STOP GREYHOUNDS BEING EXPORTED

(Image: Animals Australia, 'Found in China')


Dear Joel,

Please make representations on my behalf to Barnaby Joyce to shut this trade in greyhounds down. It is despicable that he hesitates to close the legal loophole which he has the power to close.

Did you watch the 7:30 programme that exposed this wicked practice? I couldn't, it was so barbaric and it made me weep even more to realise that it's basically all being done on our watch. Those poor beautiful creatures. If I treated my dogs like that here in Australia I would be facing jail time.

It is unconsionable that we allow the practice to carry on knowing full well the fate that awaits those sweet sensitive dogs.

Please, Joel, shut this wicked industry down.

Yours sincerely,
Sue Abbott

This Scone Library sold & That Scone Library sold

(Image: Transcare screen capture)


As it turns out, so I've been informed, the reference to the sale of the Scone Library in the Finance Committee's Agenda ...



... mentioned in my last post was the old Scone Library, not the new Scone Library!

Who knew?

I am drowning in a flurry of questions which have crazily consumed me over the last couple of weeks as I madly try and find out answers, some of which I've had to spend more $$$ on to find out ... which I think sucks when you think most of this information ought to be in the public domain.

So ...

Why was the 'old Scone Library' (aka Barwick House) sold when Syd and Percy Barwick gave it to the Scone community for the Scone community's use? 

Yes the Barwick brothers gave it to the Scone community not the Upper Hunter Shire Council.

Who said the Upper Hunter Shire Council could sell it when it had been so generously bequeathed to us?

Was the old Scone Library (Barwick House) put up for tender?

Was there a song and dance about it? I don't remember - anyone?

Did the Upper Hunter Shire Council consult with us?

Who or what bought it?  
 (Ok so I ended up spending money on that question through the NSW Land and Property Information Division by doing a title search, and it turns out Transcare bought it in 2011, with conditions I think, for $380,000 - the 'price bit' I got for free through Google Earth, Six Maps and NSW Globe!)

Who or what is Transcare when they're (really) at home? 

We're told they're the old Upper Hunter Community Care .. so they had a name change? Why? Still got the same CEO though, but who are they?

And we're also told that they're a not-for-profit company?

Can you be a not-for-profit when you're a franchise?

And since they're a franchise who is their parent company? Who do they pay their royalties to?

And for their quality assurance, why would they use QAS International, a UK certificate mill ...



... which, according to the Australian QAS International (without the hyphen in their url), is a company not registered with the Joint Accreditation Scheme of Australia and New Zealand ...



... and therefore perhaps ought not to be issuing certificates of compliance in Australia. So very confusing.

Is this a question of health by stealth?

And why doesn't Transcare list on their website who is on their board? (Again it really sucks that I had to pay a tonne of money to discover that our local mayor is a director on the board - why the secrecy and why make it so difficult for us to find out this information?)

Why is the Upper Hunter Shire Council selling off all our libraries and buildings and to whom or to what are they selling them?

What is happening to Scone?

White Park Equine Facilities to benefit from Sale of Scone Library

by Sue Abbott



The Scone Advocate may have 'gagged' me by not printing my letter in their last week's rag (see my post Secret Sale of Scone Library), but suffice to say it'll take a lot more than that to actually silence me on this subject.

Hmmmm and anyway I wonder what the Fairfax Legal Department (where the Scone Advocate sent my letter) will make of what I wrote on the secret sale of our library ... the truth maybe ... the widespread community sadness ... we'll see.

Notwithstanding there is no getting away from the fact that the town has been angered by the Upper Hunter Shire Council's weasel words and weasel actions, which have left our children, our elders, all of us totally broadsided by the sale of our library and the former council chambers.

There is no library for us anymore ... and it looks mighty like there never will be ... because in a nutshell there are no evident plans for one at this stage.

In the Upper Hunter Shire Council's Finance Committee Agenda, I read that the Finance Committee, comprising of Cr Wayne Bedggood (still mayor after yesterday's vote-for-the-mayor-council-meeting), Cr Kiwa Fisher, Cr Michael Johnsen (current member for Upper Hunter), and Cr Peter Bishop (declaree of insignificant non-pecuniary conflict of interest over sale of library) were notified of their committee meeting to be held last Friday 25 September 2015.

Amongst the many money matters on their agenda, the propoerty disposal of our beaufitul Scone Library was an item ... and here's what it said:

19016.8522.6467:
Property Disposal
Monies set aside from the proceeds of the sale of the former Scone Library. Funds are to be used on the future development of White Park Equine Facilities. It is expected the funds will be utilised in conjunction with grant funding during 2014/15 if the grant is forthcoming.

It makes me weep ... and it makes me rage ... and it fills me and many others in the community with many more questions ...

... I mean just for starters and back to the June meeting where the secret sale of the Scone Library was discussed ...

1. Why was Cr Michael Johsen absent from that June meeting and that vote?

2. And more importantly why was Cr Lee Watts absent from that June meeting and that vote when she's so intrinsically involved with the Scone Neighbourhood Resource Centre and would have been acutely aware of the detrimental impact the sale would have on the community?

3. And after reading those June 11 minutes again, and in particular the following section:

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:
Cr Peter Bishop declared a Non Pecuniary Interest insignificant conflict for the reason that he is a
client of the person offering to purchase the property. Cr Bishop advised that he would remain in Chamber and participate in discussion and voting as the conflict would not be relevant to his decision.

... why was Cr Peter Bishop allowed to continue in the 'discussion and voting' of the sale after his declared non-pecuniary conflict of interest?

4. And how is being a client of the purchaser a non-pecuniary conflict of interest rather than a pecuniary conflict of interest?

5. And it's a little bit subjective on his part isn't it that the declared conflict of interest was an insignificant one?

The Scone community is reeling from the reality that we now find ourselves in.

We are a community without a library.

In my opinion, the Upper Hunter Shire Council failed us in their secretive-behind-closed-doors sale of the Scone Library, and many of us in the community today question whether the Upper Hunter Shire Council has forgotten that their first duty is to the Upper Hunter Shire public, and not private interests.

#MassiveMunicipalFail, Upper Hunter Shire Council.

Government Information (Public Access) request - Secret sale of Scone Library & former council chambers 2015

by Sue Abbott

(Image: screen capture of 'Right to Know')


(details of my freedom of information request made via 'Right To Know')
 ---------------------------
Dear Upper Hunter Shire Council,

I would like the following information pertaining to the secret sale of Scone Library and former council chambers (Scone Library) which took place this year, 2015:

- full minutes of extraordinary Upper Hunter Shire Council meeting June 11, 2015.
- any other minutes from any other meetings where a discussion of the aforementioned sale took place.
- further information on Cr Peter Bishop's declared 'insignificant non-pecuniary conflict of interest' (that being his relationship as a client of the person offering to purchase Scone Library) outlining why the Upper Hunter Shire Council and Cr Bishop felt it would be satisfactory for Cr Bishop to remain in Chamber and participate in discussion and voting on the matter of sale of Scone Library, and why the Upper Hunter Shire Council and Cr Bishop considered that the declared conflict would not be relevant to his decision on the matter (sale of Scone Library).
- document(s) containing details of the purchasing proposal put forward by Mr Jason Brooks (the purchaser), and his agent involved, in order to purchase Scone Library.
- document(s) contaning details of other proposals put forward by others in the community, and their agenets involved, in order to purchase Scone Library.
- Development Application for works currently being done to the Scone Library.

I am aware that the information I require may appear in different formats. Consequently I request all the above information in all its formats whether held in paper, electronically, pictures, sound recordings and/or video to do with the secret sale of Scone Library.

I look forward to receving this information via my freedom of information request.

Yours faithfully,
Sue Abbott
Scone Resident

The Secret Sale of Scone Library

By Sue Abbott



The sudden sale of the Scone Library agreed upon by the Upper Hunter Shire Council at an extrordinary 'in camera' council meeting back in June 2015 has come as a nasty surprise to the residents of Scone.

Local people are outraged by the sudden jeopardy of much loved services, organised and run from this building, and understandably have been demanding answers to the council's hasty manoeuvres. 

Reading the many letters (here, here, here, here, here and here just for starters) published in the Scone Advocate over the past few weeks along with Joanne McCarthy’s Newcastle Herald article, I feel gravely concerned about these recent municipal proceedings.

Many questions beg to be answered yet so far the Upper Hunter Shire Council has failed to answer them.

By way of limited explanation from the Upper Hunter Shire Council found in the 'lately-added'-due to-'administrative-error'-minutes, it would appear that the Upper Hunter Shire Council saw fit to hide behind a much used section of the Local Government Act 1993:

10A Which parts of a meeting can be closed to the public?

(2) The matters and information are the following: 

(c) information that would, if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom the council is conducting (or proposes to conduct) business,

... which, I might add somewhat pedantically, was quoted incorrectly when this section was mentioned for the first time in those 'lately-added'-due-to-'administrative-error'-minutes. 

But I wonder why council felt the need to quote this particular section in their minutes when we had already been informed by the local paper that:

Due to the [premises'] classification as operational land, the council was not required under the Local Government Act to consult with the community about the sale and it was not required to go to             tender.
 
Who knew that the Scone Library building was 'operational land' as opposed to 'community land,' a classification immediately denuding us of any rights to information as council proceeded to sell this much loved building out from under our feet? 

Surely that cannot be correct? 

I thought 'operational land' was land such as council depots where councils stored their operational equipment, or rubbish dumps where councils coordinate and oversee their shire's waste management control. I thought 'operational land' was land that facilitated councils in their carrying out of council functions whereby councils could allow commercial activities such as regular markets to occur for the public benefit

And anyway why would the Scone Library come under the Local Government Act 1993 in terms of land classification when clearly the Scone Library building was acquired by council many moons before 1993? 

What am I missing here and what has not been explained?

I have to say that in my opinion I feel that the provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 have been misinterpreted by the Upper Hunter Shire Council as a shield to protect themselves from inevitable pressure that they knew would come from the Scone public when debating this incredibly sensitive topic.  

I also feel that the 'commercial interests' of Mr Jason Brooks, the purchaser of the Scone Library, have been deemed to be more important than the 'public interest' of the Scone community and that the Upper Hunter Shire Council were unable to distinguish between background information which ought to have been in the public domain and certain specific issues which might have merited some discussion in confidence.  

Was the Scone Library sale matter moved into confidence because of its local sensitivity and to avoid the controversy that the Upper Hunter Shire Council knew would be ignited within the local community once the matter was publicly flagged? 

By law the Upper Hunter Shire Council are required to adhere to and maintain high standards of accountability and transparency, yet how they hope to do that by conducting such important business secretly is beyond me.  

I cannot help but feel that the Upper Hunter Shire Council's secret meeting was a deliberate attempt to debate an issue of extreme importance to the Scone community without pressure from the Scone public and if this is the case I believe the Upper Hunter Shire Council's action was contrary to the democratic intention of the Local Government Act 1993.

We, the Scone Community have been robbed by the unseemly sale of the Scone Library and will suffer from its subsequent loss to us all.

Not happy, Upper Hunter Shire Council.

Open blogpost to Australia's 5th Prime Minister in 5 yrs, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull

by Georgie Abbott



Dear Prime Minister,

Let me begin with warm congratulations on your new job.

What an honour it is for you to be our new leader.

Honestly, you are a breath of fresh air, and that is high praise coming from a Greens voter.

After two years of an inarticulate troglodyte at the helm, I have high hopes for you.

These congratulations aside (though they are sincere), I have a few things I would like to ask of you now you are the proud leader of our island nation. You have been given a unique opportunity to bring back the great name Australia deserves, particularly when it comes to basic Human Rights.

Prime Minister Turnbull, I never believed I would see the day when Australia would be responsible for heinous abuse towards innocent people. I also never thought (though this was clearly naivety at its best on my part) that a government would deliberately ignore accusations and demonise the people who brought it all to the public’s attention. The Abbott Government’s confected outrage towards Gillian Triggs and her report, The Forgotten Children, was disgusting. The strict rules of silence placed upon doctors who witnessed the atrocities were yet another blight on our National reputation.

To seek asylum is a fundamental Human Right, and I, like many Australians, am continually horrified by the treatment of people seeking a better life here in Australia.

The ‘stop the boats’ mantra we have been fed for the last two years leaves me speechless. The truth is the boats will never really stop, and I ask you not to have the same ‘see no evil’ attitude as your predecessor and those before him. The new goal to help Syrian refugees is a step in the right direction, but not quite enough. Please do not ignore those desperate people being held on our doorstep. They left their homes for a reason and they do not deserve this torture.

Prime Minister Turnbull, another Human Right that is currently being ignored in our sun abundant land, is the right for all men and women to marry whomever they choose. I understand that you have been in a loving and committed relationship for a very long time. You know the joy of promising to share your life with someone. It is time to allow everyone to do this. Your support has been admirable, but there is much more to do. To wait for the next election is simply not good enough for those who have already waited years. Love is love, and everyone deserves to celebrate it. Denying a part of the Australian community the right to marry, continues to place a stigma on gay relationships. This is not fair and ultimately unacceptable. You can be remembered as the Prime Minister who made Australia equal.

Prime Minister Turnbull, you may have already guessed, the theme of this letter is Human Rights and another pressing issue, is the rights of those Australians we should be most proud of, Indigenous Australians. It is time for you to undo Abbott’s work of alienating Indigenous people, and create a successful dialogue that moves to support and celebrate the culture that existed in lifeand times before Captain Cook ever declared 'Terra nullius.' Regardless of where people live, be it rural, outback or in the cities, we should be supportive and not deem it a fault of their 'lifestyle choice.'

Please be a role model, and shame xenophobic racist behaviour. Speak with Indigenous leaders and hear their ideas unlike previous governments who chose the ideas. This is supposed to be a land of opportunity and compassion for everyone with no second-rate treatment for anybody. Please advocate for this… immediately.

Prime Minister Turnbull, there are so many things I want to ask you, but I realise you are a busy man. So, I will end with one more point in need of addressing. Women’s rights should be at the top of your agenda. Please do not be like the arrogant, chauvinist who came before you, and please give the role of Minister for Women to a woman. Look at the wage gap and make a change. It is not OK to say it will be closer in a number of years. It must be on par today. Please also address violence against women. More must be done to educate people on this issue and create a safe environment for victims to speak about their experiences. It is not the responsibility of women to avoid violence, and you can help eliminate victim blaming.

Prime Minister Turnbull, I have never seen myself as a Liberal voter, but I do respect you… for now. You have replaced a leader who gave Australia a terrible reputation. Please do not waste your time in your new role. Act fast and create a legacy Australia can be proud of. Be on the right side of History. Do this for Australia.

Kind regards,

Georgie (no relation to Tony) Abbott

Objections to the Drayton South Project Application continue

(For now this mum & bub are safe near Mount Royal but for how long in our valley of coal mines)


Guest post from local farmer, Peter Hodges of Bowhay Pastoral Company, outlining his submission to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment last week

-------------------------------

Dear Ms McNally

Re; Objection to Drayton South Project Application No: SSD6875.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the above proposal. I have commented previously on this proposal and not all that much has changed. The proposed mine expansion is still too close to the Darley and Coolmore operations.

I am not an anti mining person. I have actually worked in 3 underground mines and a mine operated small power station. I appreciate the benefits of mining all sorts of products which help us in many ways. But I am against stupidity.

Putting aside the negative impacts on a lot of other activities such as agriculture, wine industry, tourism and yes, the thoroughbred Industry, let’s have a look at the environmental cost. A recent report I studied, said the mining output from the mines in the Hunter Valley and associated areas was 143 million tonnes for the 2013 year.

What it also indicated was the accepted ratio of per tonne of coal produced was 6.5 cubic metres of overburden removed. Roughly 6.5 tonnes of overburden per tonne of coal produced. That equates to close to 1 billion tonnes of existing geology, smashed. Just in one year.

When starting up a new open cut mining operation, a new mountain of overburden is started, from then on the overburden is thrown into the previous hole created, and as the mine finishes up at the end of the mining run, a hole is left that will more than likely eventually fill up with water.

The question then has to be asked, what will happen with the water that is contaminated from the now released by-product of the mining process. This by-product would have been previously locked away in different impermeable layers of rock and clays etc but now, because that has all been blown up and smashed, it is released. These can be different types of minerals, waters and acids previously contained in geology that evolved over millions of years.

My real fear is this contamination will eventually find its way into the Hunter River and head down to the coastal estuarine habitat areas which are absolutely vital for the continuation of many aquatic species such as young fish prawns worms oysters crabs etc.

Can’t happen?

Well I’ve been on the land, one way or another for most of my life. I grew up in Cessnock and remember vividly the 65/66 drought. The creeks around Cessnock dried up and the fish and yabbies were not happy. We were shown the impact of the drought on the farmers via black and white television. Dead sheep, cattle and crop losses. We landed in the Scone region early in the 1970’s. There were dairy farms and crop production all the way from Muswellbrook to Wingen in a continuous line. Most of the creeks seem to run all year round and occasionally flooded.

Then in 1979 it seemed to all change with the start of the 1979/1983 drought, followed by 1987, 1991, 1995 droughts and then the drought that ran from 2001 to June 2007. That one was broken by the Pasha Bulka, headbutting Newcastle beach. The thing that struck me about the 1970’s was one could bog a tractor on a gravel ridge because there was so much moisture about. When a period like this hits us sometime in the future it is not too hard to work out what the impacts of so much mining in a relatively concentrated area is eventually going to have on our stream and river system. Even with climate change this will still happen because again, as the planet heats up, the extremes will be bigger and have a greater impact. More droughts, more floods and more fires.

The big difference between open cut mining and agriculture based industries is this.

With open cut mining, the landscape is smashed. Yes they do rehabilitation work, but it is yet to be proven to stand the test of time. A scientist friend of mine, Mr Ken Reynolds, who passed away several years ago and who worked for the Soil Conservation Service told me he had been instructed to find a way to rehabilitate overburden. Experiments found the trees planted would last between 15 to 20 odd years but once their roots hit the deeper overburden material they would start to get sick and eventually die. So in other words, rehabilitation would look good from a distance but not stand the test of time. Eventually the land would become useless for agriculture and no good for mining because that’s already been done.

The future is in agriculture, whether it be in food production, such as cattle, sheep, goats, olives, vegetables, wine, hops, crops, citrus, stone fruits etc. And let’s not forget our equine industry. Especially the thoroughbred industry. Combined with all the other equine breeds and uses, the horse industry the last time I looked, was the 3rd biggest employer in the country. Overall In the agricultural sector employment is going up. Opportunities are there and rewarding. I love the stuff!

Employment in the mining industry is heading south and the sackings are continuing, even though overproduction is going up. The idiots in government need to stop throwing snags at the renewable industry because if this industry was allowed to develop it would help make up opportunities for those who lose their jobs in future automated open cut mining. The other thing the government needs to get rid of, are the crooks. But that seems to be a very slow process indeed. The fact that some of them have been politicians might be the problem.

Yours Sincerely
Peter

PAC ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING 8 SEPTEMBER 2015 WARKWORTH EXTENSION - BULGA

(Flying foxes, some of the many casaulties of 'mine-induced' habitat-destruction in the Hunter Valley)


Guest Post from local architect, Bev Atkinson, outlining her presentation to the Planning Assessment Commission in Singleton earlier this week

-------------------------------

I come from Scone, north of here in the coal belt. I am an architect.

I speak about making a healthy economic and social transition, straight away not later. Many of us reject any simplistic use of the word ‘jobs’ as persuasion to favour mines. As if it were mine earnings or no earnings. We all know that is not true.

In Scone all the time, we see trades drained of practical workers, to feed the mines. They use only a tiny percentage of all workers, but from the available skilled tradies needed in towns, they drain a significant number; and often the best. Many don’t return. So trade apprentices don’t get trained; there’s no time. Our living standard has actually dropped: it’s terribly difficult to get trade work done soon and well. Tourism fades as mining grows; and all those jobs go with it; permanently.

Miners earn a lot, but where I come from, it erodes equality, rather than spreading wealth around. And sadly, they can lose their health, which is priceless. I bought my home from a mine manager. He was well paid, but then he died young, of lung cancer.

Health effects from mining are spreading north. But we don’t see our doctors asking for more mines. Doctor shortages in the country are not boasted of as positive job opportunities from mining. Jobs involved in mental health problems, accidents to shiftwork drivers, and chasing up of infringements ... those jobs are not used to advertise mining. Many mine related jobs are just to patch up its problems.

How good for us all, if these jobs were lightened up and redirected, in an environment of healthy work and healthy land. People would spend more in town then, not less. Patients would not be advised to leave town to survive longer.

The fact is, new emerging and clean industries too, create flow-on and indirect employment.

I want to see the ancient traditional owners, and the people of Bulga today, with their history and society unbroken, their land intact. I hope to see them living free from the tensions of fighting for existence, free to work producing food and fibre ad infinitum on a clean landscape.

Their young workers will enter jobs which hurt nobody and sustain us all. Jobs in agriculture, in renewable energies, in manufacturing. Benign, creative jobs using practical skills. To get there we need to spend on jobs in re-training, research and development; now, not later. Training and research provides inspiring work, and it too, generates many support jobs. Mines have served as a sinkhole for top talent, and for training opportunities, for long enough. The balance is now tipped right over. Hence we have excess readiness for mine jobs, and underfunded TAFE colleges.

The advertised energy and optimism of mine work belongs more truly to jobs which endure, with the intact land, for longer than a handful of decades. Jobs which feed but also inspire our grandchildren’s grandchildren. Jobs which make things in Australia to serve our people, rather than jobs which import huge diggers made elsewhere.

We need workers in sustainable design and manufacturing, in technology for reducing energy demand; in our CSIRO, in water management, soil sciences, in habitat preservation and nature conservation, in the arts, and in careful timber production.

Is this expensive to do? So what ... we get what we pay for! Paying is what we want to do surely: paying workers! Isn’t that what we want? Jobs? Two researchers for the price of one miner, and both of them happy to clock off and have normal family hours.

It may cost, to start up these investments, so let’s subsidise that instead of mining.

Sadly, all mining must to some extent affect the land, the water, the soil, the trees and the habitat, while spoiling the air and climate. It cannot avoid extinguishing land which took eons to evolve. Land which left alone, could produce and sustain life for as long as Earth endures.

So to be credible, Government economic analysis needs to take in a realistically extended future timescale looking centuries ahead at least. Only then could it validly choose life or death for the planet. With luck, it might see the light and choose pathways which nurture the planet and its amazing species, against the fatal depredations of its escalating human population.

I salute the world famous people of Bulga, and the Wonnaruah our gracious, gentle and kindly landlords, for showing us where to start.

Bev Atkinson B.Arch Hons UNSW

PAC ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING 7 AND 8 SEPTEMBER 2015 WARKWORTH MOUNT THORLEY CONTINUATION PROJECTS EXPANSION APPLICATION

Guest Post from Wendy Wales outlining her presentation to the Planning Assessment Commission in Singleton earlier this week

-------------------------------

Thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of DAMS HEG.

Denman, Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group is a group that recognizes the connection between environmental and human health. We advocate for the conservation of remnant valley floor vegetation as a way of keeping the Hunter Valley habitable. We do not believe the Hunter Valley should be written off as a continuous sequence of coal mines.

We are opposed to this expansion both on environmental and health grounds.

On one occasion at Muswellbrook Hospital in the emergency ward with my students, we were told of the previous days cardio-pulmonary helicopter emergencies. The air quality that day was regarded as fair, good enough for most of us but, it seems likely a problem for the more vulnerable.

In the study Investigating the Health Impacts of Particulates associated with coal mining 2014 Dalton et al uses dose rates to provide understanding of the health impacts of dust., rather than incidence of particular diseases. 

For every 10μg/m3 increase in PM10 we can expect an increase of 0.6% deaths from any cause. 

In Muswellbrook postcode there was 29,000,000 kg of PM 10 from coal mining and 1,300,000kg from electricity generation 2013/2014. The mortality from lung cancer increased to 8% for a 10 μg/m3 PM2.5 increase. 

The National Pollutant Inventory reveals coal mining produces 700,000kg PM2.5 and power stations release 280,000kg.

The not-for-profit health professionals organization, Climate and Health Alliance in their study published this year, Coal and Health in the Hunter, Lessons from one valley for the world, summarise that “the impacts (of the rapid expansion of coal) on local communities in the Hunter Valley include exposure to harmful air, noise and water pollution, stress associated with social disruption, and a sense of abandonment as government’s prioritise the interests of the coal industry above that of the community.”

As the commissioners are aware Bulga Millbrodale Progress Assoc has been fighting the expansion ever since the company broke with its agreement to leave intact and not mine Sadle Ridge.

Their arguments were of social and biodiversity impacts and the Land and Environment Court ruled in their favour, as did the Supreme Court when the company appealed.

The cynical disregard of prior agreements by company not to advance toward Bulga should bring shame to its proponents.

The Warkworth Sands Woodland now critically endangered, will be out and out destroyed by this mine. The Federal EPBC has recently classified Central Hunter Woodland Eucalypts, found on the site, as critically endangered. This is another environmental bottom line being ignored by the proposal.

By removing social and environmental considerations from the approval process the corrupt minister Chris Hartcher was attempting to retreat to an era before 1987. In that year the UN Brudtland Report identified environment and society as needing to be part of a triple bottom line for sustainable development. That report was written, I repeat, in 1987 as a global response to climate change.

The world bank has warned that ‘we are on track for a 4°C warmer world (by the end of the century). This means “extreme heat waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity and life-threatening sea level rise”, “There is no certainty that adaptation to a 4°C warmer world is possible. “ Kevin Anderson of the Tyndale Centre for Climate Change Research says that 4°C warming is “incompatible with any reasonable characterization of an organized, equitable and civilized global community.”

We have wasted the time to easily and methodically move away from fossil fuels, climate change is now being felt. We need to stop pretending it isn’t happening and wake up to its mercilessness. We need to work together, retrain if necessary, reorganize and re-educate so that our lives will be enjoyable and meaningful and wonderful into the future, rather than desperate and impoverished.

I have been impressed at the various PACS at the civility and respect shown by everyone assembled. Imagine if we were putting this effort into work together for our children and the planet. It is so much easier not to wreck the Earth than it is to fix it.

We request the PAC reject the Warkworth Mount Thorley Continuation Project Expansion Application.

Thank you.

Wendy Wales
Denman, Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group

Shenhua Watermark Coal is WRONG WRONG WRONG

(YouTube clip: Our Land Our Water Our Future)


 Watch and weep ... and then write:

"Tell Shenhua not to bulldoze Liverpool Plains koalas!"

TO: 
Mr Michael Johnsen, MP (NSW State Parliament)

20 Bridge Street
MUSWELLBROOK NSW 2333

P (02) 6543 1065
F (02) 6543 1416
E upperhunter@parliament.nsw.gov.au

TO:
Mr Joel Fitzgibbon, MP (Federal Parliament)

3 Edward Street
CESSNOCK NSW 2325

P (02) 4991 1022
F (02) 4991 2322
E joel.fitzgibbon.MP@aph.gov.au

 ... for those of us in 'Upper Hunter' and 'Hunter.'

Now listen here, Tony, Naomi Changes Everything

(Powerful Image: Nature Vs Man By #MarioSanchezNevado, published on www.UpFade.com)

In Australia we lamely take instructions from a guy who believes that:

... Prison camps are for safety ...
... Coal is good for humanity ...

But Naomi has a different take, and every word she utters is just plain essential:

"Fossilised thinking is a threat to life earth ... when you're in a hole just stop digging ... no more new coalmines"

And in a nutshell if we don't start soon to act upon what she has to say we're fucked.

Her clarion call to arms is obligatory for those of us who believe in intergenerational equity, and it's just not an option anymore to turn our heads and pretend we don't see what's happening all around us.

"We simply cannot afford to allow trade to trump the planet" ...

Tony, Naomi is a true global leader, and she's not in the least bit dangerous ... now, you, on the other hand, are not good for humanity and are ...

... dangerous that is.

You, Tony, are positively #dangerous ... sigh

Open blogpost to Michael Johnsen MP member for Upper Hunter on behalf of Animals Australia

(Image: Animals Australia, the voice for animals)


Dear Michael,

If you and your colleagues pass the Biosecurity Bill 2015 into law you will be giving biosecurity officers greater powers to target 'animal-cruelty' investigators than the RSPCA has to protect animals.

Worse still, the maximum penalty under the Bill would be $1.1 million and a 3 year jail term dwarfing any penalties dealt out to those found guilty of serious animal cruelty.

The bill is utterly unconscionable, and how the parents and grandparents amongst you politicians can then face your children and grandchildren after committing such a deed (the passing of the Bill) remains an utter mystery to me. Or don't you plan to tell them about the factory pigs, and the factory hens, and the factory puppys, et al, suffering interminably?

This bill is a betrayal of democracy itself.

Kind regards,

Sue (no-relation-to-tony) Abbott
Scone NSW Australia

Business-as-usual must not carry on

(Film by Spencer Cathcart, YouTube)


Thought provoking and stirring - time to claw back everything from Big Corpa and our pathetic representatives who do Big C's bidding like the good little lobbyists that they are.

The Old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori

My first ANZAC Day in Australia was in 1983, the same year that Redgum's song was released. I was 23 and it was less than two years on from my father's death following the ditching of his RAF Jaguar into the Atlantic as a result of birdstrike. I had struggled with Remembrance Day, and I could see I was going to struggle with ANZAC Day.

As I remember that first ANZAC Day, it was a relatively sombre affair with little fanfare; basically an opportunity for ANZACs to catch up with each other, minus all the revolting hoopla that has become 'de rigeur' over the passing of the last three decades.

And now in 2015 ...

It's ... Party! Party! Party! ... no kidding today it's a straight out neat pop festival, and alarmingly, a significant number of the festival goers are blissfully unaware that Gallipoli was not a victory for Australia. It's a major 'event' now, with an event management team (vomit), and a programme entailing surf boat races, and cricket matches, and of course politicians tripping over themselves to be seen.

In effect the day is a perpetual celebration of military recruitment, a day of complete 'War-Washing.'

And the crassness of it all is accentuated this year because 2015 marks the centennary of the doomed ANZAC beach landing in Turkey.

Don't we see the message churned out by our ever-war-ready media, and gushy journos, and cynical leaders?:

Your country needs you boys and girls, there's money to be made here for Big Corpa.
Go forth and die for us, why don't you!

Wake up, Australia!

Nothing good comes out of war - NOTHING ...


And just as in 1983, our musicians today are still calling it for what it is; acknowledging the horrific ongoing-toll exacted on a nation, paying tribute to 'all the battle weary mothers' ... but ...

When will we ever learn?

(Cross-posted to Freedom Cyclist Blog)

Let the meme wars begin

Time to tell our politicians that we are not going to sit by and watch them destroy our one and only planet.

The Canadians are ramping up against their Big Corpa acolyte leader - let's do the same here.

How a new kind of politician might improve our lives

Dear Mike and Tony,

With the help of a few Tokyo city transport images to make this post a little eye-catching, I wish to share with you both that in my opinion neither of you are capable of leading us in either a state capacity (Mike) or a national capacity (Tony).


First, I wish to point out that Climate Change is no longer a matter for debate but one demanding urgent attention, and now more than ever we need leaders capable of meeting this crisis head on.

I am afraid your 'busines-as-usual-dig-baby-dig' approach is neither appropriate nor useful, and your pandering to fossil fuel industries renders you both redundant.


INFRASTRUCTURE and MINING are not requisites for successful government yet with you two we can only look forward to:

$$$ More mindless Road Building projects

$$$ More CSG, fracking and coal mines (cf. #myplace #HunterValley)

$$$ Less Public Transport (cf. #myplace #HunterValley #Newcastle)


... as well as

$$$ More multi-national tax avoidance

$$$ More GST

$$$ More TPPs


Whilst it seems to have slipped your attention, the tables have been turned and you now both play junior lobbyist roles for Big Corpa, not leadership ones.

Granting AGL the ability to flare volatile organic compounds within close proximity to homes and a dairy was always going to be madness as was approving a plan to mine the Breeza Plains ... are you kidding ... Australia's food bowl?


Seriously if we've got any chance of survival we need a new kind of politician who recognises that our lives and our planet are wild and need treasuring.

We need a new kind of politician who recognises the imperative to fight Climate Change and the need to reject those who fund its denial.

We need a new kind of politician who encourages 'public moderation' amongst Australians and who fosters municipal generosity; one who eschews the big end of town in order to give the other end of town that much touted 'fair go'.


Articulate and approachable, our new kind of politician will understand that favouring moneyed Big Corpa over the ordinary Australian is corrupt ...

... and our new kind of politician will declare war on the current system that has trapped us into ruining our country.

Oh yes, this new kind of politician will be prepared to listen to our murmurings, our rumblings.

Needless to mention we also need a politician who recognises Australian bicycle helmet law for the $$$ Sexist/Racist crap that it is (and perpetuates).

I'm sorry, boys ... but we just don't need you.

Please turn the lights out as you leave.

Kind regards,
Freedom Cyclist

(cross posted to Freedom Cyclist Blog)

Is there anybody out there?

We cannot do another term of Nationals - we just cannot.

They have been here forever, the last one for 27 years ... somebody ... anybody Save Our Souls!

Here in the electorate of the Upper Hunter we are drowning in a landscape of coal and gas and now that the government has truncated our railway line, we cannot even get out.

We are stuck in the middle of ecocide and injustice, our very own 'Faustian bargain' arranged by democracy.

Save our Souls.

We cannot breathe, we cannot farm, we cannot get to the doctors', we cannot get to the beach, we cannot get educated, we cannot get trained ... why?

... because Mike Baird and the Liberal National coalition are locked in a death spiral as a result of dodgy deals arranged by dodgy developers and dodgy politicians.

Mike Baird has got it seriously wrong.



Starting with trains and at the risk of being repetitive, it is unseemly for a premier to try and avoid the provisions of the Transport Administration Act which expressly forbid the cutting of a railway line except by Act of Parliament.

The Upper Hunter electorate is not impressed by his attempt to vest ownership of the railway line to the Hunter Development Corporation for railway acquisition purposes and neither are we impressed by their partnership with General Property Trust under the auspices of the government owned Urban Growth NSW.

(Screen capture from NSW Railpage)


Wendy Wales from the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMSHEG) is appalled that yet another vital public asset is being removed from collective use.

"I want to know why the information that Mr Robert Hawes, apparently a member of the Hunter Infrastructure and Investment Fund Board and the Hunter Development Corporation ... I want to know why that piece of information that he donated $60,000,000 to the government to assist with their 'deliberations on the future of the rail line,' ONLY appeared in the very last paragraph of the Newcastle Herald article 'City's future plotted by shadow government.'

"I want to know why this '$60,000,000 donation' mention hasn't been discussed more.

"I couldn't believe I was reading it correctly, you know $60 million donated to get rid of 2km of Newcastle rail so I raised the matter with George Souris.

"He told me via email that he had no knowledge of any of the assertions or content of this article and that he was sorry but he couldn't help me. He also went on to say that he'd had 'no engagement with ICAC on any Newcastle issue, but whatever it is, it ought to be given straight to ICAC,' whatever that means."

The article in question has since been removed from the Herald's site,



... however you can 'read all about it here!'

But back to Wendy's question, why did that $60,000,000 donation only get such a little snippet of reporting in the paper?

Why?

What is the back story there? Cui bono? Who benefited?

When you read the four documents that also featured in the 'now-removed-Newcastle-Herald' article,

1. Master Planning Group documents Friday 24 May 2013 — 10:00am

2. McCloy letter to Brad Hazzard Feb 2012

3. DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE March 2012

4. Brad Hazzard response

... you get a very chummy little picture ... all parties seem very connected and red flags are going off.

Conflicts of interests anyone?

You're not saying anything, Mike, and here in the Upper Hunter, we all want to know.

Simmering away behind Upper Hunter's transport injustice, the mines keep digging for humanity ... and a big gold-star for global pollution.

Is there anybody out there? Coal is ruining my valley



Once famous for its wines, today we are more famous for our mines, and along with inversions & DIDOs (drive-in-drive-outs), 'Keep-Out' and 'For-Sale' signs dot our landscape.









Take a drive on the New England Highway beyond Maitland, and the landscape vandalism caused by coal mines is obvious.



But leave the highway to take a detour, and abandoned houses hint of another vandalism.





Author, grandmother and long time hunter resident before her move to the North Coast hinterland late last year, Sharyn Munro told me that the damage done to communities by runaway coal and the gas extraction industries is heartbreaking.

"Despite all the hype and all the promises that streets would be paved with gold, and progress for all, a very good example of the reality is what happened with the Peabody Wilpinjong mine over at Woolar just over the range from the Hunter Valley.

"They had 96 entries in the phone book when that mine started, and most of the people in the village were all for it but then in five years of that mine opening, there were only 12 entries in the phone book – that village became unliveable."



"We’ve lost so many villages here in the Hunter; Warkworth, Camberwell’s owned by the mines, brave little Bulga’s struggling to survive against illegal encroachments. We’ve got Jerry’s Plains fearing for its life from the Peabody mine and Denman is at great risk from the 4 mines proposed for its community."



"Yes the money is huge but you know, at what cost, at what cost?"



Sharyn Munro's view on coal-induced community vandalism is shared by John Krey, member of the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association.

"We’ve been fighting a proposal which is an open cut mine expansion which would see the centre of Bulga be unliveable because of noise and dust.

"This has a massive effect on people’s psyche, on people’s view of the future, their view of where they are currently, and an open cut mine actually moving in such that they can no longer live in this area and their family and already families are splitting up."



John Krey says the DIDO miners work their shifts and leave as soon as they’re done.

"They don’t add anything to the social fabric of the village … the whole social approach or the whole social cohesiveness of the village is gone, and they do not contribute. It’s not the miners’ fault because they’re here to make the big money – but that does destroy the village."

No-one can argue that Bulga has not been destroyed.

Despite the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association's earlier victory against Rio Tinto, 'government-lobbying' for 'Big Mine' has seen the massive mine expansion finally approved followed by the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) suggesting that the village of Bulga could be relocated.

This is classic community vandalism perpetuated by the lunacy of coal with only our community elders prepared to take up the baton of defence ... sigh



We should be screaming from the rooftops ...

WE ARE SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS

Meanwhile bubbling away over the Barrington Tops in the east of the Upper Hunter electorate is Gloucester, fighting for their future, fighting for our future.



Right now there has been a suspension of AGL's coal seam gas activities as a consequence of chemicals used in their drilling processes appearing in the water.

Despite fierce opposition to the drilling and desecration of people's lives, the fossil fuel group has dominated the area of the local council's management side making it difficult for the actually elected councillors to take a position.

Ken Johnson (OAM), a former Principal in the NSW Department of Education, currently part-time university lecturer and representative on various government working parties, and the president of the Gloucester Project, says Gloucester can either choose a fossil fuel economy or a food future economy, the latter of which has already attracted a lot of positive attention from many different agencies.

"At last year's Australian Regional Development Conference in Albury, I gave a presentation on socio-economic, sustainable, regional development, showing the relationship between Gloucester approaching climate change difficulties and potentially being one of the areas to be favoured by climate change.

"As a gateway to the North Coast, this whole region could become an important food bowl for Australia, but to date the concept has been thoroughly blocked by Gloucester's council management which refuses to give it proper consideration.

"The purpose of the Gloucester Project is to increase the significance of sacrificed zones in relation to agencies with responsiblitiy to prepare areas for anticipated difficulties from climate change.

"Gloucester council management are not prepared to consider the emerging pattern that agencies promoting the fracking process are likely to be liable for adverse community outcomes because they have responsibilities regarding land use and the people who live in there.

"The process of fracking has a greater impact than previous methods of gas extraction because 'fracking' the strata increases the amount of chemicals escaping into the environment. We are looking at clear evidence concerning migrating methane and migrating mining impurities having a dire impact on people and communities.

"Mothers and babies living in close proximity to CSG wells have an increase risk of significant health difficulties."



The outlook is grim for the Upper Hunter.

Yet despite the countless studies available concerning the impact of fracking on humans, animals and vegetation, pointing to a chain of evidence against coal seam gas extraction, the Liberal National Government is determined to continue with their policy of CSG business as usual if re-elected.

Ken Johnson feels it will not be long before all agencies from governments and industries will have to accept their responsibilities towards maternal and infant health because the evidence is already showing that inadequate advice leads to litigation.

"We need to look at today's playgrounds, and think about the little girls playing in them who will be Australia's future mothers, and remember that in reality those little girls are playing a deadly lottery that will see a proportion of them who live within 30km of a well suffer from significant health problems - we are potentially sacrificing children.

"It is an inescapable issue and government and industry are complicit in the creation of maternal and infant disability - the research is there."

Back in Scone and 30km to the west of me and my family, we have just found out that AJ Lucas has just bought a licence to frack for CSG in Bunnan.

(Screen capture: Jeremy Buckingham, NSW Greens MP)


When will this madness stop?

We know that the National Party candidate plans to carry on as per the will of the current NSW government which really means as per the will of Big Corpa; you know 'Big Gas' and 'Big Mine' and 'Big Developa.'

(Image: with permission from Knitting Nannas)


The Gloucester Knitting Nannas are right when they advise us all in the Upper Hunter electorate to the put the National candidate last, and basically vote for someone else, anyone else.

The National Party has not served our interests in the electorate, only their own, and they are not entitled to this seat.

The beautiful Hunter Valley and the Upper Hunter electorate are being systematically destroyed and no-one, nothing is safe.



We can no longer listen to National party policies heavily weighted towards Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas imaginings - our reality ought not to have to entail National Party representation - they have failed us.



"Dear mythological creature in whom I don't believe,
Please don't let the National Party win in my electorate."

(also cross posted to Freedom Cyclist blog)