Just in case he’s forgotten - this is me with Angus Taylor on Sunrise in 2016.
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) February 27, 2023
Here’s what he said when the Libs increased taxes on super in govt: “it’s totally inappropriate that someone who has contributed millions + millions of dollars continues to get those 15% concessions” pic.twitter.com/0q5icfsbUD
For reasons best known to itself, Clarence Valley Council administration has not publicly dotted the "i"s and crossed the "t"s for elected councillors and the Clarence Valley resident population when it comes to root causes of increased water turbidity and poor quality drinking water.
It's all about dirt. The deep soils and topsoils which cover and strengthen the rocks which hold Clarence River Basin mountains, hills and slopes in place; soils which are building blocks for both vegetation & biodiversity growth; soils which allow arable farming on valley floors big and small - including on the identified Clarence River floodplain.
The connection between clear-felled land, disturbed soils caused by mining, state-owned & private forestry, land laid bare by largescale wildfires, sloping land eroded by rain bombs, river banks scoured by record flooding, waterways thick with suspended soil particles and, a decline in water quality, is there for all to see.
As is the poor stewardship of the NSW Government - which is supposed to ensure healthy waterways - but whose actions in allowing inappropriate levels of native vegetation removal, poorly monitoring mining exploration activity and its own continuous native timber forestry in sensitive catchments & sub-catchments is contributing to turbidity issues in north-east New South Wales.
It appear that absolutely no-one in the Perrottet Coalition Government is looking to address the root cause of water turbidity and erratic urban water quality.
There appears to be a political blindness in 2023 to the following:
(i) the 2019-20 megafires started a process of exposing soils over wide areas of what had been closed and open forests in the Northern Rivers region;
(ii) the further clearing of some of those fire grounds for retrievable native timber exacerbated this process;
(iii) in 2022-23 the sensitivity and environmental risk associated with these forests is recognised as a continuing issue by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency - especially in areas where commercial native timber forestry is still occurring;
(iv) the 2022 extreme flooding increased the rate at which destabilised and/or degraded soils, particularly the exposed dispersive soils which create high levels of turbidity, made their way into streams, creeks, rivers and major waterways; and
(v) riverine landscapes do not have an infinite ability to withstand population pressure coupled with an increase in the frequency of natural or climate-induced disasters. The resilience Clarence River Basin waterways have demonstrated in the past does not guarantee their future capacity to experience recurrent disturbances while retaining essential function, structures and feedbacks.
A filtration plant may be advisable for urban water supplies, but it won't keep Clarence Valley waterways healthy, alive with biodiverse aquatic ecosystems and productive.
Ecotourism, water-based activity tourism and freshwater recreational fishing tourism, as well as the lucrative local wild-caught prawn industry, depend on healthy rivers. Rivers that are not just healthy but that can be seen to be healthy.
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Clarence Valley Independent, 1 March 2023:
Future filtration for Valley water
Filtration of the Clarence Valley’s drinking water supply is again back on the agenda following this months Level Four severe water restrictions which lasted 11 days.
The Rushforth Road Water Treatment Plant RRWTP masterplan, which aims to replace the existing reservoir without impacting future construction of a filtration plant, is on the agenda at the February 28 Clarence Valley Council CVC meeting.
Prepared for council by consultant Beca H2O, the masterplan includes the replacement of the existing 32 megalitre reservoir, which is included in CVC’s 2022/2023 Operational Plan, and for future construction of filtration.
“It is recommended that Council progress the Masterplan by commencing the planning approval process for a future filtration plant at Rushforth Road Water Treatment Plant,” council papers state.
Council staff recommend councillors note the masterplan and commence the planning approval process for future construction of a filtration plant by calling open tenders to undertake an Environmental Impact Statement.
CVC first adopted a Drinking Water Management System DWMS at its August 19, 2014 meeting and an updated DWMS was adopted at the May 2020 meeting.
Up until the 1990s, drinking water was extracted regardless of turbidity, then in the early 1990s selective extraction was introduced to improve water quality when turbidity was below 10 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU).
Councils 2014 DWMS saw the turbidity level drop to 5 NTU, then the May 2020 DWMS further dropped the turbidity level to 3.5 NTU.
Currently, CVC water supplies are disinfected at Rushforth Road “by chloramination (adding ammonia to chlorine) as this provides the most stable disinfectant in lengthy pipeline systems because chloramines decay at a lower rate than free chlorine,” council papers state.
Tenders have been called for stage one of the masterplan which will see a 1.5 ML Chlorine Contact Tank and a 16ML Treated Water Storage Tank installed at the RRWTP, estimated to cost $14.7 million in October 2021.
“The provision of a Chlorine Contact Tank will allow the primary disinfection at Rushforth Road by free chlorination while, by adding ammonia after the contact tank, continue to provide for a chloramine residual in the lengthy pipeline network,” council papers state.
Stage two of the masterplan is the conceptual design for filtration to be constructed at the RRWTP and is estimated to cost $63.8 million, with an annual operating cost of $2.1 million.
“The Masterplan has confirmed that gravity flow through the plant is feasible, and all elements of the plant have been conceptually located so that the current plant (with the addition of the chlorine contact tank) can continue to operate during construction,” council papers state.
“Due to its construction cost the filtration plant is classified as State Significant Development, and therefore needs planning approval via an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
“It is recommended that Council commence the approval process for a future filtration plant by calling tenders to undertake an EIS.”
The last time council considered filtration at its April 15, 2014 meeting it was estimated the construction and operation of a filtration plant would add $275 annually to the typical residential bill.
“The drinking water risk is not assessed by the State Government as being high enough for funding assistance under the current Safe and Secure Water Program,” council papers state.
“The Rushforth Road water treatment has been allocated a risk score of “4”, while the program funding is currently only sufficient to provide assistance for projects with a risk score of “5”.”
Due to this situation, it is likely that CVC will require loans to fund the water filtration project.
The 10th consecutive cash rate rise announced by the Reserve Bank of Australia has low income and middle income Australia reeling.
Post, a daily newsletter from The Saturday Paper, from the pen of the Emails Editor, 8 March 2023, excerpt:
RBA governor Philip Lowe has announced a record 10th consecutive interest rate rise, but signalled the run may be coming to an end amid concerns the hikes are hurting wellbeing.
What we know:
The RBA increased rates by 25 basis points at the board's March meeting, to 3.6% — the highest interest rate since May 2012 (Nine);
Mortgage holders with a balance of $750,000 will pay an extra $121 a month — and are now likely paying about $18,900 more in repayments annually since May (realestate.com.au);
Lowe’s language softened on the prospect of future rate rises however, with economists suggesting there might only be one or two left (AFR $);
He is set to meet representatives of Suicide Prevention Australia, the peak body that has raised the alarm about a surge in people reporting elevated distress over cost-of-living pressures (The Age);
Research by Suicide Prevention Australia, given to Lowe late last week, shows 46% of people are reporting high levels of cost-of-living distress;
There has also been a lift in the number of people reporting serious thoughts of suicide, which reached 16%, with sharp increases in NSW and Victoria;
Lowe will give further clues as to the RBA’s plans in a speech about inflation and recent economic data to a business conference today (Canberra Times);
The RBA governor has previously warned of a wage-price spiral driving inflation, though wage growth has been slowing, while corporate profits are surging (The Saturday Paper).
BACKGROUND
Reserve Bank of Australia
Media Release
Statement by Philip Lowe, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision
Number 2023-07
Date 7 March 2023
At its meeting today, the Board decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 3.60 per cent. It also increased the interest rate on Exchange Settlement balances by 25 basis points to 3.50 per cent.
Global inflation remains very high. In headline terms it is moderating, although services price inflation remains elevated in many economies. It will be some time before inflation is back to target rates. The outlook for the global economy remains subdued, with below average growth expected this year and next.
The monthly CPI indicator suggests that inflation has peaked in Australia. Goods price inflation is expected to moderate over the months ahead due to both global developments and softer demand in Australia. Services price inflation remains high, with strong demand for some services over the summer. Rents are increasing at the fastest rate in some years, with vacancy rates low in many parts of the country. The central forecast is for inflation to decline this year and next, to be around 3 per cent in mid-2025. Medium-term inflation expectations remain well anchored, and it is important that this remains the case.
Growth in the Australian economy has slowed, with GDP increasing by 0.5 per cent in the December quarter and 2.7 per cent over the year. Growth over the next couple of years is expected to be below trend. Household consumption growth has slowed due to the tighter financial conditions and the outlook for housing construction has softened. In contrast, the outlook for business investment remains positive, with many businesses operating at a very high level of capacity utilisation.
The labour market remains very tight, although conditions have eased a little. The unemployment rate remains at close to a 50-year low. Employment fell in January, but this partly reflects changing seasonal patterns in labour hiring. Many firms continue to experience difficulty hiring workers, although some report a recent easing in labour shortages. As economic growth slows, unemployment is expected to increase.
Wages growth is continuing to pick up in response to the tight labour market and higher inflation. At the aggregate level, wages growth is still consistent with the inflation target and recent data suggest a lower risk of a cycle in which prices and wages chase one another. The Board, however, remains alert to the risk of a prices-wages spiral, given the limited spare capacity in the economy and the historically low rate of unemployment. Accordingly, it will continue to pay close attention to both the evolution of labour costs and the price-setting behaviour of firms.
The Board recognises that monetary policy operates with a lag and that the full effect of the cumulative increase in interest rates is yet to be felt in mortgage payments. There is uncertainty around the timing and extent of the slowdown in household spending. Some households have substantial savings buffers, but others are experiencing a painful squeeze on their budgets due to higher interest rates and the increase in the cost of living. Household balance sheets are also being affected by the decline in housing prices. Another source of uncertainty is how the global economy responds to the large and rapid increase in interest rates around the world. These uncertainties mean that there are a range of potential scenarios for the Australian economy.
The Board’s priority is to return inflation to target. High inflation makes life difficult for people and damages the functioning of the economy. And if high inflation were to become entrenched in people’s expectations, it would be very costly to reduce later, involving even higher interest rates and a larger rise in unemployment. The Board is seeking to return inflation to the 2–3 per cent target range while keeping the economy on an even keel, but the path to achieving a soft landing remains a narrow one.
The Board expects that further tightening of monetary policy will be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target and that this period of high inflation is only temporary. In assessing when and how much further interest rates need to increase, the Board will be paying close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in household spending and the outlook for inflation and the labour market. The Board remains resolute in its determination to return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that.
The NSW Government monitors air quality across the state.
In the Northern River region this monitoring in theory encompasses the northern part of the North Coast planning region from the NSW-Qld border region down to the Clarence Valley.
Air quality in Northern NSW is generally considered to be good.
However there are only two permanent official air quality monitoring stations in the Northern Rivers region, at Grafton and Lismore.
These stations principally monitor fine particles in the air on an hourly basis and publish the hourly average at
Lismore: https://www.airquality.nsw.gov.au/northern-rivers/lismore
and
Grafton: https://www.airquality.nsw.gov.au/northern-rivers/grafton.
Principally the monitoring is of:
PM2.5 are fine particles in air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less. PM itself is short for 'particulate matter', another term for particles. They are generated by combustion processes from sources such as vegetation fires, motor vehicles and industrial activities. PM2.5 is reported in unit of microgram per cubic meter (µg/m3).
These small particles can get deep into the lungs and be absorbed into the blood stream. Short term impacts include difficulty in breathing and worsening of asthma or chronic bronchitis symptoms. They can also cause irritation of eyes, nose and throat.
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| PM2.5 Ratings |
PM10 are particles in air with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less. PM itself is short for 'particulate matter', another term for particles. They can include dust or sea salt, as well as smaller particles generated from combustion processes such as vegetation fires, motor vehicles and industrial sources. PM10 is reported in unit of microgram per cubic meter (µg/m3).
These particles can pass into the lungs. Short term impacts include difficulty in breathing and worsening of asthma or chronic bronchitis symptoms. They can also cause irritation of eyes, nose and throat.
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| PM10 Ratings |
However, it is somewhat disconcerting to notice that in 2023 the Lismore station in particular is experiencing gaps in the hourly record due to “Station not reporting data”.
Given warnings concerning the possible risk of grassfires across the state from September-October 2023 onwards, I'm sure it would be appreciated by many in Northern NSW if any technical/performance problems are corrected before the next fire season.
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| IMAGE: www1.racgp.org.au |
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 remain the currently circulating variants of concern.
By the end of February 2023 the SARS-CoV-2 sequences by variant pool found in Australia were estimated at 24.46% Omicron (BA 2.75), 1.09% Omicron (BA.5),13.59% Omicron (BQ.1), 3.26% Omicron (XBB), 26.63% Omicron (XBB1.5) and 30.98% recombinant variants. NOTE: Only a fraction of all cases are sequenced and Recently-discovered or actively-monitored variants may be overrepresented, as suspected cases of these variants are likely to be sequenced preferentially or faster than other cases [Our World Of Data, 5 March 2023].
In the 7 days up to 25 February 2023 in NSW South Wales a total of 48 people were recorded as having died from COVID-19.
Of these 26 were adult men and 22 were adult women.
Two of the dead were in the 40-49 year age group and the other 46 deceased individuals were aged between 70 years of age & 90+ years.
Three of the dead were from the Northern Rivers region, which in that 7 day period had seen 223 local residents recorded as newly infected with COVID-19.
In the 7 days up to 2 March 2023 an est. 213 Northern Rivers residents were recorded as newly infected with COVID-19.
NOTE: NSW COVID-19 data is held at multiple points on the NSW Government’s online public access health data site/s. For reasons best known to itself these sites rarely use identical time periods for their published summaries. This means there is a 2 day overlap in the two 7 day periods for the Northern Rivers which renders the infection number for 2 March an estimate. As yet no deaths have been published for local health district for these particular 7 days.
Over the 12 days from 19 February to 2 March 2023 multiple confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in the following Northern Rivers local government areas:
Tweed Shire – postcodes 2484, 2485, 2486, 2487, 2488, 2489;
Kyogle Shire – postcodes 2474;
Ballina Shire – postcodes 2477, 2478;
Byron Shire – postcodes 2479, 2480, 2481, 2482, 2483;
Lismore City – postcodes 2472, 2480;
Richmond Valley – postcodes 2469, 2470, 2471, 2473, ; and
Clarence Valley – postcodes 2460, 2462, 2463, 2464, 2465, 2466.
State-wide in NSW in the 7 days up to 2 March 2023 a total of 7,163 new cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded With 800 infected people hospitalised and a total of 29 deaths recorded.
At that point in time (2 March 2023) the total number of COVID-19 cases recorded in NSW since the pandemic began in January-February 2020 had reached est. 3,907,940 people infected, of which 6,493 have been recorded as dying as a result of contracting the viral infection.
By 3 March 2023 the cumulative total of COVID-19 deaths Australia-wide had reached est. 19,459 men, women and children.
The recorded cumulative number of people infected with the virus, as well as those dying as a result of infection, continues to rise in what is now the fourth year of uncontrolled viral infection spread in the general populace.
Sources:
BYRON SHIRE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
In which property developers get access to existing rail corridor and Mullum community loses green space......
Byron Echo, 22 February 2023:
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As previously reported, the entire railway corridor length in Mullum will become either medium-density ‘affordable housing’ or car parks, under a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) dated 24 November between Council and the state government, which has a three-year expiry date.
The public were not informed of the plans until the MoU was presented as a Council agenda item. The MoU also includes Council’s ‘aspirations’ for access via the rail corridor to its land called Lot 4, enclosed by a bend in the Brunswick River.....
Note: Area 3" of "Map 2" will allegedly be "affordable housing focus". This areas coincide with the section of flood prone land chosen by Resilience NSW for landfill to accommodation emergency housing pods.
In which more flood storage is removed from the floodplain and where the direction of flood water traveling across Mullum township in a 100 ARI event is altered....
Byron Echo, 22 November 2022:
The Resilience NSW (ResNSW) Flood Report on the impact of the fill at the emergency housing site at Mullumbimby was finally released to the public on 7 November.
The report details the impacts that the fill, built up to current 1-in-100-year flood level under selected Scenario A, will have on flood levels for existing housing, in particular on Prince, Poinciana and Station Streets.
‘According to the report, there are 11 properties that will see an increase in flooding in a 1-in-100-year event, and 85 properties that will actually see a reduction in flooding in this type of event,’ said Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Lyon.
‘They might not want the fill to be removed.’
Two properties identified in the ResNSW Flood Report, with six units that were severely impacted by flooding in 2022, will see a 3cm increase of above-floor flooding as a direct result of the fill-in a 1-in-100-year flood (as labelled in 2020 by the North Byron Floodplain Management Study and Plan).
The temporary pod site will provide 40 units, for up to 160 people who were affected by the devastating February floods. However, there are key areas where the ResNSW Flood Report by BMT fails to provide adequate information on how their conclusions are drawn regarding the impact on existing houses and residents in these areas.
Local Councillor and hydrologist Duncan Dey pointed out that, ‘At 40 pages this is a very thin technical report and it has not provided the modelling and details needed to allow the public to see how they reached, or to confirm, the conclusions they have put forward. There is also no clue as to who did the actual modelling, or authored the report’.
3–6cm not a small increase
In their November Construction Update, ResNSW say that this is a ‘small increase in flood levels’. However, Cr Dey says that ‘in the profession, rises of 3cm or 6cm are not considered small’,
‘The government should accelerate the many flood mitigation options at its disposal, as described in the adopted North Byron Floodplain Risk Management Plan. That plan is a joint venture of Council and the NSW government. Work on those measures might well achieve a 3cm drop in flood levels at this and many other sites throughout the north of the Shire. Government should pursue that rapidly, before the next flood.’
Fill creates a levee
‘The flood report deals with current climate conditions only. It doesn’t deal with future flooding, which will be worse in 2050 or 2100. It doesn’t have to, because the fill is only there until the middle of this decade… or is it?
‘It looks at the 385m long fill site that runs parallel to the railway, plus an 80m northward extension as shown in Figure 4.1 of the report.
‘This fill acts as a levee bank. It totals 465m parallel to the railway and acts as a barrier to flow when the Brunswick Valley floods,’ explained Cr Dey.
‘The water flows west to east down the Brunswick Valley, that is, it flows from the Mullumbimby Showground across town towards the Industrial Estate.’
Flood velocity overlooked
The impact of the velocity, the speed that the water moves during the flood event, has not been presented in the report.
‘The reality is that these velocities have to have been modelled to obtain the water levels,’ said Cr Dey.
‘The ResNSW Flood Report contains no information about flood velocities and hence doesn’t consider their impacts. If you block a 465m width of a floodplain like this, you get still water behind the levee (on the east side) but you get a raging torrent around the two edges of the levee. By not examining velocities, government doesn’t have any picture of how they will impact Poinciana and Argyle Streets, which are the streams that the high velocity water will run down. The result could be that people who were able to get out of harm’s way under the pre-fill scenario may no longer be able to. One family escaped on 28 February by floating their kids to a neighbour’s elevated house using a kid’s three-ring pool as a life raft. Flood velocity must always be considered as well as flood depth.
‘Why were the velocities not reported and made publicly available to the community? They sit there in the computer model – it won’t run without them. We don’t know what the consultant was asked to do or report on as this has not been made public. The community is in the dark about the parameters being considered on their behalf by ResNSW.’
Long-term site?
The Mayor, Cr Lyon told residents when the report was released that there had ‘been talk of houses and other purposes here [on the fill site] for 20 years… Those conversations [regarding future removal of fill] are not for right now’, he said. However, the risk to existing houses if the fill remains long-term are significantly increased.
‘Under the state’s own Floodplain Development Manual, constructing works on a floodplain is only allowed after investigation through a proper Floodplain Study and Plan. We completed one in 2020. It doesn’t support a levee bank anywhere in the floodplain of the Brunswick River,’ explains Cr Dey.
‘As shown on Table 4 of the ResNSW Flood Report, the 100-year flood level is lowered under Scenario A for 85 properties while being raised for 11 properties. The story for rarer floods, like the 2022 flood, is far more unacceptable however, and must not be ignored, especially if the fill stays after 2025.
‘The report estimates 280mm of water above the floor level for one of the negatively impacted houses during a 1-in-100 year flood. However, they just experienced 800mm above floor level in the February 2022 flood. The report did consider the 2022 flood. Figures like Drawing 2.2 in the report indicate that a 100-year flood is 0.5m deep in Poinciana Street. However, flood marks indicate the 2022 level at half a metre higher.
‘It is likely that when the North Byron Floodplain Plan is reviewed for the 2022 flood, that review will raise the 100-year level for this area to the level experienced in February. That is an increase of half a metre above what was studied for the ResNSW Flood Report. This report has studied the wrong flood.
‘In planning law the 100-year flood is used to for setting floor heights for new constructions. When considering impacts of mitigation works, like levee banks, on existing residences, all floods should be considered, especially the floods of most concern to the people affected. In this case, that is the flood they just had.
‘The ResNSW Flood Report doesn’t consider the 2022 flood and how a repeat of that flood would behave with the fill in place.
Climate change
‘The ResNSW Flood Report ignores climate change, because it is for a two-year project, not the one the mayor is speaking about in relation to longer-term housing on the site. Climate change will make what is now the 100-year event occur more frequently. And similarly, the future 100-year flood is likely closer to the current 500-year flood.
‘For the current 500-year flood, the report shows that the fill of Scenario A (which is effectively a levee bank) lowers the flood level at 57 properties while raising it for 56 properties.
‘For the “Probable Maximum Flood”, the fill lowers flood levels at only two properties, while raising it at 52 properties. Most of those affected properties are west of the railway line, around Station Street.
‘ResNSW modelling shows a significant increase in flooding in Station Street for the 1-in-500-year flood scenario. If the fill remains long-term, these figures would be the ones that count. They show that this levee bank would be deemed unacceptable under normal scrutiny.’
The right consultant?
It is understood by The Echo that work done last decade on the North Byron Floodplain Management Study by BMT, previously known as WBM-BMT, had to be redone by a second consultant before it could be used. Byron Shire Council resolved (19-036) in February 2019 ‘that Council recognise the weakness of service provided by the consulting company which prepared the Flood Study [will] and consider that in future engagements’. So why did ResNSW choose this same consultant?
[my yellow highlighting]
Note: Mullumbimby Emergency Housing - Flood Impact Assessment by BMT (Official) was created for Customer: Symal Infrastructre Pty Ltd [sic]. The draft document went through six revisions between 27 October and 22 November 2022.
Symal Infrastructure Pty Ltd is a private corporation headquartered in Spotswood, Victoria, specialising in Construction, Civil construction, Building construction, Engineering, Earthworks, Plant hire, property development, and Landscaping according to its Linkedin entry. Its shareholders are listed by ASIC as: Bartolo Family Investments Pty. Ltd, R. Dando Investments Pty Ltd and Fairbairn Investments Pty Ltd.
The Mullumbimby Emergency Housing - Flood Impact Assessment has been endorsed by the NSW Perrottet Government.
Landfill area for emergency housing pods is outlined in red in this Google Earth snapshot. This landfill area will have to be extended north and west towards the Brunswick River and to the south, under the NSW Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) proposal.
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The Echo, Letters, 17 November 2022:
Resilience NSW was tasked to provide emergency housing for flood refugees. Byron Council and Transport NSW provided 3–5 year short-term leases for three greenfield sites – the rail land in Prince St, Mullum, the riverbank behind the Bruns sports field, and on public open space beside the preschool in Bayside Brunswick.
Nine months later the engineers are still filling and compacting the soil – right on the riverbank in Brunswick Heads and in Prince Street with B-double trucks cruising through our towns every day, for months on end, at phenomenal, unnecessary and unwanted expense.....
Digging trenches to provide services isn’t easier with tonnes of roadbase in the way.
The roadbase is needed so cars and trucks can drive over the sites instead of parking offsite and hiring a crane to lower the pods onto the foundations.
It’s the most insensitive, inappropriate design and construction undertaken in our Green Shire, seemingly without any consultation with, approval by, or oversight from Council – the leaseholder. It must be stopped before they dump fill at Bayside Brunswick too.
After months of costly activity we still haven’t got one house, yet our caravan parks are raking in the profits on their unfilled, unimproved land sites. There is no justification or necessity for this ugly brutalist style of development in the 21st century.
Who are these experts? The professionals over-engineering with this gold-plated use of public funds? Why has no one in power queried or challenged this excessive over-development on leased land? Where are those Byron Shire councillors and directors hiding? Even the work crews are embarrassed to talk about the environmental impacts.
There are far better ways to provide accommodation for those in dire need, just ask the community for advice – we’re giving it away for free.
LISMORE CITY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
In which Lismore City Council becomes a local government for roads, rates and rats.....
The Echo, 2 March 2023:
NSW Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts, has removed planning powers from Lismore City Council. Councillors failed, on February 14, to constitute a local planning panel (LPP), which is designed to ‘speed up planning processes to support flood-recovery efforts’ that would have allowed them to nominate two members to the committee from a minister-approved pool of candidates.
The NSW government’s LPP usurps Council’s planning powers.
In a letter to Mayor Steve Krieg, Roberts said the failure ‘may result in confusion and uncertainty for planning processes in Lismore LGA.’
Under (s) 2.17 of the EP&A Act 1979, Roberts appointed ‘members to sit on Council’s behalf’.
All associated costs for the panel will be borne by Council, Roberts added.
Disempowering communities
Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP, planning spokesperson and lead candidate for the Upper House said, ‘The Planning Minister has a track record of disempowering communities to serve developer interests’.
‘The NSW government needs to establish a process that gives Lismore residents agency over the reconstruction process, not one that will let developers roll over the community to squeeze as much profit out of reconstruction as they can’.
‘The Lismore community has been crying out for greater transparency and control over the recovery process. Instead, the NSW Government has disempowered the community even further,’ said Ms Faehrmann.
‘The people of Lismore are anxious about how decisions are being made about the future of their city. The last thing they need is an undemocratic planning panel making decisions for them about what reconstruction is going to look like.
‘The fact that Lismore council needs to pay for the staff and facilities of the government’s sham planning panel is completely unacceptable. It’s another flagrant example of state government cost shifting which will hurt Lismore council ratepayers even more.
‘I’m calling on the government to reverse this decision and at the very least pay for the costs of this planning panel,’ she said.
Lismore needs transparency
Local councillor and Green Candidate for Lismore Adam Guise said, ‘It’s outrageous that the Liberal Planning Minister is riding roughshod over our community and sacking Lismore councillors from local planning decisions. Councillors were never consulted on this extraordinary announcement made by the Minister last year only days before Christmas.’
‘Lismore Council decided at its February meeting not to constitute a planning panel. Councillors resolved to keep our planning powers so that planning decisions are made locally with community involvement.....
[my yellow highlighting]
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment
Report 18
March 2023
Allegations of impropriety against agents of the Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region
Ordered to be printed 2 March 2023 according to Standing Order 238
At 4:17:38pm a 63.4MB, 478 page report was created in PDF form as Report no 18 - PC 7 - Hills Shire Council inquiry.pdf and subsequently published on the Parliament of New South Wales website at:
The full report between Pages 170 to 477 contains documentation supporting allegations of impropriety – some of it internal documents & correspondence generated by Liberals NSW (the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia), various state party members and/or NSW Liberal Party members of parliament. Included are various members of the Perrottet family. It makes for interesting reading.
Six witnesses who declined to attend the parliamentary inquiry are: NSW Liberal Party member Christian Ellis, The Hills Shire Cr. Virginia Ellis, NSW Liberal Party member Charles Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party member Jean-Claude Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party member & lobbyist Dylan Whitelaw and, property developer Jean Nassif.
Below is set out the text of the Committee Chair’s foreword to the report, the six official findings of the Inquiry and the eight formal recommendations.
Chair’s foreword
This has been an extraordinary inquiry – not so much for the information that has come to light – but for the gaping hole in evidence left by key witnesses who have gone to great lengths to avoid scrutiny.
The allegations that sparked this inquiry were made by an elected member of Parliament who is also a member of the Liberal Party. They were serious allegations of collusion between members of the Liberal party and a developer to replace elected members of The Hills Shire Council with new councillors who would be more amenable to that developer's interests. Revelations about branch-stacking activities in The Hills area that emerged in this inquiry are a related and additional source of concern. When branch stacking activities are linked to collusion with developers, they are not merely a distortion of democratic processes, they could amount to serious corruption.
The only way this committee could shed some light on these allegations is for those involved to come forward and give their account. Their co-ordinated, deliberate and serious efforts to evade scrutiny inevitably leave the perception that there is something to hide.
The lack of cooperation from key witnesses in this inquiry means that serious allegations of corruption by members of the Liberal Party in the Hills Shire have gone unanswered. Some have tried to justify their absence by questioning the integrity of this committee. The contempt shown for our role as an Upper House committee raises serious questions about the operation of the Liberal Party in NSW, and whether those seeking political power at local or state government level understand the principles of transparency and accountability that are central to a healthy democracy.
This inquiry has raised questions that are too serious to leave unanswered simply because this Parliament has run its course. For this reason, the committee has recommended that a new inquiry into these matters be established in the next Parliament. Essential to that will be the involvement of Christian Ellis, Charles Perrottet, Jean-Claude Perrottet and Jean Nassif.
The committee has also recommended that the influence of property developers and others in political, legal and democratic processes in the Hills Shire region be referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. This is based on the evidence received from one individual in this inquiry, who gave a frank account of how some members of the Liberal Party sought a donation from him to unseat a sitting federal member.
Faced with the non-cooperation of key witnesses, this committee has taken some unusual, and in some cases unprecedented, procedural steps. The use of private process servers in the effort to serve a summons to key witnesses was one of these. While many attempts were made to serve key witnesses with a summons to attend and give evidence, albeit unsuccessfully, the committee considered it was an appropriate course of action, owing mainly to the clear lack of co-operation and difficulty experienced when liaising with witnesses. We thank the process servers for assisting the committee in what can only be described as extraordinary circumstances.
To address these difficulties better in the future, the committee has recommended that the Legislative Council refer an inquiry into the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 to the Privileges Committee, with a view to identifying amendments to ensure it is fit for purpose and modernised, including in relation to the summonsing of witnesses.
Finally, I would like to comment on the unauthorised disclosure of parts of the Chair's draft report. The disclosure was revealed on the day this report was tabled, literally hours before the expiration of the Legislative Assembly, which meant that the committee was unable to take the steps usually followed by committees to investigate and address such disclosures.
Unauthorised disclosure of committee information, such as a draft report, threatens the integrity of the committee system by reducing trust amongst members, as well as between the Parliament and the public. Such disclosures also demonstrate disrespect for the secretariat who make every effort to protect the confidentiality of committee proceedings. I urge the person responsible for this breach of the standing orders to reflect on the seriousness of their actions.
On behalf of the committee I sincerely thank those witnesses who did come forward and give evidence
– even reluctantly – to this inquiry. Each witness had something important to contribute, and has shed some light on the issues in question. I also thank my fellow committee members, and acknowledge that this has not been an easy inquiry by any measure, especially given all the pressures associated with the end of a parliamentary term. Finally, I thank the secretariat for their extraordinary hard work and professionalism, and all of the other parliamentary staff who have assisted to support the important work of this committee.
Ms Sue Higginson MLC
Committee Chair
Findings
Finding 1 21
That, based on evidence to the committee, a meeting took place at which Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet asked a businessman to contribute $50,000 to an operation to unseat Alex Hawke, federal member for Mitchell.
Finding 2 21
That the finding of this committee about a request for $50,000, combined with the behaviour of witnesses called to this inquiry, add weight to the allegations by Government MP Ray Williams in the parliament that 'Jean Nassif of Toplace met with Christian Ellis and other senior members of the Liberal Party, who were paid significant funds in order to arrange to put new councillors on The Hills Shire Council who would be supportive of future Toplace development applications'.
Finding 3 22
That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in serious and deliberate attempts to evade service: Christian Ellis, Virginia Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet.
Finding 4 22
That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in serious and deliberate attempts to avoid giving evidence to the inquiry, noting they were out of the jurisdiction: Charles Perrottet and Jean Nassif.
Finding 5 22
That the following witnesses for whom summons were issued to assist the inquiry engaged in deliberate attempts to avoid giving evidence to the inquiry: Jeff Egan, Jeremy Greenwood and Dylan Whitelaw.
Finding 6 23
That a New South Wales parliamentary committee has never been faced with such serious, deliberate and co-ordinated attempts by witnesses to evade service of a summons.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1 20
That the Legislative Council establish a new inquiry into allegations of impropriety against agents of The Hills Shire Council and property developers in the region in the 58th Parliament, referring all evidence from this inquiry to the relevant committee.
Recommendation 2 21
That any future inquiry should call Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet to give evidence on the matters referred to in Finding 1.
Recommendation 3 21
That any future inquiry should call Christian Ellis, Charles Perrottet and Jean Nassif to give evidence on the matters referred to in Finding 2.
Recommendation 4 21
That Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment refer the influence of property
developers and others in legal, political and democratic processes in The Hills Shire region to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, along with this report and committee transcripts of evidence.
Recommendation 5 23
That, at the beginning of the 58th Parliament, the NSW Legislative Council:
refer an inquiry into the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 to the Privileges Committee, with a view to identifying amendments to ensure it is fit for purpose and modernised, including in relation to the summonsing of witnesses; and
send a message to the NSW Legislative Assembly requesting that that House refer the same inquiry to its Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics.
Recommendation 6 24
That Legislative Council committees consider the use of professional process servers to serve a summons on a witness in extraordinary circumstances where the witness has demonstrated that they are not co-operating with the committee, and that this matter be considered by any future inquiry by the Privileges Committee into the operation of the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 (as referred to in Recommendation 5).
Recommendation 7 24
That the NSW Legislative Council refer the matter of anonymously authored documents being tabled under parliamentary privilege to the Privileges Committee for inquiry and report.
Recommendation 8 24
That the Minister for Local Government undertake an investigation into The Hills Shire Council and consider what steps should be taken, including whether the Council should be put into administration.
A little background.....
