Join us for a discussion on Native Title … and more! Liz Suduk, your One Nation Candidate for the upcoming Queensland State Election, will be joining me to hear your concerns on this and other issues affecting you and your community!
Dining in? Book your meals directly with the Toobeah Hotel by calling (07) 4677 5280
RSVP here: https://senroberts.com/3WcJGPJ
Saturday, 13 July 2024
11 am to 1:30 pm
Inland Rail is a multi-billion dollar project aimed at extending the existing inland railway line that currently runs between Melbourne and Parkes, and up to Brisbane. This will be a combination of existing and new sections of rail. The idea is to have a north south connection between Brisbane and Melbourne that can shift hundreds of thousands of movement from road to rail freight. This line will need to be upgraded to accommodate double-stacked container trains that are 1.8 km long.
One Nation supports rail transport over road transport, but for this to be effective, the rail service must reflect the needs of the industry. This means trains need to depart according to industry schedules, reliable connections need to be maintained, and fair pricing offered. Inland Rail, in its current form, will provide none of those things. The current alignment (route) in QLD takes the line across the Condamine floodplain, which is, quite frankly, a stupid idea. The deep clay soil in that area cannot support a railway line without horrendously expensive supports, which will then act as a dam during a flood. The Brisbane Port access is constrained, meaning the railway line across Brisbane and into the Port is running close to capacity, with no easy way to extend it. The Port of Gladstone offers a much better option. The line can go inland up the Mooney Highway, then through Wandoan to Banana and onwards to Gladstone. This direct, flood-free alignment will provide a cheaper and more reliable transit option.
A new container handling facility is being built in Gladstone, with an intermodal connection to the railway. Gladstone is perfectly positioned to serve as Australia’s gateway port for container traffic from Asia. Best of all, the Port is located away from the city and is strongly supported by local councils. Despite inquiring about this option, it appears the floodplain alignment remains the preferred option. This is not good enough! One Nation will continue to campaign for Inland Rail to run through to the Port of Gladstone.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you for being here again. I have a number of questions, but I think they’re fairly short and straightforward. Recommendation 1 of the Schott report into the ARTC was to address skills deficiencies in the ARTC. I note that you’ve hired a new chair, Mr Peter Duncan. Has Mr Duncan ever built a railway?
Mr Johnson: Mr Duncan is the chair of the board. His skills go to requisite skills to be able to lead a board and our organisation. He is certainly familiar with long linear infrastructure, the engineering infrastructure. He’s very familiar with that from his prior roles.
Senator ROBERTS: What sort of long—
Mr Johnson: Roads and water. It’s really not a matter for me to comment on the appointment of other directors and Mr Duncan in a role. What I would say is that the board are working really well with myself and holding me to account to make sure we’ve got the requisite skills to operate, maintain and create the network. Further to the recommendations, a key recommendation from Dr Schott’s report and the review was the establishment of the Inland Rail subsidiary and the establishment of the board in parallel. That’s why we sit here today. Nick is the new CEO to Inland Rail. That subsidiary is now fully fledged. They have both a chair and a board in place for the construction of Inland Rail.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. I appreciate and understand the distinctions between governance, management and trusteeship, if you like. He has not built a railway, but he has done other long infrastructure. The other new senior hire is Dr Collette Burke, who is a qualified engineer. Can you confirm her engineering qualification, please?
Mr Johnson: I know that Collette is an esteemed and qualified engineer, but I don’t have those details in front of me.
Senator ROBERTS: Could we get it on notice, please?
Mr Johnson: No problem.
Senator ROBERTS: There are reports—these may be old—that Dr Burke is also contributing to the Marinus Link from Tasmania to Victoria and Snowy Hydro 2.0. At these still current appointments?
Mr Johnson: Like all directors, Collette as a director on the board has made clear what other commitments she has and whether are any conflicts at play. I can confirm that is the case.
Senator ROBERTS: So she is still on the other two boards?
Mr Johnson: Yes.
Senator ROBERTS: Minister, has the government made any other appointments to ARTC that address the skills deficiencies identified in the Schott report?
Senator Carol Brown: I don’t have that information with me, but I can take it on notice.
Mr Miller: Of course there’s a secondary board now, the subsidiary board of Inland Rail, whose directors all have extensive infrastructure experience.
Senator ROBERTS: In the earlier discussion on Inland Rail, I asked about what has been called the Goondiwindi to Gladstone alignment. I was advised that this is in the hands of the Queensland government. I find that surprising, when the Commonwealth government is paying for the project. It sounds like the Queensland government is going to decide how the Commonwealth spends the money. The Goondiwindi to Gladstone route is substantially cheaper, and I know there is at least one private partnership trying to get the attention of government with extensive expertise in railroads, freight, construction and shipping. They have money to spend. They’re willing to make a commitment, especially on the Surat Basin link from Moranbah to Banana. I don’t understand why, when the government is juggling budget deficits moving forward, it’s proving so hard to get even a meeting about a public-private partnership happening on this alternative route.
Mr Johnson: Just to be really clear, there are a few things happening there in parallel. Inland Rail Pty Ltd, headed by Nick, are continuing the work around the design of the route that heads over the Toowoomba range to Ebenezer, and working closely with the National Intermodal company on the connection at Ebenezer. That’s what Inland Rail are focused on. I am aware that there is some early business case development for other alternative options—Goondiwindi or Toowoomba to Gladstone—that the Queensland government have had some insight into.
Senator ROBERTS: So both Goondiwindi to Gladstone and Toowoomba to Gladstone are being considered as alternative business cases?
Mr Johnson: I have heard that both are. That’s right. I am acutely aware of the private interest that you’ve mentioned, and we’ve made it clear to the proponent—as we would for anyone who was interested in either developing, adjoining or working around the network, given we’re really the national rail network manager—that, when they get to the point that they’re at an EIS, an environmental impact statement, we’d be happy to support what type of views or impacts that would have, in a practical sense, and suggest what they might consider in that input. We have met, so I’m a little bit lost with the statement that it’s hard to get that meeting.
Senator ROBERTS: So you’ve already been working with them?
Mr Johnson: We’ve had a couple of meetings about what we can do at different stages, as they progress their development, to offer them whatever practical support we can, as we would for any other adjoining infrastructure manager.
Senator ROBERTS: So would you be willing to meet with a private investor who’s willing to fund the railroad construction from Surat Basin, from Moranbah to Banana?
Mr Johnson: We meet with a number of proponents. That one is a long way from our network, but nationally we’ve met with a number of people who are looking at different things, mostly where it’s connected to our network.
Senator ROBERTS: How about Inland Rail? Would you be willing to meet the investor to consider this?
Mr Miller: We’d be willing to meet to assist with indicative pricing that we have experienced per kilometre. It’s outside our scope in terms of our current remit. We’re going from border to Toowoomba and then down to Kagaru, and that’s where our focus is, around the environmental approvals and land acquisition, at present.
Senator ROBERTS: That’s the vast majority of the cost of Inland Rail—from Toowoomba to Brisbane—as I understand it.
Mr Miller: It’s a significant part of Inland Rail. It’s not the vast majority.
Senator ROBERTS: Okay. We can argue about that at another time. Does the ARTC have any other publicprivate partnerships in place for Inland Rail? By ‘private’, I mean actually contributing private funding to the project.
Mr Johnson: No. The private partnership contract has ceased.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. Does the ARTC have any signed agreements in the Queensland leg of Inland Rail? If so, which?
Mr Miller: Signed agreements?
Senator ROBERTS: Yes.
Mr Miller: With agencies or—
Senator ROBERTS: Any agreements committing Inland Rail to—
Mr Miller: Yes, we do. We have multiple land agreements in place. We are well developed with our environmental approvals.
Senator ROBERTS: That’s for the Toowoomba to Ebenezer route?
Mr Miller: That’s from the border to Toowoomba—the Gowrie route.
Senator ROBERTS: Across the Condamine?
Mr Miller: Across the Condamine. We expect to be in a position to go to public exhibition No. 2 in the last quarter of this year with that EIS approval.
Senator ROBERTS: What’s the sunk cost of Inland Rail specifically for the Queensland sections? You can do that on notice.
Mr Miller: I will do that on notice. I can advise the Senate that to date—or to the end of March—we have spent $4.3 billion on the entire program.
Senator ROBERTS: In Queensland?
Mr Miller: No, across the entire program.
Senator ROBERTS: Okay. Could I have the—
Mr Miller: The sunk cost for Queensland?
Senator ROBERTS: Yes, please. The rail line from Ebenezer to the port of Brisbane is constrained. The available capacity on that line does not allow for the volume of freight necessary to ever get the construction costs back. The cost of the tunnel down the mountain is without a doubt $20 million, and it won’t be necessary if the rail line terminates in the port of Gladstone. Are they considerations you’re working on in the back of your mind?
Mr Miller: Our current scope of work is to take double-stack container trains to Ebenezer, and then they are transitioned to single-stack to Kagaru. That’s our scope.
Senator ROBERTS: Okay. I don’t understand why this economic reality has not been seized upon to reset the planning towards the Goondiwindi to Gladstone route, with freight destined for the airport at Wellcamp coming down from the Miles intermodal to Wellcamp. Are you considering that as part of the alternative?
Mr Miller: We’re not considering an alternative, but what we are considering is getting the environmental approvals and land acquisition to Toowoomba as a priority, and we’re continuing with the Kagaru section, with three EISs concurrently in that space.
Senator ROBERTS: You’re aware of the massive concerns about the Condamine crossing?
Mr Miller: Yes, we are, and we’ve undertaken very significant hydrological studies. Those studies have been to a flood panel and have been accepted as part of the EIS process.
Senator ROBERTS: What about the foundations for the elevated section of that line, which will be fairly lengthy?
Mr Miller: Yes, there is going to be an elevated section through the Condamine to improve resilience and reliability during flood periods.
Senator ROBERTS: Are you aware of the cost?
Mr Miller: We are working through the costs. The costs will be subject to the conditions that, ultimately, the EIS from the Coordinator-General’s office in Queensland puts upon us, plus the timeline, in terms of when that’s going to be built with inflation and the like, and the design and geotech that’s going on. We’re also doing some embankment trials in that area to ascertain what settlement impacts there will be, and what that means from an engineering perspective, so we can more accurately define the cost and scope.
Senator ROBERTS: Minister, the outcome of this review by ARTC and the Queensland government of the Queensland leg, in my opinion, must lead to the abandonment of the Condamine floodplain crossing of this railway line; otherwise the railway line won’t be built. That’s my opinion. I’d like to know your feedback on that. What are you getting in the way of reassurance from Inland Rail?
Senator Carol Brown: We take our advice from the experts.
Senator ROBERTS: Are they outside Inland Rail or inside?
Senator Carol Brown: Thank you for your view.
Senator ROBERTS: Are you getting experts from inside Inland Rail, as well as outside Inland Rail, especially on the Condamine crossing?
Senator Carol Brown: We get our expert opinions from Inland Rail, as well as our departmental people, but thank you for your view. I’ll pass it on.
In July 2022, I was successful in having the Senate conduct an inquiry into the ‘Iron Boomerang’ project. This project aims to build steel mills in Abbott Point Townsville and Port Headland, connecting iron ore from the west with coal from Queensland to manufacture Australian steel of superior quality at a more competitive price compared to other steel producers.
World leading steel producers are eager to construct these mills at their own expense, recognising the undeniable financial and quality advantages of the project. Yet, governments have stood in the way of approvals since the project was first raised in the 1980s.
Now for the first time, all relevant governments needed to approve the project are from the same party, removing the political obstacles that have hindered progress so far.
One Nation has been advocating for this project since 2016 and Minister Ayr’s responses to my inquiries today were encouraging. I appreciate the Minister’s comprehensive understanding of the project and wholeheartedly agree with the numerous benefits it offers.
I look forward to this project receiving approval.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you for appearing tonight. Recommendation 2 of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee inquiry report into the project known as Iron Boomerang reads: The committee recommends the Australian Government commissions and publishes a scoping study on the establishment of a steel plant/s located in Northern Australia. This relates to the proposal for steel plants at Abbot Point near Townsville and Port Hedland in Western Australia with a railway line or ships being used to exchange iron ore and coal backwards and forwards to make the world’s highest quality steel prices that undercut China by at least 10 per cent. This project will generate hundreds of billions of dollars per year in steel and associated products, many fine by-products, and create tens of thousands of breadwinner jobs. The project proponents have advised they have the funding to build this project from leading infrastructure world funds already. This project does not need public money. The land at Abbot Point is already zoned for a steel mill. Minister, my question is, will you call this inquiry and ensure our future really is made in Australia?
Senator Ayres: I’m advised that the government is considering its response to this inquiry. I can say further that of course iron ore is one of Australia’s largest commodity exports. We have a very capable mining sector, and we also have adjacent to our mining sector vast solar and wind reserves. The Future Made in Australia agenda is looking at value adding in iron and steel, across a range of our critical mineral categories. It offers very significant opportunities for investment in precisely the kind of industrial capability that you are referring to here. I don’t know anything about the actual proponents of these particular facilities, but in the broad, in metals processing Australia has a significant future comparative advantage. This government wants to make sure that we secure that comparative advantage and that investment, I’m sure.
Senator ROBERTS: Minister, I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but this project as it stands will significantly—I don’t believe it’s necessary to reduce carbon dioxide from human activity, but you do and the government does. This project as it stands, with the use of conventional rail, conventional ships, will dramatically reduce the carbon dioxide from human activity because there will be no empty backloading. There will be no oneway transport of coal or iron ore, which are currently exported in massive quantities from this country. Instead, they’ll just be shuffled across the country in a very limited transport regime and back load so that there will always be a load.
Senator Ayres: Much broader than that is our advantage in solar and wind with 97 per cent of our trading partners, including our trading partners in energy and steel production. Think of markets in Korea and Japan. There are very significant opportunities for Australia in both economic development terms and also, as you point to, in emissions reductions terms, to make a significant contribution to the emissions reductions by our partners by producing onshore in a cleaner way than our trading partners do. This is a very significant national interest question for Australia, and the government is working hard to secure future investments in this area.
Friday, 21 June 2024: Join me and your One Nation candidate, small business woman and community leader, Taryn Gillard.
Secure your spot: ttps://www.trybooking.com/CSTZV
Friday, 21 June 2024
1pm to 3 pm
8, 373 Kent Street
Maryborough
Adam Maslen, our state candidate for the seat of Nanango, will be joining me in Kingaroy. This is your opportunity to ask questions and learn about his plans as your state representative in the Queensland Parliament.
We will discuss the destructible renewable energy projects that are emerging throughout regional and rural Queensland, and many other pressing issues.
I look forward to meeting you. See you there!
Please RSVP here: Community forum On Renewables – ONE NATION QUEENSLAND and note that meals need to be booked directly with the Carrollee Hotel on 07 4162-1055.
Thursday. 20 June 2024
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Carrollee Hotel
4 King Street
Kingaroy QLD 4610
Google map and directions
Contact: Front Desk – One Nation HQ · office@onenation.org.au · 1300 857 466
When discussing coral bleaching, the assumption these days immediately defaults to blaming mythical “climate change” instead of looking for the real cause.
There are many causes of bleaching, including changes in salinity, UV radiation, sedimentation, and pollution. Coral bleaching is a response to environmental stress, not just temperature fluctuation.
Studies have shown evidence of bleaching dating back centuries, long before any “claimed” influence on the weather was caused by humans. Coral has shown resilience and adaptability to different conditions and reefs have recovered from bleaching events for millennia.
It’s time the climate carpetbaggers were called out for their selective pseudo-science that is designed to protect their taxpayer funding. It’s time to recognise the resilience of our coral reefs and bring the tourists back to Queensland.
When discussing coral bleaching recently, the assumption defaults to blaming claimed human climate change instead of asking what actually caused it. Coral bleaching in simple terms is a loss of colour in coral, most often due to symbiosis dysfunction, a severing of the join between the coral polyp and the host tissue—the calcium carbonate that gives coral its white colour. Bleaching is a response to environmental stress. It has many causes, including changes in salinity, ultraviolet radiation, increased sedimentation and high nutrient levels after flooding or pollution.
Kamenos from the University of Glasgow found evidence of Great Barrier Reef bleaching in the 1600s. His paper has been contested, yet the many citations used to support his paper have not been. Hendy documented two hiatuses in coral skeleton growth, associated tissue death and subsequent regrowth in eight multicentury coral cores collected from the central Great Barrier Reef accurately dated to 1782 to 1817. This period was before humans are claimed to have influenced the weather.
Dunne recorded bleaching on the reef in 1928. Woolridge documented the bleaching caused by floodwaters carrying nutrients impacting on the reef. Kenkel found coral has plasticity to adapt to different environmental conditions and is more resilient than previously thought. Maynard found that coral adapts to bleaching by becoming more resilient. During the past 2.5 million years, there have been 40 glacial maximums and 40 interglacial periods. Eighty times, coral has had to rise or fall by up to 140 metres, and our coral reefs are still there. How resilient they are.
Our reefs have been subjected to bleaching for millennia, and they always recover, as they did in 2022, when the Greens were telling us the reef was dead, and tourists believed them. Tourist numbers are below the long-term average, COVID excluded.
It’s time climate carpetbaggers were called out for selective pseudoscience designed to protect their taxpayer funding. Bleaching is a part of nature. It recovers. It’s cyclical.
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.
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.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you, Chair.
Casual Coal Wage TheftFebruary 21, 2024 - 2:09 pmOver $30,000 a year being stolen, and it’s been signed off by the union and the government. Find out about the largest wage theft from casuals in Australia.
My Other IssuesFebruary 16, 2021 - 12:08 pm
Murray Darling BasinMarch 23, 2020 - 3:05 am
Foreign OwnershipOctober 16, 2019 - 4:58 am
Property rightsOctober 16, 2019 - 4:39 am
United Nations #AUSEXITOctober 16, 2019 - 2:31 am