The Kawana Dolphins Senior and Junior Rugby League club recently welcomed me for a meeting. They’ve been caught off guard by news their club will be shut down to make way for a new Olympic indoor sports facility.
Despite the government claiming it consulted the community, the club only became aware of it the night before consultation closed. A council-proposed alternative site is 15 minutes’ drive away, outside of peak hour traffic.
While many parents currently let their children walk or bike to training, that won’t be possible to the alternative site with a route that includes a section of 100km/h road. The club would cease to exist.
Despite better viable alternatives and previous recommendations from the International Olympic Committee favouring the indoor centre at Maroochydore instead of Kawana, the 38-year-old club is still battling to have some common sense applied to safeguard its youth.
With no consultation, consideration, or regard for community impact, the Kawana Dolphins must remain where they are.
I urge the Queensland Government and Sunshine Coast Council to guarantee funding will be available for the centre at another site, reverse this decision, and support junior rugby league by allowing the Kawana Dolphins to remain in their current location.
In a win for the environment, the proposed Chalumbin industrial wind project on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland has been rejected. Communities throughout Queensland are facing similar, environment-destroying proposals.
This is a great win for the Community who have fought for years against this environmental vandalism. I’ve visited the area twice in the last 6 months, spoken to residents, and then represented their concerns in the Senate on a number of occasions.
The rejection is a rare win for the environment over virtue-signalling green power schemes that simply do not stack up on an environmental or economic basis.
Wind and solar are unreliable sources of power, poor investments when you remove the subsidies provided by taxpayer’s money, and terrible for the environment despite the sales pitch of ‘green’ energy, which is disinformation. We’re also seeing these so-called ‘renewables’ projects halting for financial reasons, with investors pulling out of large-scale wind and solar projects both in Australia and overseas, owing to their unprofitability.
Local environmentalists made a fierce, years long campaign against plans to turn Chalumbin into a wind installation.
Wind Farm (15/05/22). Top of ridge line that used to be in pristine condition now smashed.
Installing wind turbines is massive environmental vandalism. From grinding the tops off mountains for 250 metre high wind turbines to gouging 70-metre-wide roadways to access them and for the thousands of kilometres of transmission lines that run through national parks and private land. The net-zero plan for wind and solar cannot supply our energy needs and will destroy the natural environment Queenslanders love the most.
Wind turbines create disturbances to the air that prevent soaring birds from flying in the “tail” of these turbines. Kaban wind turbines near Ravenshoe are so large the disturbance interferes with soaring birds like Black Swans, Sarus Cranes and Brolgas for as much as 5 km.
Brolga (a member of the crane family) in flight. This species is found across tropical northern Australia, QLD, and parts of western Victoria, central NSW and south-eastern South Australia
This Labor government, with the blessings of both the Greens and the Liberal party, is accelerating its push to turn pristine Australian bushland into an industrial landscape for the Net Zero agenda. The foreign-owned Chalumbin industrial wind development would have put up monstrous 250-metre-high towers with the third longest blades ever seen in the world. The turbine blades are big bird killers and the noise from these machines is known stop wildlife breeding.
The Hypocrisy of Industrial Wind and Solar
The primary threat to wildlife globally is habitat loss. Koala and other endangered wildlife habitat has been taken. While the Greens talk frequently about saving the koalas, they pick and choose which koalas they care about. This vandalism must stop.
Top of ridge line that used to be in pristine condition now smashed. Chalumbin would have had 146km of new roads like this and Upper Burdekin will have another 150km of new roads
At the end of a mining operation, the mine can be filled in and remediated. In fact, legal contracts require it. This isn’t the case with the destruction created by wind and solar. They are not required to make good afterwards or remove toxic waste. There’s no replacing remnant forests or a mountain top after it’s been blasted off and bulldozed to make way for wind turbines.
The Chalumbin proposal was given a corner-cutting approvals process reserved for ‘renewables’ by the Queensland government. It set its sights on destroying 1000 of the remaining 8000 hectares of the buffer zone between rainforests and open plains to the south. The wet sclerophyll forest is home to the spectacled flying fox and northern great glider.
Chalumbin is not the only wind site needing our protection
As Nick Cater commented in his article in The Australian, 22 April 2024:
“Bulldozers were ripping swathes through hundreds of hectares of remnant native forest at nearby Kaban, blasting 330,000 tonnes of rock and dirt from the sides of hills to build access roads and turbine pads bigger than football fields.
All of this was occurring without a squeak from environmental groups, every one of which appeared to have swallowed the renewable energy Kool-Aid and, in some cases, its cash.”
Nearby Kaban excavations have disturbed arsenic found naturally in local rock formations. We simply don’t know what effect this will have on native wildlife in the years ahead.
The Woodleigh Swamp is an important wetland. Thousands of swans and brolgas normally rest here each year. Locals say that since Kaban opened, only a few kilometres away, the swamp has been almost deserted. Kaban and Chalumbin environmental impact statements make no mention of the catastrophic effects these installations have on uplift capacity for migratory and soaring birds, nor abandonment of natural upland habitat, despite a wealth of papers proving the link.
Sarus Cranes are only found in the far north-east of QLD in Australia
Common sense has prevailed for Chalumbin. Finally, it’s being recognised that you can’t save the environment by destroying thousands of hectares of forests as wind and solar projects will. But what about all the others that are in the pipeline?
It seems impossible that the equally sensitive Upper Burdekin project just 4.8km from the boundary of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area.
There are at least 30,000 hectares of remnant forest still earmarked for clearing across 52 wind farms on the Great Dividing Range in Queensland under current proposals.
This is the disgraceful reality behind the climate change agenda. A reality most Australians never get to see.
How do the Greens feel about vulnerable Greater Glider habitat being cleared in Far North Queensland? Will they say it’s for the Greater Good?
Critically endangered native plants making way for concrete, fibreglass, and steel that will be consigned to the scrap heap in 12-15 years is acceptable by-kill for the Green Agenda? Really?
Destructive projects like the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro in prime platypus habitat at Eungella must be ruled out.
This should not be a case of rewarding the squeaky door. Projects like Smokey Creek Solar that were quietly approved against local protests because they didn’t have a talented nature photographer like Steven Nowakowski to tell their story must be revisited and put through the full environmental assessment.
I congratulate the local environmentalists for their campaign to preserve this unique environment. We support Friends of Chalumbin and Steven Nowakowski. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Steven and thank him for his work capturing these fragile and beautiful ecosystems. The environmental movement is waking up thanks to environmentalists like Steven who’re getting out and filming and recording the truth of the destruction of nature.
The government must stop killing the environment to “save it”.
Media Release: Environment Wins Over Destructive Chalumbin Wind Project
The proposed Chalumbin wind project on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland has been rejected on environmental grounds. This rejection calls the entire net-zero transition and other projects into question. Common sense has prevailed – you can’t save the environment by destroying thousands of hectares of forests as wind and solar projects will.
After local environmentalists made a fierce, years long campaign, which I wholeheartedly supported, Minister Plibersek looks like she is managing appearances rather than the environment.
30,000 hectares of remnant forest will still be cleared across 52 wind farms on the Great Dividing Range in Queensland under current proposals. Destructive projects like the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro in prime platypus habitat at Eungella must be ruled out. Projects like Smokey Creek Solar that were quietly approved against local protests because they didn’t have a talented nature photographer like Steven Nowakowski to tell their story, must be revisited and put through the full environmental assessment.
Congratulations to local environmentalists for their campaign to preserve this unique environment. The net-zero plan for wind and solar cannot supply our energy needs and will destroy the nature Queenslanders love the most.
The government must stop killing the environment while claiming they’re saving it.
Joel Cauchi, who stabbed and killed six people and hospitalised another 12 people was a known mental health patient from Queensland.
With a long history of schizophrenia, Cauchi was living an itinerant lifestyle with deteriorating mental health and apparently not being adequately medicated or monitored.
How could this disaster have been prevented? Significant questions remain unanswered.
Who was responsible for managing his mental illness while in the community?
Had he been considered safe to be in the community and how could that decision have been so wrong?
Had he been lost to the system and fallen through the cracks in the system?
Was this because the Queensland mental health system is severely under resourced with insufficient trained staff and not enough mental health beds in a failed public health system?
Was this tragedy a result of the closing of mental health facilities and a foreseeable consequence of a policy of treating mentally ill patients within the community?
Was Cauchi being treated in Queensland under a Treatment Authority receiving enforced treatment and had he moved interstate to NSW to avoid treatment?
Did the Queensland mental health system know he had moved out of the state to NSW?
When was the last time his mental health had been assessed in Queensland?
Fixing this broken system may help prevent a repeat of this horror story.
At Senate Estimates, I asked the National Energy Management Institute about reports that have come out regarding the massive backlog of controlled burns still to be carried out. Only 20% of annual burn offs have been completed across Australia. This puts the country at greater risk of more severe bush fires. It’s hoped that the states and territories will put additional efforts into the work that still needs to be done.
I spoke about my visit to the Far North of Queensland in the wake of Cyclone Jasper and how the local residents did amazing work, pitching in to help each other with cleaning up and getting roads open again. The community efforts are an inspiration despite the delays in help arriving and lack of leadership.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: Who monitors the progress of controlled burning in relation to bushfires?
Mr Buffone : The states and territories specifically monitor the fuel reduction programs in each state. It’s different across each state. In some areas it’s rural fire services or country fire services. In other areas it’s a land management agency. But it very clearly sits with the states and territories in terms of managing, monitoring and delivering on their targets.
Senator ROBERTS: What have the various states and territories said in terms of goals for controlled burning?
Mr Buffone : Last year they had challenges meeting their targets. That was because the window to undertake burning programs was reduced quite significantly—first of all because of the wet periods, then also because of some of the extreme heat. So the window was significantly smaller. What they did do though, as things eased in relation to La Nina, was to start to bring on additional personnel to start to focus on the higher risk areas. They also looked at other options in relation to mechanical clearing and that sort of activity, and also worked with communities so that communities could undertake their own fuel reduction and fuel management across the country. But, without a doubt, the period in which to achieve that burning has reduced.
Senator ROBERTS: So you’re aware that they haven’t achieved much. In fact, reporting in December by Jonathan Lea of Sky News indicated New South Wales had only achieved 20 per cent of its hazard reduction burns halfway through the year. Have you had any up-to-date figures on that?
Mr Buffone : I don’t have up-to-date figures with me. As I said, we met with the commissioners and chief officers from around the country. It was basically a collaborative discussion around this particular issue, and they advised that they were putting significant effort into trying to increase the work done to reduce the risk. The other key thing is that they are having more of a focus on higher risk areas and different techniques, around townships in particular. That’s pretty much around the country.
Senator ROBERTS: It seems to be. Sky News Australia said it:
… can exclusively reveal the RFS has “hazard reduced” around 60,000 hectares—roughly 20 percent—of its 300,000-hectare target at almost the half-way point of the … year.
The same article went on to discuss how far behind various states were. Can you please take on notice to provide anything further that you have in terms of detail around controlled burn goals being set and how much is being fulfilled across the country.
Mr Buffone : We can take that on notice. As I said, we don’t specifically monitor it, so we will ask the states and territories to provide that information.
Senator ROBERTS: If we aren’t doing controlled burns then governments are basically setting the country up to burn in worse bushfires. Why aren’t controlled burns a huge priority for you as a national emergency management agency?
Mr Buffone : It’s not that they’re not a huge priority for us. It’s actually that we don’t have any jurisdiction at all over controlled burning, nor do we have the legislation or even the human resources. It is a state and territory responsibility with all of the legislation and management arrangements that sit within those jurisdictions.
Senator ROBERTS: That answers my questions. Minister, I just thought I’d make a comment. I went up to the Bloomfield area earlier this year, mid-January. Some of the residents were saying that they had very high praise for the quality of the individual workers in various agencies—state and federal. There was a lack of leadership and coordination overall through the project. I know that’s not the liaison officer’s function so I’m not having a go at you. In Bloomfield there was a three- to four-week delay of people just getting in there and doing anything at all—even to start. And I agree with you; the locals did a marvellous job in reopening roads and sharing each other’s workloads. It was amazing.
Senator Watt: Thanks, Senator Roberts. I’m certainly aware of that. After every disaster, unfortunately, we see—you know, people go through a lot in those experiences. Sometimes people don’t get exactly the level of support that they would like to see, whether it be from local, state or federal governments. What I can say is that I know that in the relatively early stages there were Queensland government SES personnel in the communities in and around Bloomfield. I’d have to check whether, specifically, they were in Bloomfield and on what date. We also deployed people from Disaster Relief Australia to work in some of those communities as well. That’s a veteran led volunteer organisation that we are funding so it can expand its reach. There did end up being ADF personnel in some of those communities as well. Again, I’d have to work out exactly who was in Bloomfield, as opposed to [inaudible] Degarra and some of the other communities. I know that SES personnel were in Degarra, for example—
CHAIR: In the first week of January.
Senator Watt: So relatively soon. Equally, I recognise that community members did an enormous amount themselves. We do see that after disasters as well. But governments do work together as much as we can to try to get other resources in as quickly as we can. In those areas there was an additional complication around access—to simply get people in. One of the things that we ended up getting the ADF to do was to actually provide, effectively, barge services to get personnel and equipment in to help with the recovery. But we couldn’t get people in until access was available. So sometimes these things do take a little longer than what people would like to see, but I can assure you there was a lot of effort that went in across all levels of government to get people support.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/cMsWAE5N-VE/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2024-02-23 09:03:152024-02-23 09:03:20Backlog of Burn-Offs Runs the Risk of Severe Bush Fires
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Steven-Miles.jpg?fit=1266%2C713&ssl=17131266Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-12-29 19:28:262023-12-29 19:28:39New Premier of Queensland and Backroom Deals
Thank you to the residents west of Cressbrook Dam who took the time to tell me their concerns about a proposed pumped hydro at the site along with huge clearing proposed for associated transmission lines.
Labor is hollowing out the bush and lying about it. I asked why the Emu Swamp Dam near Stanthorpe in Queensland was cancelled and Minister Watt responded that it was the road that was cancelled. What Minister Watt did not admit was that Labor had cancelled the dam last year and had recently cancelled the infrastructure around the dam, just to make sure it never gets built.
During the recent drought, Stanthorpe, famous for its apples and grapes, had to resort to water tankers to keep it’s residents supplied. Access to clean water is a basic human requirement. The Emu Swamp Dam was a modest solution to water shortage in the Southern Downs of Queensland. Labor are refusing to build dams for drinking water and instead plan to use treated recycled water for drinking water. I will speak more on that next year.
Labor destroy where One Nation would build.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Senator Watt. Minister, why is the Australian government no longer proceeding with construction of the Emu Swamp dam and pipeline located near Stanthorpe in our state of Queensland?
Senator Watt (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management): Thank you, Senator Roberts. I welcome a question about Queensland infrastructure from a Queensland senator on the other side of the chamber. It’s a shame people like Senator McGrath didn’t manage to get a question up about these important issues. Senator McGrath, of course, is just reduced to interjections, rather than asking serious questions about these matters.
The President: Senator Watt.
Opposition senators interjecting—
Senator Watt: You don’t want to hear that? You don’t want to hear about your failures on infrastructure? If you’ve heard what I’ve had to say this week, Senator Roberts, you’ll know that the infrastructure budget that we inherited from the coalition was hopelessly overblown. There was a budget blowout of $33 billion.
Senator Birmingham: I rise on a point of order. This is actually a good example of the type of point of order that I made before. Senator Roberts asked a question about a particular infrastructure project, the Emu Swamp dam. That should not then be a licence for the minister to go off talking about infrastructure projects in general, or the former government in general. It was clearly a question specific to a particular project, and the minister should be drawn to answer on that project.
Senator Wong: On the point of order, I can recall many times when coalition ministers went much farther than 41 seconds in before they even got close to the question. I’d remind you of Senator Brandis. We all remember Senator Brandis when he was sitting in this chair.
Senator Birmingham: And I can remember you sitting in this chair and what you had to say.
Senator Wong: And I never got very far with that argument, but hope beats eternal.
Senator Rennick interjecting—
The President: Senator Rennick!
Senator Watt: Poor old Gerard. You’re not going to be here long, though, are you? Enjoy it while you’re here, Gerard.
Senator Henderson: That is really nasty, Senator Watt. You’re a nasty piece of work.
The President: Order across the chamber! Senator Henderson, I ask you to withdraw that remark.
Senator Henderson: Can I take a point of order?
The President: I’ve asked you to withdraw the remark, Senator Henderson.
Senator Henderson: I wish to make a point of order, President.
The President: Senator Henderson, I’ve asked you to withdraw your remark.
Senator Henderson: I withdraw, but can I take a point of order?
The President: If you sit down, I will entertain a point of order—as long it’s not on me asking you to withdraw. Thank you. Senator Henderson.
Senator Henderson: I rise on a point of order. Senator Watt just made a very uncalled for and offensive remark in relation to Senator Rennick, and I would ask him to withdraw it.
The President: Senator Henderson, I didn’t hear any remark. The chamber was incredibly disorderly at the time. All I can do is ask Senator Watt, if he made a personal reflection on Senator Rennick, to withdraw that.
Senator Watt: I’m happy to withdraw. Senator Rennick has a lot to say. I’m happy to withdraw.
The President: Senator Watt, before I call you again, I will draw your attention back to Senator Roberts’s question.
Senator Watt: Senator Roberts, I was explaining the basis for the decisions. The particular project that you’re talking about that won’t be proceeding is a road to a dam that is not proceeding. This government thinks that it’s a good idea, if you’re spending infrastructure money on a road, that it should be a road that leads to something that is actually happening and exists. That dam was a promise that was made by the former coalition government that never had the funding, wasn’t properly planned and is not proceeding. Senator Roberts, I know you’re someone who cares very much about the appropriate use of taxpayers’ funds. You would agree, I’m sure, that it’s not a good use of taxpayers’ funds to build roads that lead to dams that don’t exist and won’t exist.
But, Senator Roberts, I’m sure you’d also be pleased to have heard me talk about some of the projects in Queensland that are getting funding and that are only possible because of those sorts of decisions about the responsible allocation of funding. Because of that we can now fund the cost increase in the Rockhampton Ring Road project with an extra $348 million in addition to the money that the federal government had allocated. I know Central Queensland is an area that you’re interested in, Senator Roberts. By cutting projects that won’t exist and that aren’t needed, we can fund other things like that. (Time expired)
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/151123-Capture.png?fit=898%2C508&ssl=1508898Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-11-15 18:21:192023-11-15 18:21:22Scaremongers Calling for MASKS Again in Queensland
I was successful in having the project known as Iron Boomerang referred to a Senate Inquiry. Iron Boomerang is a railway that is really a shopping cart on rails — bringing iron ore, rare earths and agricultural product from West Australia to North Queensland for easy export to markets around the world.
The iron ore will be combined with beautiful Queensland coal in a steel park in Queensland for domestic use, and for export to Asia and the Americas. The trains will then return to Western Australia loaded with coal, where another steel mill in the Pilbara will make steel for export to the subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.
Estimates predict this project could add $200 billion (10%) to Australia’s GDP creating 50,000+ breadwinner jobs, while securing the nations’ future.
The Committee found in favour of the project and instructed Infrastructure Australia to contact the project sponsors to get started.
In today’s Senate Estimate session, Infrastructure Australia had the hide to say they ignored the request of the Senate Committee. As a result, this nation-building, jobs-rich project has not progressed. Watch this space!
https://img.youtube.com/vi/MEsvnDluY-A/hqdefault.jpg360480Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-10-25 11:00:572023-11-22 16:02:03Linking the Top End Coast to Coast by Rail
It was a pleasure to join Bruce, Julie and Jared at Skeleton Glass in Molendinar on Tuesday, 19 September 2023.
They want students to know that there are viable options to attending uni that will give them skills and a good income, and I couldn’t agree more.
We need more of our young people doing trades, especially when it’s often a better income than what some university graduates can achieve with less relevant degrees.
Glazier apprenticeships are an underrated and important part of our construction industry.
