWLHD records as these individuals were no longer in the region.
Ballina - 15 cases
Kyogle - 22 cases
Richmond Valley - 25 cases + 1 case confirmed on 10 Nov 2021 where infection was contracted overseas
Lismore City - 42 cases
Clarence Valley - 59 cases.
AS of 14 November 2021 the fully vaccinated rate for the 16 years old to 90 years and over resident population in Northern NSW was:
Tweed Shire – 83.3%
Byron Bay – 78.7%
Ballina – 92.6%
Kyogle – 84.9%
Richmond Valley – 86.4%
Lismore City – 86.2%
Clarence Valley – 89.2%
The Daily Examiner online, 12 November 2021:
The James Creek plan could see hundreds of residential lots opened up.
The current proposal at Lot 104 James Creek Road, James Creek was lodged by Madison Ruygrok through Kahuna No 1 Pty Ltd. If approved by Clarence Valley Council it would see 327 residential lots, one commercial lot and two open-space lots created.
According to civil engineering drawings prepared by Geolink in October this year, the majority of proposed sites would be between 600-799 square metres in size with the subdivision to be delivered in five stages with most to have two or three sub-stages.
It’s not the first time the site has raised the ire of nearby residents so it is expected there will be some strong opposition to the most recent plan.
In the March 2014 fiery remarks were hurled from the public gallery as James Creek residents watched Clarence Valley councillors agree to rezone the lot from primary production to general residential and medium density residential.
Then, in November 2020, multiple submissions were made opposing a development application that proposed 336 residential lots, four drainage reserves, one commercial lot and one public reserve.
However, residents against the development were relieved to discover that a month later, the application was withdrawn.
But despite their best efforts to thwart that development, a future of medium to high-density housing in this quiet, semi rural Lower Clarence suburb seems inevitable.
Over a decade ago, James Creek was targeted as an ideal spot for urban growth.
According to the Mid-North Coast Regional Strategy 2006-2013, James Creek was identified as an area for proposed future urban release, along with Gulmarrad and West Yamba.
Residents and members of the community have until December 3 to make a submission to Clarence Valley Council on the development application (number SUB2021/0042).
The owner & only listed shareholder of Kahuna No.1 Pty Ltd is Billabong founder Gordon Stanley Merchant of Tungan Qld and Madison Ruygrok is currently listed as a Town Planner with Place Design Group Pty Ltd of Fortitude Valley Qld.
Oddly in SUB2021/0042 - currently before Clarence Valley Council - it lists the developer of the land as The Trustee for MPD INVESTMENTS UNIT TRUST not Kahuna No1.
Presumably The Trustee for MPD Investments Unit Trust - an entity created in 2021 with an ABN registered in Queensland - is associated with Gordon Merchant.
Mr. Merchant's financial difficulties became known when the Australian Taxation Office reportedly penalised him around $13 million "after an audit by the tax office has ended with Mr Merchant being disqualified for “recklessly contravening” superannuation laws, as well as owing $45m in back tax".
Administrative Decisions Tribunal April 2021 records show that Mr. Merchant lodged an Income Tax Objection in October 2020 and, he remains disqualified from acting as trustee or responsible officer of corporate trustees of superannuation entities, under subsections 126A(2) and 126A(3) of the SIS Act.
One has to wonder if either Kahuna No 1, MPD Investments Pty Ltd or The Trustee for MPD Investments Unit Trust are financially secure enough to meet all the fees and charges associated with this development application and commencement of works.
Or indeed if it is wise to pack an est. 818 persons into such a sardine tin housing estate on approx. 33.49ha between Maclean and Yamba in what is essentially still an agricultural area on a sensitive part of the flood plain where floodwaters are liable to cut off access to & egress from farms and urban areas in a strong flooding event.
Clarence Valley Independent, 10 November 2021:
John and Pat Edwards were inducted into the Allen Strom Hall of Fame at the Nature Conservation Council’s NSW Environment Awards over the weekend. Image: Contributed |
Clarence Valley environmental defenders John and Pat Edwards were inducted into the Allen Strom Hall of Fame at the Nature Conservation Council’s NSW Environment Awards.
The awards, which were conducted via a Zoom meeting on Saturday November 6, “celebrate the outstanding commitment and achievement of campaigners, grassroots environmentalists and conservation groups across the state”.
“The Nature Conservation Council’s hall of fame was established in memory of the late Allen Strom’s untiring dedication to conservation and education in NSW,” the conservation council’s website states.
“Individuals for this award have been actively involved in the conservation movement for many years, have made a constant and invaluable contribution to the environment and have displayed qualities of integrity, reliability and commitment.”
Mr Edwards said he was honoured that he and his wife, Pat, were inducted into the hall of fame, however, he was a little shy about the attention.
“I always find these things embarrassing,” he said, “I’d rather be off in a corner doing my own thing, Pat is much the same.
“We do the things we do because we believe in them.
“We have five lovely grandchildren who deserve to experience a world like the one we grew up in – one of the things our generation has done is stuff it up for them; so whatever we can do to conserve nature is worth doing.”
Mr Edwards has been one of the people integral in conducting the Clarence Catchment Alliance’s ‘No Mines Clarence Valley’ campaign.....
Read the full article here.
IMAGE: Woodcut illustration of Vultures — Vector by ronjoe |
Anyone who has been delving into Scott Morrison & Angus Taylor’s 98 page AUSTRALIA’S LONG-TERM EMISSIONS REDUCTION PLAN: Modelling and Analysis (Dept. of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources: DISER) document and, attempting to pin down where within its content examples of genuine modelling relying on science, fact-based assumptions and realistic projections, might have seen the name McKinsey & Company crop up on no less than 76 occasions.
That name rang a bell. Here is a brief background…….
The New York Times, 28 October 2021, p.6:
….a revolt has been brewing inside the world's most influential consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, over its support of the planet's biggest polluters.
More than 1,100 employees and counting have signed an open letter to the firm's top partners, urging them to disclose how much carbon their clients spew into the atmosphere. "The climate crisis is the defining issue of our generation," wrote the letter's authors, nearly a dozen McKinsey consultants. "Our positive impact in other realms will mean nothing if we do not act as our clients alter the earth irrevocably."
Several of the authors have resigned since the letter, which has never before been reported, came out last spring -- with one sending out a widely shared email that cited McKinsey's continued work with fossil fuel companies as a primary reason for his departure…..[my yellow highlighting]
The Hill, 27 October 2021:
... Since then, some of the letter's authors, who are consultants at McKinsey, have resigned from the company which is considered the world's most influential consulting firm, the Times reported.
Lawsuits, internal documents and interviews with four ex-McKinsey employees showed that McKinsey has advised at least 43 of the world's top 100 polluters in the past 50 years, per the Times.
The investigation by the Times found that those clients alone, excluding some of McKinsey's other clients who also contribute to pollution, accounted for over one-third of global carbon emissions in 2018.
At least one consultant who resigned specifically cited McKinsey's work with fossil fuel companies as his main reason for leaving. The Environmental Protection Agency has noted that "burning fossil fuels changes the climate more than any other human activity."
“Walking away from these sectors might appease absolutist critics,” D.J. Carella, a spokesman for McKinsey, said to the Times, adding that it "would do nothing to solve the climate challenge."…. [my yellow highlighting]
The New York Times, 6 November 2021:
A House committee has requested documents related to the firm's advice to drug makers and potential conflicts of interest with the F.D.A.
In a new assault on the global consulting giant McKinsey & Company, Congress on Friday started an investigation into the firm's role in the opioid crisis, sending a letter demanding records related to its "business practices, conflicts of interest and management standards."
The 12-page letter, which was sent by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked for names of McKinsey clients in the health care industry as well as documents connected to its work with opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The committee is also looking at how McKinsey's consulting for drugmakers may conflict with work it has done for the Food and Drug Administration.
By advising opioid makers and "the federal agency regulating their conduct," McKinsey "may have had a significant negative impact on Americans' health," the committee said.
The letter was signed by the committee's chairwoman, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, who requested that McKinsey produce the documents by Nov. 19. McKinsey has a policy of not identifying its clients or the advice it gives.
A spokesman for the firm on Friday said McKinsey had "received the committee's letter and will engage directly with the committee regarding their requests."
This year, McKinsey agreed to pay all 50 states more than $600 million to settle investigations into how it had helped "turbocharge" opioid sales, focusing mostly on its work with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. McKinsey did not admit any wrongdoing.
The request on Friday follows a narrower one on Aug. 23, from a bipartisan group of six U.S. senators seeking records from the F.D.A. on its work with McKinsey at the same time that it was regulating opioid manufacturers, calling that relationship "a potential conflict of interest." The senators asked for more information about the firm's work with the F.D.A. division that approved certain classes of drugs, including prescription opioids.
OxyContin and similar painkillers can be addictive and prone to abuse. From 1999 to 2019, nearly 500,000 people in the United States died of opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….. [my yellow highlighting]
Reuters, 18 August 2021:
… McKinsey earlier this year reached agreements with state attorneys general to pay $641 million to resolve claims it helped drug manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, to design marketing plans and boost sales of painkillers.
Lawsuits by cities, counties and others followed, and Breyer now oversees at least 51 cases…. [my yellow highlighting]
The New York Times, 3 December 2019 - updated 24 February 2021:
Just days after he took office in 2017, President Trump set out to make good on his campaign pledge to halt illegal immigration. In a pair of executive orders, he ordered “all legally available resources” to be shifted to border detention facilities, and called for hiring 10,000 new immigration officers.
The logistical challenges were daunting, but as luck would have it, Immigration and Customs Enforcement already had a partner on its payroll: McKinsey & Company, an international consulting firm brought on under the Obama administration to help engineer an “organizational transformation” in the ICE division charged with deporting migrants who are in the United States unlawfully.
ICE quickly redirected McKinsey toward helping the agency figure out how to execute the White House’s clampdown on illegal immigration.
But the money-saving recommendations the consultants came up with made some career ICE workers uncomfortable. They proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care and supervision of detainees, according to interviews with people who worked on the project for both ICE and McKinsey and 1,500 pages of documents obtained from the agency after ProPublica filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act…. [my yellow highlighting]
The New York Times, 9 January 2019:
A judge in Virginia reopened a more than two-year-old case on Wednesday to consider accusations that the powerful consultancy McKinsey & Company had defrauded his court while advising a bankrupt coal company…..
McKinsey already faces similar claims of misconduct from Mr. Alix in the bankruptcy of another energy company, Westmoreland Coal, in Texas…. [my yellow highlighting]
Financial Times, 20 February 2019:
McKinsey
has agreed to a $15m settlement with the US Department of Justice to
resolve claims that the influential consulting firm failed to
properly disclose conflicts of interest in bankruptcy cases over two
decades.
The settlement on Tuesday is among the largest
made by a bankruptcy professional accused of failing to comply with
disclosure rules, according to the justice department, and adds to
the mounting scrutiny of the professional services giant.... [my yellow highlighting]
Consulting.us, 4 December 2020:
The USTP [US Trustee Program] started the mediation with McKinsey in 2019 after noting that the consulting firm withheld “critical details” about connections to parties with a potential economic interest in the $1.4 billion Westmoreland bankruptcy case.
Westmoreland Coal emerged from Chapter 11 in June 2019. McKinsey, however, will forgo its fees for the advisory work performed, which the watchdog estimates at millions of dollars…. [my yellow highlighting]
Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.
A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourism business development services.
A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!
An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements. The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.
A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.
A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?
A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.
An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?
A fun fact musing: An estimated 24,000 whales migrated along the NSW coastline in 2016 according to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the migration period is getting longer.
A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.
A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.
A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?
An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.