Riverside Refridgerated Transport semi-trailer loses control at speed at night in the wet on the Great Western Highway in an 80kph zoneThen crashes into a Springwood home narrowly missing the occupants. Last Monday 20130916 near midnight
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This loaded semi-trailer was being driven by 43 year old truck driver from Cowra, where Riverside Refridgerated Transport is based. It was near midnight and he was likely delivering refridgerated farm produce to Sydney markets.
Problem is that it was wet and along that section of the Great Western Highway through Springwood the speed limit is 80kph. So the truck driver must have been either speeding or fell asleep at the wheel, or both. The semi careered off the highway on the right bend and ploughed into a telegraph pole, cutting it in half under the force, then crashed into the side yard of 2 Boland Avenue, just metres from the house and its innocent occupants.
So much for carting Cowra’s best produce to marketPay peanuts, cut corners…
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The crash also ruptured a gas main, which caused a significant leak, causing all west bound lanes of the highway to be closed for one and a half hours. Police also had to evacuate residents from another two nearby homes.
What caused the crash? The media is quick to report the crash as a newsworthy story, but rarely investigates the cause nor takes much interest in the repeated recurrence on our highways.
The government authority responsible for trucking operations and for road design and safety across New South Wales is the Roads and Maritime Services (the old RTA-com-RMS, just rebranded). There is no crash barrier on this right bend of the Great Western Highway, yet this particular road section allows for all vehicles to travel at 80 kph. It is just past a down hill run, so how many vehicles travelling east typically nudge 90 kph, including trucks?
The RTA-come-RMS doesn’t care. Has it ever had speed monitoring at this location? Road policy at the RTA-come-RMS is that crash barriers and upgrades to highway safety are not implemented unless there is a history of “crash data”. Someone has to die before the RTA-come-RMS does anything.
Consider the nearby George Street intersection with the Great Western Highway just a kilometre east. When the highway was widened gto four lanes and tranformed into a 80 kph trucking expressway, George Street access was without traffic lights. Entry into the highway was Russian Roulette. Around this four laned expressway section of the Great Western Highway between 2000 and 2010, as it travels through Springwood, some 137 crashes have been documented according to Blue Mountains Council records. [Source: ‘Springwood to Valley Heights Link Road -Traffic Modelling Report, 20120408, by GST Consultants p.5, – see report attached at end of this article].
Wider and faster is not safer! More faster bigger trucks are not safer!
Midnight trucking is inherently deadly because late and night and the early hours of the morning only defies the human biological clock when humans naturally need sleep. Graveyard shift work on the road through the night is killing truck drivers and fellow motorists sharing the highway. Midnight trucking is a ticking time bomb.
Fatigue Management is a farce …just don’t forget to spell towns properly in your log book.
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Yet governments across Australia including the New South Wales government are encouraging this unnatural practice, by accommodating the trucking industry with bigger roads and transforming regional highways like the Great Western Highway into national trucking expressways.
And as they build bigger roads for bigger trucks, they destroy the environment and roadside communities.
Australian governments at national and state levels are changing laws to allow for larger and longer trucks B-doubles and B-triples to do the overnight linehaul task best suited to trains.
B-triples (basically ‘road-trains’) have already been introduced on regional highways in South Australian, Queensland and Victoria
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Yet despite national legislation to try to address the systemic fatigue problem amongst linehaul truck drivers, goivernment agencies like the RTA-come-RMS provbide not fatigue managemnent infratructure along the entire length of the Great Western Higwhay between Penrith and Orange.
It’s a disgraceful “she’ll be right” mindset – just use the servos or park your rig on the highway shoulder outside local residents homes, like opposite the Caltex servo in Mount Victiria and leave your refrigerator compressor on all night.
Midnight Refridgeration…passing through a town near you
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Five days previously in Adelaide, on Wednesday 20130911, at about 1:00 am a B-Double left Glen Osmond Drive in the suburb of Frewville and collected a parked van, stobie pole, water hydrant and gas meter, before coming to a rest in the front of the Singapore House restaurant at 203 Glen Osmond Road.
Not the first time for midnight trucking on four laned sections of the Great Western Highway..and this is before you get to the deadly six-laned M4.
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Still, the NSW Government remains manifestly committed to its 20th Century trucking mindset, ignoring big picture freight rail. It has this week just announced it will spend $11.5 billion on a 33 km trucking motorway across Sydney. That is nearly a third of the annual Gross Domestic Product of New South Wales.
Just as the F3 was widened from two lanes each way, the existing M4 is to be widened to four lanes each way.
The Great Western Highway across the Blue Mountains continues to be transformed from a regional highway through town and villages into an ugly concrete 4-laned trucking expressway.
Everything in the path of the road legions is being destroyed. Forests, hillsides, communities all are cast aside for more, bigger and faster trucks.
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The moral relativism of killing
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It is along these faster wider sections of the expressway, like the M4 that the road collisions and deaths are manifesting. Speed kills, but the RTA-come-RMS adopts the gun lobby attitude that it is not speed that kills but the people behind the wheels that kill.
The trucks keep speeding and the RTA-come-RMS keeps building larger and faster highways to encourage them.
[Source: locals protest against speeding trucks at Urunga on the New South Wales north coast, ‘
RMS hears rally message’ (but ignores it as usual), by Ute Schulenberg, 20120216, Coffs Harbour Advocate,
^http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/rms-hears-rally-message/1274282/]
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Great Western Highway increasingly one of Australia’s riskiest roads
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<< Four people were killed in four separate local highway smashes over just 44 days earlier this year (2010) — three of those smashes involved trucks. Stark proof of why our Great Western Highway has been rated among Australia’s riskiest roads.
The Australian Roads Assessment Programme – AusRAP – gave the GWH only two stars out of five for safety in 2007, using data from 2000-2004. A poor result after so many millions had been poured into its improvement. AusRAP is an initiative of the Australian Automobile Association, the state motoring associations’ peak body. It says the degree of risk, or just how safe a road is, depends to an extent on whether safety has been built-in to it with elements such as wide lanes and shoulders and safety barriers, which are known to have an impact on the likelihood of a crash and its severity.
Perhaps the GWH will score better than two stars out of five next time – if AusRAP ever gets the money to re-rate it.
As any road safety expert will tell you, getting the toll down depends on three essential goals: safer roads, safer vehicles and safer drivers.
It’s for accident investigators and the Coroner to apportion blame in those four recent GWH smashes; however, we can use them as a warning about what needs to be done to reduce deaths and injuries on the GWH.
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Safer Roads?
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The GWH scores so poorly on AusRAP’s safety scale for three key deficiencies:
Not surprising then that three of those four recent smashes were head-on collisions where one vehicle crossed onto the wrong side of the road into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The fourth involved a truck doing the same thing, but fortunately no oncoming vehicle was in its path and the truck ended up embedded in a residental property.
Two of those smashes occurred on an improved section of the highway where there was no barrier between carriageways.
About 14,000 vehicles a day travel on the Blue Mountains section of the GWH. Heavy vehicles make up about 15 per cent of this traffic with more than half the road freight transport between the central west and Sydney using the highway.
The upgrade of the GWH in the Blue Mountains involves widening it to four lanes between Emu Plains and Katoomba and to mostly three lanes between Katoomba and Mount Victoria at a cost of many hundreds of millions.
There’s a limit to how fast it can be done, but it’s sad to reflect on how many innocent lives may be lost over the next decade simply due to the absence of a crash barrier between carriageways.
Narrow highway shoulders making breakdowns a death trap
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Safer Vehicles?
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Each year in Australia around 200 people are killed in ‘under-run’ crashes. Most of the victims are the occupants of the cars involved.
Front Under-run Protection Systems [FUPS] can reduce this carnage, as the NRMA emphasised in its recent report on The Safety Needs of Heavy Vehicles in Australia. [Ed: see details below at end]
These systems prevent a car from becoming trapped under the front of a truck in the event of a collision between the two, thereby ensuring the car’s safety features such as seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones remain fully effective. Some trucks already have FUPS.
FUPS must now be fitted to all new models of heavy vehicles (over 12 tonnes) from January 2011 and to all existing models from January 2012.
The NRMA report also called for side and rear under-run barriers on trucks. “Rigid trucks are particulartly dangerous in regard to rear under-run,” it said, “as there is generally a long overhang on the tray, which leads to a substantial under-run distance for impacting cars with consequent serious injuries for occupants, including decapitation.”
It also called for stability control on prime-movers and trailers, improved brakes, tamper-proof electronic on-board monitors, Advanced Emergency Braking Systems and a timeline for their implementation.
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The predicted result: more and bigger trucks on the road with an increasing trend towards articulated vehicles with multiple trailers.
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“The manual log-book system for monitoring driving hours and driver behaviour has long since lost any vestige of credibility,” the NRMA reported. “Widespread abuse of the system and difficulties in enforcing requirements, along with high levels of fatigue related crashes mean that urgent action must be taken.”
Australia’s freight task in 2020 is expected to be double that of 2006, according to research cited by the NRMA, and by 2050 to be triple its current size. “Given that the rail system cannot cater, or is unsuitable, for accommodating this increase,” the NRMA says, “it is the road system that will bear the brunt.” [Ed: The NRMA derives its revenue from road users, so it is inherently biased towards advocating for more roads and opposed to freight rail, and wil not even consider rail, because it has no potential revenue to gain].
The predicted result is more and bigger trucks on the road with an increasing trend towards articulated vehicles with multiple trailers. >>
<< Bobbin South Coast operations manager Brendon Bobbin is behind bars and the fleet of 30 trucks and 50 trailers under investigation after a Police raid swept the highways to target alleged drug use, fatigue and speed compliance yesterday (Thursday).
Mr Bobbin, 41, has been under investigation about the alleged use and supply of prohibited drugs during the operation of heavy vehicles as part of Operation Felled, formed to investigate the 40-year-old family company’s operations and compliance with road transport legislation.
The operation hit the ground in force today targeting speed tampering, fatigue offences and vehicle compliance, including workbook and system breaches, and involved Engine Control Modules (ECM) downloads and drug and alcohol testing.
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“All heavy vehicles should have tamper-proof on board monitoring to ensure drivers comply with the law and electronic stability control to help protect motorists from truck mass and momentum.”
~ NRMA, July 2007.
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Mr Bobbin was arrested at South Pambula at 7.55am with Police allegedly seizing an amount of prohibited drugs and drug paraphernalia in a vehicle and prohibited drugs inside the premise.
Brendon Bobbin is led away after being arrested at South Coast Bobbins depot on Thursday.
With him are Eden police officers Constable Andrew Kuzmins and Sergeant Scott Blanch (right).
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He was charged at Eden Police Station with supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drugs, supply prohibited drugs (two counts) and possess prohibited drugs (two counts) and later appeared at Batemans Bay Local Court.
Mr Bobbin will next appear in court via video link on August 26. Bobbins South Coast Transport’s faces penalties in excess of $43,000 as Police investigate speed and fatigue management.
Police seized company computer records and documents from the South Pambula site and a company depot in Ingleburn this morning.
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Fleet drivers were also targeted across the state with Police intercepting trucks for vehicle and driver checks on major highways across Sydney. Five drivers will appear in court facing fatigue related offences and a further two were dealt infringement notices of $2092 for speed tampering and compliance issues.
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Sixteen defect notices were issued by RMS for a range of minor and major defects including brakes, tyres, oil and fuel issues, and suspension, body/chassis, and tow couplings.
A further 10 infringements have been issued for other defects, fatigue, and ECM offences.
Police Superintendent Stuart Smith, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, said today’s operation is only the start for truckies and operators who are not compliant with legislation.
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Police Superintendent Stuart Smith:
“This operation is part of our ongoing commitment to stamping out rogue operators on our major highways and roads,” he said. “There is no place in the trucking industry for alleged speed and fatigue enhancing, by tampering with equipment or taking illegal drugs.
Fatigued drivers or those under the influence behind the wheel of a heavy vehicle put motorists at serious risk on our roads. Every year for the last three years, there have been in excess of 80 fatalities on our roads involving heavy vehicles. Our message is clear to operators and drivers, clean up your act before we do it for you.”
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RMS General Manager of Compliance Operation, Mr Paul Endycott, said today’s operation by the Joint Heavy Vehicle Taskforce highlights the important work this group carry out to keep roads safe for all motorists.
“The fatigue issues and speed limiter tampering identified is deeply concerning and shows there is still work to be done to ensure the majority of honest, hard working truck drivers and operators are not unfairly associated with such dangerous and illegal behaviour,” Mr Endycott said. >>
Police ‘Operation Felled’ – the official police version…
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<< NSW Police and Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) officers have executed search warrants and intercepted a company’s fleet of heavy vehicles as part of an investigation into alleged speed tampering and compliance.
Operation Felled was formed by Traffic and Highway Patrol and Far South Coast LAC, to investigate one company’s daily operations and compliance with road transport legislation.
The operation which is ongoing targeted speed tampering, fatigue offences and vehicle compliance, including workbook and system breaches, and involved engine control modules (ECM) downloads and drug and alcohol testing.
About 7.55am today, a 41-year-old Greigs Flat man was arrested at a South Pambula address. He has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drugs, supply prohibited drugs (x2) and possess prohibited drugs (x2). He was refused bail to appear in Batemans Bay Local Court today (Thursday 22 August 2013).
The man’s arrest relates to inquiries into the alleged use and supply of prohibited drugs during the operation of heavy vehicles.
About 8am today (Thursday 22 August 2013), police executed warrants at Pambula on the South Coast and Greigs Flat, as well as a company depot in Ingleburn. Officers also intercepted fleet trucks in transit on major highways across Sydney, checking compliance and drug and alcohol testing drivers.
At the Greigs Flat address, officers allegedly located an amount of prohibited drugs and drug paraphernalia in a vehicle and prohibited drugs inside the premise. These were seized by police.
During the warrants, investigators seized company computer records and documents allegedly relating to speed and fatigue management and responsibilities.
Two trucks were identified for speed tampering and compliance issues, resulting in two drivers receiving infringements for $2092. The RMS will now investigate these matters further in terms of the company’s compliance with speed requirements.
A company convicted of speed tampering faces penalties in excess of $16,000, while directors can also be held responsible. Company’s convicted of breaches of fatigue requirements can face penalties in excess of $27,000.
So far during the operation, 16 defects have been issued by RMS for a range of minor and major defects inclusive of brakes, tyres, oil and fuel issues, and suspension, body/chassis, and tow couplings.
Police and RMS have inspected 18 trucks in NSW, five were identified interstate, which resulted in five court attendance notices issued to drivers for fatigue-related offences. A further 10 infringements have been issued for other defects, fatigue, and ECM offences.
Superintendent Stuart Smith, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, said today’s operation is only the start for truckies and operators who are not compliant with our legislation.
“This operation is part of our ongoing commitment to stamping out rogue operators on our major highways and roads.
“There is no place in the trucking industry for alleged speed and fatigue enhancing, by tampering with equipment or taking illegal drugs. Fatigued drivers or those under the influence behind the wheel of a heavy vehicle put motorists at serious risk on our roads.
“Every year for the last three years, there have been in excess of 80 fatalities on our roads involving heavy vehicles.
“Our message is clear to operators and drivers, clean up your act before we do it for you,” Superintendent Smith said.
RMS General Manager of Compliance Operation, Mr Paul Endycott, said today’s operation by the Joint Heavy Vehicle Taskforce highlights the important work this group carry out to keep our roads safe for all motorists.
“The fatigue issues and speed limiter tampering identified is deeply concerning and shows there is still work to be done to ensure the majority of honest, hard working truck drivers and operators are not unfairly associated with such dangerous and illegal behaviour,” Mr Endycott said.
Coles Freshness policy blamed for deliver truck speeding regime
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<< Transport Workers Union deputy secretary Michael Aird has called on Coles to take responsibility for rogue operators in its supply chain after police arrested one of its drivers on the NSW South Coast this week.
Thursday’s arrest (Bobbins Transport) was part of an operation targeting the alleged use and supply of prohibited drugs during the operation of heavy vehicles.
During the warrants, investigators also seized company computer records and documents allegedly relating to speed and fatigue management and responsibilities.
Mr Aird says the problem is a systemic one and people really need to understand that it is part of a bigger picture.
“When a giant retailer like Coles pushes down rates, drivers end up being forced into dangerous practices that will kill people on our roads,” Mr Aird said.
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“Desperate companies unfortunately resort to outrageous and illegal practices just to stay in business because of the enormous pressures imposed on them by Coles.
“People need to understand that one of the real costs of Coles driving prices down to increase profits is putting dangerously unsafe trucking companies onto our public roads.”
Mr Aird said truck drivers being forced to work under enormous pressure from unrealistic deadlines imposed by large retail giants contributed to the more than 300 deaths on Australian roads each year.
“This is why the TWU continues to campaign for Safe Rates for our members and for all Australians using our roads: which mean fair pay for truck drivers and safe roads for drivers.
“The Coles business model is driving companies into unsafe practices and costing innocent people their lives,” Mr Aird said.
The trucking company, Bobbins, is in the Coles supply chain and contracting for Coles. It has previously been involved in serious accidents and had been found to be tampering with speed limiters. >> .
2012: Cowboy Truckers discovered yet Duncan Gay makes no systemic overhaul
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<< Calls have grown for an overhaul of the trucking industry after the discovery of systemic safety breaches by (Lennons) transport company linked to a triple road fatality in Sydney.
The NSW government announced it would spring spot checks on heavy vehicles but says it will await the outcome of a police investigation into Lennons Transport Services before taking further action.
Police descended on the company early yesterday after one of their drivers was charged over the January 24 accident on the Hume Highway in Menangle.
They later said they had found safety breaches, including attempts to manipulate speed limiters, on eight Lennons trucks.
Operation Marshall was formed after Calvyn Logan, 59, and his elderly parents Donald and Patricia Logan, aged in their 80s, died on January 24 when a B-double truck careered onto the wrong side of the road.
On Tuesday police charged Vincent George, 33, with three counts of dangerous driving occasioning death.
He will appear in Campbelltown Local Court on May 16.
Yesterday, officers converged on the company’s headquarters at Enfield, in Sydney’s inner-west, and alerted authorities across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.
They allegedly located 19 of 35 vehicles and found speed limiters on seven of the trucks had been altered so they could travel beyond the maximum 100km/h speed limit.
An eighth vehicle had its fuel system altered to deliver more fuel to the engine in order to achieve higher speeds, police said.
One driver was found with cannabis in his possession and another had exceeded fatigue restrictions by driving 17 hours in one day.
Police located another Lennons truck abandoned on a roadside in Victoria and the driver’s logbook in a nearby rubbish bin.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander John Hartley said police also located doctored logbooks and many devices used to manipulate speed limits at Lennons offices.
RMS regulatory services director, Peter Wells, said tampering with trucks to exceed maximum speeds was well known in the industry.
“There is a practice in the industry of modifying speed limiters,” Mr Wells told reporters in Sydney.
He would not comment on whether the RMS had been investigating Lennons before the crash but expected charges to be laid.
But the RMS did confirm that Lennons was slapped with a court supervisory intervention order in 2008 as a “systematic or persistent offender” of road laws.
NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson yesterday called on the state government to investigate the industry.
But when asked if a widespread review of the industry was needed, Premier Barry O’Farrell said “anything in that sense will be informed by what is discovered in this instance”.
NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said trucks would be subject to random checks to stop “cowboy” operators from illegally tampering with them.
“I certainly would describe it as a blitz, and it’s not the end,” Mr Gay said yesterday.
TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon blamed retailers like Coles and Woolworths for putting “crazy” deadlines on drivers.
“The people that have been driving (with) these unsafe practices, and trucks being interfered with, has been as a result of the economic pressure from Coles and the other major retailers.”
Lennons has been a member of TruckSafe since 1999, a voluntary regulatory scheme administered by the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), which gives transport companies federal fuel tax credits. Auditors contact members in advance of an inspection but only inspect maintenance records. They were last inspected in June 2010 and no breaches were found.
<< Modular B-triple truck configurations will now be allowed on the Newell Highway from Narrabri to Goondiwindi in NSW.
As part of national heavy vehicle reforms, modular B-triples are allowed to operate on the road train network west of the Newell under the same conditions as Type 1 road trains.
Transport operators travelling from far western NSW, e.g. on the Kamilaroi Highway, will now be able to access the Newell at Narrabri to use the 225 kilometre stretch of highway to Goondiwindi, and then beyond.
Even though they have an extra (third) trailer, modular B-triples are typically shorter than Type 1 road trains currently operating on this section of the Newell.
Modern modular B-triples are said to be safer than some of the older and heavier vehicle combinations using these routes, especially in terms of their manoeuvrability and handling performance. Being articulated they follow the road better.
Industry research has shown that a semi-trailer operating at a higher mass limit (HML) takes approximately 37 trips to transport 1,000 tonnes of freight, whereas for the same tonnage a modular B-triple operating at HML only requires about 17 trips.
The stretch of the Newell Highway between Narrabri and Goondiwindi has been determined as having suitable infrastructure to accommodate these types of trucks.
Type 1 Road Train Max length = 36.5 metres
Modular B-triple Max length = 35.0 metres
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The roads west of the Newell, on which Type 1 road trains and modular B-triples currently operate, have significantly lower traffic volumes than the Newell itself.
For this reason, and to ensure consistency with the existing approach taken for routes on and east of the highway, modular B-triples using the Newell itself will be required to meet additional requirements including:
Accreditation under the maintenance module of National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS);
Road-friendly suspension; and
Enrolment in the Intelligent Access Program (IAP)
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Consistent with requirements already in place for road trains and modular B-triples in this part of NSW, vehicles will need to comply with a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h.
In April this year, the NSW Government and Transport Certification Australia (TCA) announced a new entry options initiative and flexible pricing framework to help reduce the costs of transport operators implementing and using IAP.
The entry options arrangement recognises transport operators have existing in-vehicle GPS units and makes it easier for transport operators to have their existing in-vehicle units assessed and type-approved to comply with national IAP standards.
Modular B-triples are expected to start using the Newell Highway between Narrabri and Goondiwindi from late August, subject to permit approval.
Operators interested in applying for permits should contact iap@rms.nsw.gov.au.
Wildlife photography is not about humanising wildlife for entertainment. It ought to be about awareness, wonder and respect for wildlife and their habitat.
Zoology may be about technical understanding of the structure and classification of the animal kingdom, but since Darwin we have realised that animals are so much more complex creatures of behaviour and integral to ecology than just being taxidermied museum specimens for public display.
Zoos are just an extension of museums for the benefit of public entertainment. But they do not respect wildlife in their habitat.
In their habitat and ecological context, photographed wildlife may be better appreciated and valued for their integral role in Nature. But at a respectful distance.
<< A deep admiration for Nature has led many to another level of appreciation–the craft of wildlife photography.
Unfortunately, not all who photograph wildlife do so out of caring and with respect for our fellow beings. In fact, the behavior of many photographers, both amateur and professional, can only be described as disrespectful, disruptive and sometimes dangerous to the animals they are photographing.
For example, every spring in Yellowstone you are sure to see a large group of photographers standing around–or even sitting on lawn chairs–talking loudly right outside some poor badger’s birthing den, waiting for the family to emerge. Though these folks may think nothing of the clamor of a rowdy bar or ball game, how would they like to live next door to that bar or ball field, or wake up to the racket of an expectant crowd of photojournalists right outside their bedroom window?
In response to this kind of ill-behavior, which invariably results in the harassment or endangerment of wildlife, informal guidelines have been established to spell out just how close, in yards or feet, one should get to an individual animal, depending on that species’ tolerance zone.
But rather than memorizing numbers and gauging distances, perhaps it would be easier for photographers and wildlife observers to apply The Golden Rulein each and every situation.
However, instead of the old, oversimplified rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” why not adopt a revised golden rule that takes into account the differences between ourselves and other species? Maybe something like, “Do unto others as you think they would have you do unto them.” In other words, try to envision what the animals’ needs and self interests are and take into consideration how their lives in the wild are different from our own.
Empathy, the intellectual or emotional identification with another — or the ability to relate to others — is essential for maintaining ethical standards when photographing wildlife.
Last spring I watched from a distance as the annual gathering of noisy photographers was posted outside the entrance of a badger den. They were so deep in conversation and oblivious to their surroundings that none of them noticed as the mother badger finally made a break for it in hopes of procuring food for her young.
The day before, I had photographed the same badger den from across a road with a 600mm telephoto lens fitted with a 2X extender to bring the subject in closer without actually getting close. Because I remained on the opposite side of the road and well away from the den, quietly giving them the space they needed to engage in their activities and enjoy the sunny day, the badger and her young came and went freely, without paying me any notice.
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The Poor Man’s Super-Telephoto Lens:
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<< The lens of choice among the serious pro wildlife photographers I know seems to be the 600mm ƒ/4 super-telephoto. It’s great for subjects that won’t let you get close, is incredibly sharp, and autofocuses quickly and accurately. However, it costs over $7,000.
That being just a bit beyond my budget, when I really need “reach,” I turn my $1,200 300mm ƒ/4 lens into a 600mm ƒ/8 by attaching a $300 2x teleconverter between the lens and camera body.Also known as tele-extenders, teleconverters are available from the major lens manufacturers for their long lenses, and offer three major benefits.
First, as just cited, they’re an economical way to get superlong focal lengths. And they’re not just for the budget-challenged. Pros use them, too—a 1.4x converter turns that monster 600mm into an 840mm; a 2x converter, into a 1200mm.
The second benefit of the teleconverter is that it doesn’t change the lens’ minimum focusing distance. Add a 2x converter to a 300mm lens that focuses down to five feet, and you have a 600mm lens that focuses down to five feet. (For comparison, my camera manufacturer’s 600mm super-telephoto won’t focus closer than 18 feet unless you attach it to an extension tube; but then it won’t focus out to infinity.)
The third teleconverter benefit is lack of bulk. A 300mm lens with a 2x teleconverter is much more compact than a 600mm ƒ/4 super-telephoto lens. (A 600mm ƒ/8 prime lens also would be smaller than the 600mm ƒ/4, but currently no one makes a 600mm ƒ/8. >>
A national Park like Yellowstone can be the perfect place for photographing animals without causing them undue stress. Since they know they are safe from hunting within park boundaries, “game species” are not so distrustful of human presence.
Although many species are easily viewable from park roadways, they are much less concerned about vehicles than people approaching on foot. Staying in your car makes wildlife feel more comfortable, and your vehicle makes a great blind for photographing animals calmly going about their business. Some of my best photos have been taken out of the window of my rig.
Other examples of photographer misconduct include trimming away vegetation–that may conceal a nest or den from people and predators–to get a clearer photo, throwing food to attract animals, and the all-too-common habit of yelling or honking at an elk, a bison or a family of bears so they will look toward the camera.
By using empathy we can begin to recognize changes in behavior and respect the signals animals use to convey to us that we are irritating them or getting too close for their comfort.
Every year irresponsible photographers are gored by bison, trampled by moose, or charged by bears. When these animals are annoyed to the point that they feel the need to defend themselves, chances are they will suffer or die for it in the end. Thoughtless conduct can also force animals to leave their familiar surroundings, interrupt natural activities necessary for survival, or even separate mothers from their young.
Outdoor Photographer magazine ran an article in January/February 2000 on “Tips for Photographing Eagles” with the sub-heading “A long lens, the right location and a sensitive approach can get you excellent images of these majestic birds”.
The author of the article, Bill Silliker, Jr. wrote, “If you don’t have a long lens, don’t push it. Ethical wildlife photography requires that we forego attempts to photograph wildlife when we’re not equipped for it or if the attempt might harass or somehow place the subject in jeopardy. Be satisfied with images that show an eagle in its habitat. Editors use those too.”
The other day a neighbour stopped by and, upon seeing the small herd of black-tailed deer who found refuge on my land, asked if I was a hunter. When I said, “No, I’m a wildlife photographer,” he shrugged and replied, “It’s all shooting.”
Well, yes and no.
The obvious, major difference is that the animals “shot” with a camera do not end up dead. But because there are similarities to hunting, many people approach wildlife photography with a similar mind-set. It’s laughable to see photographers in a national park camouflaged from head-to-toe, sometimes including face paint, photographing a bull elk as he calmly grazes alongside the road–fully aware of their presence. And I couldn’t count how many times I’ve seen tourists run right up to a bear, elk, bison, or moose with a tiny disposable camera to get their close-up “trophy” photo.
They seem to think it’s only fair–that they are entitled to get closer–since they don’t have a large telephoto for their camera. But if they were to examine their motives they would realize that their behaviour is not fair to the animal. Is their trophy more important than the well-being of the subject of their photo?
At the height of disregard, some photographers will use hounds fitted with radio collars to pursue and corner bears, bobcats, or cougars for close-up photos of these more elusive species. If they are “lucky”, they might even catch the animal snarling in response–just the way any number of hunting magazines like to portray them on their covers or in juicy, two-page fold-outs. But how would they feel if they had to flee for their lives, chased down by a pack of dogs until they were exhausted or treed, just so someone could get a picture of them?
Wildlife photography should not be thought of as a sport or challenge against nature, or against the animals who did not volunteer for the game. Would it be considered ethical to make sport of photographing unwilling human subjects?
Unethical practices of those who photograph wildlife for self-serving purposes have given the whole field a bad name. Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature” has proposed a moratorium on new wildlife photos, to prevent further aggravation of endangered animals. He argues there are plenty of photos already out there for use in prints and publications. As more incidents of unethical behaviour by photographers occur, the privilege of photographing wild animals will become more and more restricted.
Still, no amount of harassment or disruption of wildlife in any way justifies the increasingly popular use of game farms by so-called wildlife photographers.
Too often, the “wild” animal seen in a publication or promotional is actually a captive animal sentenced to life on a game farm. Game farms use high fences, costing upwards of $8,000.00 per mile, to keep their preferred, sometimes exotic species in. These fences also effectively keep the native migratory wildlife out, thereby taking up valuable habitat.
While many game farms profit directly from the hunting of animals in their enclosures, others appear relatively innocuous, charging only for public viewing and private photographic sessions with “wildlife models,” including crowd-pleasing kittens, cubs, or fawns bred specifically for that purpose. But as these animals get older and less photogenic, they are auctioned off as “surplus” to the highest bidders–a common practice of zoos as well. It is likely the same animals that appeared as cute babies on calendars, greeting cards, or other publications will end up a few years later at another game farm that does profit from the canned hunting of them.
Most photographers and photo editors do not differentiate between wild or captive animals when selling and publishing images. Using photos shot at game farms supports those who profit from exploiting animals by keeping them captive to serve as models for photographers, entertainment for tourists, or targets for trophy hunters. At the same time, these photos set a new, unnatural standard for closeness and intimacy with animals that the public expects to see in every future image.
And while on the subject of ethics, how ethical is it to top off a day of photographing waterfowl or ungulates with a dinner of poultry or red meat?
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Don’t all living beings deserve our compassion and respect?
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I had long heard that animals feel less threatened by someone who does not eat meat, but I wondered how long a human could survive without consuming the flesh of others. After six years as a vegan, I can attest to the fact that wild animals are not as fearful of me now, and that saying “no” to animal protein is healthier and easier than I ever would have imagined. >>
“The control of Nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy when it was supposed that Nature exists for the convenience of Man.”
~ Rachael Carson
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Then in ecological teachings and outdoor recreation they teach “minimal impact” respect for the Natural environment:
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“Take nothng but pictures, kill nothing but time, leave nothing but footprints.”
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“The purist ecological approach remains a world away from all manner of industrial reality down the road.”
Rainwater, streams, surface water, ground water, aquifers and Australia’s Great Artesian Basin are all interconnected hydrology across Eastern Australia.
In the Blue Mountains plateau country, west of Sydney, sandstone-ironstone geology creates a subterrainean barrier to rainwater absorption and so the ground water slowly flows horizontally over longer periods. This sustains upland swamps and wetland ecosystems.
Human built settlement across the central Blue Mountains ridgeland since the 1820s introduced sewage contamination into the downstream watercourses, gullies and gorge country below. The raw sewage drainage piping into the valleys below the townships has recently been diverted expensively to contained closed system sewage infrastructure. But urban runoff and dodgy stormwater overflows into legacy sewage mains cause ongoing leakages into the water catchments of the Blue Mountains.
Savvy local bushwalkers know not to drink the water from watercourses downstream of Blackheath, Springwood, Katoomba and other such townships.
Prudent government authority, Sydney Water, disinfects its drinking water reservoirs in the Blue Mountains, to be safe.
But some of the Blue Mountains water that falls as rain in a largely wilderness region, is captured as drinking water in a few reservoirs, then pumped by larged pipes up to large water tanks above the Blue Mountains townships to enable gravity to deliver pressurised water to thousands of homes.
Ed: Are we to now expect fresh green paint over the chlorine salt efflorescent tanks to hide the problem?
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Chloramine Tap Water
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Across New South Wales, Sydney Water routinely disinfects drinking water in its reservoirs to control the risk of prevalent and toxic E. coli, Cryptosporidium and Giardia bacteria contamination.
Sydney Water applies a derivative of chlorine known as chloramine in its reservoirs – a disinfectant formed by mixing chlorine with ammonia. This is less toxic than the hypochlorous acid typically applied to swimming pools. Given the history in the Blue Mountains of sewage and runoff downstream from upstream townships, Sydney Water ups the dosage of chloramine, to be sure.
Chloramine is a less effective disinfectant than the hypochlorous acid, but it is longer lasting and stays in the water system as it moves through the pipes that transport it to consumers (a process that can take three or four days). For this reason, chloramine is often used alongside chlorine as a “secondary” disinfectant designed to remain in drinking water longer. But what are the long term impacts of drinking Chloramine contained in drinking water. What long term scientific studies have been done and publicly reported?
Chlorine by itself is a very dangerous material. Liquid chlorine burns the skin and gaseous chlorine irritates the mucus membranes. Concentrations of the gas as low as 3.5 parts per million can be detected by smell while concentrations of 1000 parts per million can be fatal after a few deep breaths.
In the Blue Mountains, the tap water is decidedly hardened in taste by the chlorine additive. So should tap water in the Blue Mountains be drunk safely?
Illegal poachers caught in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area on 15th June 2013
[Photo by bushwalker Darren Drew in Tigersnake Canyon, Wollemi National Park, at a time when 500 runners were participating in a marathon in the area]
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<< Two men were reported to be illegally hunting in NSW’s biggest natural tourist attraction, the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Blackheath bushwalker Darren Trew said he came across the hunters on a canyoning trip with friends on Saturday June 15. Over that weekend 500 runners from across the state had converged in that same region to participate in the second Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon, near Newnes. Mr Trew, who saw the men with their weapons, reported the matter to Lithgow Police, to the Game Council and to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Mr Trew:
“It’s madness. It was quite a shock to discover after 20 or more years of bushwalking. It’s quite disturbing, they said they were hunting deer and I told them they were not allowed to be here with rifles, it’s illegal, I called the police and they walked away.”
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Photo by High & Wild
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Mr Trew’s group took a photo of the men and said later that day about 20 people turned up to enjoy Tigersnake Canyon.
Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon race director Sean Greenhill of the Wentworth Falls based Mountain Sports said he was very concerned by the reports.
“It’s extremely disturbing to think that two men with rifles were hunting in a national park only a couple of kilometres from where 500 runners were conducting a legitimate activity in the same park — odds are small but the potential implications are horrifying. Mountain Sports doesn’t support hunting in any national park — why create such a dangerous precedent?”
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“Unfortunately, some hunters have heard “you can now hunt in national parks” and assume it’s a free-for-all. With the Game Council promoting NSW as ‘the place to hunt’, this is only going to get worse.”
~ National Parks Association of NSW spokesman, Justin McKee
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National Parks Association of NSW spokesman, Justin McKee:
“The incident highlights that Premier Barry O’Farrell’s promise that safety will be paramount does not definitely rule out the risk of illegal hunting in highly visited areas, including those where hunting is not allowed like the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Hunting in national parks is bad policy, it’s bad for tourism, public safety and the environment. It ruins the international reputation of our national parks brand that has taken 50 years to build up. Unfortunately, some hunters have heard ‘you can now hunt in national parks’ and assume it’s a free-for-all.”
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A spokesman for Environment Minister Robyn Parker said the minister didn’t normally comment on operational issues but “obviously hunting in national parks is illegal and an investigation is ongoing”… [Ed: There is no public report that they caught, so it was a free-for-all that day]
Weekend Warriors all camoued up and ready to hunt!
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Game Council NSW ‘Code of Practice’ (so-called)
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<< Ethical, safe and responsible hunting
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Awareness of relevant legislation
It is the responsibility of the holder of a NSW Game Hunting Licence to be aware of and comply with all relevant legisation relating to hunting, animal welfare and the use of firearms.
Safe handling of firearms
Where firearms are used, the rules for safe handling set out in the NSW Firearms Safety Awareness handbook, published by or under the authority of the Commissioner of Police, must be complied with at all times.
Permission required to enter land
A NSW Game Hunting Licence does not automatically authorise the holder of a licence to hunt on any land. The holder of a Game Hunting Licence must not hunt on any land without the express authority of the occupier of the land.
Target identification and safety
A game animal must not be fired at unless it can be clearly seen and identified, and the shot taken poses no discernible risk of injury to any person or damage to any property.
Obligation to avoid suffering
An animal being hunted must not be inflicted with unnecessary pain. To achieve the aim of delivering a humane death to a hunted animal:
it must be targeted so that a humane kill is likely;
it must be shot within the reasonably accepted killing range of the firearm and ammunition or bow being used; and
the firearm, ammunition, or bow and arrow, must be such as can be reasonable expected to humanely kill and animal of the target species.
Lactating female with dependent young
If a lactating female is killed, every reasonable effort must be made to locate and kill any dependent young.
Wounded animals
If an animal is wounded, the hunter must take all reasonable steps to locate it so that it can be killed quickly and humanely.
Use of dogs
Dogs and other animals may be used to assist hunters, but only if:
their use is not in contravention to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979; and
their use is with the permission of the occupier of the land concerned. >>
Game Council Code of Practice:“Use of (pig) dogs: Dogs and other animals may be used to assist hunters, but only if:
their use is not in contravention to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979; and
their use is with the permission of the occupier of the land concerned.”
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May 2012: NSW Government allows hunting in national parks
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National Park’s chief custodian Environment Minister Robyn Parker, with NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson announcing that shooting will be legal in national parks.
[Source: Photo by Craig Greenhill, The Daily Telegraph]
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<< Hunting will be seen in 79 of the state’s national parks as part of a deal struck by the government (with the Christian Democrats and the Shooters and Fishers Party) last night in exchange for the sale of the state electricity generators.
New South Wales Premier, Barry O’Farrell: “We promised to revitalise the state’s economy, we promised to put additional funding into infrastructure… and the decision was based on the public interest and political realites.”
Despite O’Farrell’s pre-election promise that he would not open up national parks to shooters as hunting reserves, the Premier said that he has not broken his promise.
“There is a big difference between hunting reserves and restricted shooters under the direction of the Minster of the Environment assisting National Parks and Wildlife staff with the culling of feral animals.”
O’Farrell’s famous last words:
“Shooting will be safely and professionally run by the Game Council.”
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In exchange for the hunting deal Premier O’Farrell will now be able to sell off the state’s generators as recommended by the State’s Commission of Enquiry…>>
ABC radio interview by radio presenter Adam Spencer with Premier Barry O’Farrell, 20120531:
Listen to ABC radio interview
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[Ed:So a month later on 27th June 2012, the NSW Coalition Government, the Shooters and Fishers Party and the Christian Democratic Party voted in changes to legislation that allows amateur, recreational hunting to occur in NSW National Parks.]
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Blue Mountains protest campaign against the NSW Government’s local representative, Roza Sage MP, and her undemocratic support for hunting in national parks across New South Wales.
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Two weeks later, on Sunday 15th July 2012, about 400 people rallied in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to protest against Barry O’Farrell’s decision and to tell local Blue Mountains MP Roza Sage that they oppose the Government’s decision to allow hunting in our National Parks.
Kangaroo shot with arrow in Kosciuszko National Park
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Conservation Hunting
Protected native kangaroo in the Kosciuszko National Park
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This kangaroo was discovered, still alive, two days ago near Log Bridge Creek picnic and camping ground on the Blowering Foreshore inside the Kosciuszko National Park, with the arrow right through its upper body.
<< An illegal hunter shot a kangaroo with an arrow and left it wounded near a camping area in the Kosciuszko National Park.
The roo was discovered yesterday near the Log Bridge Creek picnic and camping area on the Blowering Foreshore and was put down by parks officers.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service regional manager Dave Darlington:
“This roo spent an unknown time with an arrow pierced fully through its body and the cruelty and atrocity of this act is horrific. This is a senseless and disgusting act and we hope to prosecute the person responsible to the furthest limits of our legislation.”
Anyone with information is urged to phone NPWS on (02) 6947 7000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Harming protected wildlife carries penalties of $11,000 an incident and up to six months jail while having a bow and arrow in a National Park also carries a fine of up to $3,300.
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The National Parks and Wildlife Service had to euthanise a kangaroo.
National Parks and Wildlife Service does drug deal with hunters
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<< A National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger was stood down for allegedly letting hunters into the Paroo-Darling National Park in the state’s far west in exchange for drugs.
The government confirmed there had been 12 investigations of illegal hunting in national parks in the past year.
The state government is soon to decide whether to press ahead with its plans to allow shooting in national parks. Allowing hunting in national parks was agreed to in a deal between the government and the Shooters Party so the Shooters would pass the $5 billion sale of the ports through the upper house. Premier Barry O’Farrell is expected to take a risk assessment on the hunting plan to cabinet in the next fortnight at the same time as a review by former senior public servant Steve Dunn on the structure of the shooting regulator, the Game Council.
The Dunn report was ordered after the acting chief executive of the Game Council was allegedly caught illegally shooting on the eve of the intended opening of national parks to shooters. Mr Dunn’s report will recommend that all shooting advocates and members of the Shooters Party no longer serve on the board of the Game Council, because of a clear conflict between the roles of advocate and regulator. [Ed: Download the Dunn Report at the end of this article]
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..there had been 12 investigations of illegal hunting in national parks in the past year.
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Shooters Party MP Robert Borsak is a clear example, having previously served as Game Council chairman under the Labor government.
There are fears that since the legislation allowing shooters to be part of controlled shooting operations in national parks has passed, many people believe they are allowed in there now.>>
Illegal hunters trespassing on private land in metro Sydney
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<< Hunters using guns and crossbows have been illegally entering private properties in metropolitan Sydney, forcing ecologists to abandon night-time observation of frogs and owls for fear of being shot.
Incidents have occurred in the past fortnight in north-west Sydney, just a few kilometres from housing, according to UBM Ecological Consultants’ Judith Rawling. The situation has become dangerous for her staff, she said, and she attributed the surge in illegal hunting to publicity over the looming introduction of hunting in national parks.
Local environment planning drafts for the Hills Shire have been released, prompting residents of bush blocks to apply for subdivisions.
”Before you put in a [development application] you have to put in a flora and fauna survey … That’s why we are coming across these shooters. This is really dangerous,” she said.
Game Council NSW was unavailable for comment.
Greens MP and firearms spokesman David Shoebridge:
“If local councils, the police and Game Council can’t control illegal hunting in the Hills Shire, there is no way on earth they will be able to regulate amateur hunting in far-flung national parks.”
Hunters shoot at a farmer near Game Council headquarters
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May 2013:
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<< Orange police are looking for two men who shot at a Springside farmer yesterday morning when he caught them illegally hunting on his property. [Ed: Springside is a community just south of Orange in central western New South Wales, where the Game Council of NSW has its headquarters].
The 43-year-old landowner was bailed up at gunpoint and ordered to drop his mobile phone which he was using to take a photograph of the offenders’ number plate. One of the gunmen smashed the phone and fired a warning shot at the man’s feet.
The farmer had challenged the men after he found them on his property hunting kangaroos. [Ed: Conservation Hunting?]
Canobolas Local Area Command Inspector Dave Harvey said the two men were less than four metres away from the farmer when they shot at him.
A command post was set up at Springside shortly before 10am where five police, detectives and the forensics special group combed through bushland in the Canobolas State Forest for two hours looking for the men. One of the men was wearing a grey top and black tracksuit pants. He is described as Caucasian, about 180cm tall, thin build with short dark hair and is between 17 and 24 years old. They were driving a white Subaru Outback.
June 2013:
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<< Orange police have charged an 18-year-old man over last month’s shooting at Springside. The man is believed to be one of two people who shot at a farmer while illegally shooting on his property on May 21 at around 9.30am.
The alleged shooter was arrested in Orange’s central business district at around 11.50pm yesterday. Yesterday afternoon police obtained a search warrant for his Moad Street apartment where they found a number of items which police believe may be associated with the gun used in the shooting. Canobolas Local Area Command Acting Inspector Brenden Turner said police had not located the firearm. >>
<< The state government’s plan to allow hunting in national parks is in turmoil after the acting head of the Game Council was stood down on suspicion of illegal hunting.
The council is the body that will issue shooting licences under the scheme. Its acting chief executive, Greg McFarland was suspended on Tuesday night – along with a colleague – by the Primary Industries Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson, after Fairfax Media learnt of a police investigation into an incident near Mount Hope in central west NSW.
Game Council’s acting chief executive, Greg McFarland
is currently the subject of continuing investigations
[Source: ‘Game Council to be abolished’, 20130704, by Sean Nicholls, Sydney Morning Herald State Political Editor
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/game-council-to-be-abolished-20130704-2pdte.html]
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<< Rural crime investigators confirmed they are looking into claims of illegal hunting and trespass and the inhumane killing of a feral goat. They plan to interview Mr McFarland…
At the centre of the investigation is a Game Council vehicle that was seen being driven through a national park without permission before allegedly breaking a fence and entering the privately-owned Karwarn cattle station in pursuit of a male goat with ”trophy horns”.
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The Hunting Party
(Photo by Louie Eroglu)
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According to photographs taken by the owner of the 25,000-acre property, Diane Noble, the goat was shot in the gut – an act that contravenes the council’s own guidelines on humane, ”single shot” kills. Hunters sometimes avoid shooting a goat in the head to ensure the skull and horns can be hung as a trophy.
The incident happened on December 28 at the Noble’s Karwarn station, 110 kilometres south of Cobar. According to Ms Noble, the pair were confronted by a group of hunters who had paid to shoot at Karwarn. To access Karwarn, the pair had to drive through the Yathong Nature Reserve, run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. A parks source confirmed they did not have appropriate permission to do so.
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“If local councils, the police and Game Council can’t control illegal hunting in the Hills Shire, there is no way on earth they will be able to regulate amateur hunting in far-flung national parks.”
~ Greens MP and firearms spokesman David Shoebridge
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..The suspensions call into question the O’Farrell government’s insistence that shooting will be safely and professionally run by the Game Council, which will issue licences and monitor compliance when shooting begins on March 1. Critics said the government must now reconsider its deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party to put the council in charge or abandon hunting in national parks altogether.
Steve Turner, the assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, which represents park rangers, said: ”How can anyone have faith that hunting in national parks will be run safely? Imagine what’s going to happen when the rogues get going.”
The scandal comes a month after a risk assessment written by Premier Barry O’Farrell’s own department emerged, warning of a ”major risk” that bushwalkers and parks staff will be killed or seriously injured.
Ms Noble said she did not want to prejudice the investigation but was angered by the apparent conduct. ”The Game Council is supposed to promote ethical hunting. They shot the goat through the guts and that’s not ethical,” she said. ”The animal should be shot once in the head or the heart and lungs for a quick kill.” >>
July 2013: Time to Wind Up the Game Council racket
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Dunn’s Review into the Governance of the Game Council was commissioned by the Government after an internal investigation into allegations that a senior member of the Council had been involved in the inhumane killings of the goat in Western NSW.
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<<On Thursday 4 July 2013 the NSW Government announced it will implement the key changes to Game Council NSW recommended by the independent Governance Review of the Game Council of NSW by Steve Dunn, popularly referred to as The Dunn Report.
The changes are designed to improve the functions previously carried out by Game Council NSW and also acknowledge hunting as a legitimate recreational activity.
The report found that Game Council NSW had an ‘inherent conflict associated with its functions to both represent the interests of hunters, and to regulate their activities’.
Therefore the NSW Government said it will immediately take the following actions:
Transfer the licensing, regulatory, enforcement, education and policy functions into the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI); and
Establish an advisory Game Board that will undertake stakeholder engagement and representation, advocate hunting, advise on research priorities and commission research, and provide independent advice to Government.
The Director General of NSW Trade & Investment, Mr Mark Paterson AO, will become the Division Head of the Game Council Division in the interim to oversee the integration of functions into DPI.
The NSW Government also announced it will immediately suspend hunting in all 400 State forests, pending the transfer of functions and the outcome of a risk assessment. This means that individuals with written permission to hunt on declared public land areas such as State forests and Crown Lands must no longer do so and must abide by the suspension until further advised.
Game Council and the Forestry Corporation of NSW will be contacting licence holders who have booked Written Permissions as soon as possible. Advice is also being sought from the NSW Government on the status of licensing arrangements.
Game Bird Management regulatory functions will continue to be undertaken by the Office of Environment and Heritage in 2013 and will transfer to DPI in 2014.
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Game Council NSW Media Statement
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<<On Thursday 4th July 2013, the Minister for Primary Industries announced the dissolution of Game Council NSW as a result of recommendations made following the NSW Government’s governance review.
The NSW Government has suspended hunting in all NSW State forests, pending a new risk assessment. All issued Written Permissions are now invalid. Game Council and the Forestry Corporation of NSW will attempt to call all licence holders with bookings to confirm cancellation of their permits in the coming week.
Game Council is committed to working with the NSW Government as the report recommendations are implemented and will also be working closely with NSW game hunting licence holders to minimise the impact of interim arrangements. >>
..Minister for Primary Industries (DPI), Katrina Hodgkinson MP said nominees for the board would be ministerially appointed based on merit and all existing 21 staff under the current Games Council would be transfered to the new structure under the DPI.
She said key in her decision to support Steve Dunn’s report recommendations was its finding that “more than a decade after it was established the Game Council has no overarching governance framework; lacks a strategic planning framework; lacks some of the skills, tools and resources to ensure effective compliance with its regulatory framework; has no internal regulatory compliance program, has no approved enterprise-wide risk management framework and has an inadequate policy framework”.
“I can’t just stand by and allow that to continue – I take full responsibility for the changes,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
She said one of her primary concerns was for staff employed in the area of compliance and their safety, but she also saw the need to restore confidence in the public in this area. >>
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COMMENT by ‘Dickytiger’ 20130705:
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“Good move. The Game Council was just a Shooters Party lurk, looking after their mates.
Hunting feral animals is vital, but it doesn’t require a crony bureaucracy to do it.”
<< Amateur hunting in NSW forests will be suspended until at least October following the damning findings of a review into the Game Council of NSW.
As a result of the review, by retired public servant Steve Dunn, the Game Council of NSW will be abolished and responsibility for licensing of amateur hunters transferred to the Department of Primary Industries, the state government announced on Thursday.
The concerns raised in the review have led the government to announce the suspension of all amateur hunting in state forests until governance issues identified within the council are resolved.
In a simultaneous announcement, Environment Minister Robyn Parker revealed the introduction of amateur hunting to national parks will proceed in October, but on a trial basis in 12 parks. Pending the results, hunting may be rolled out in up to 75 parks and reserves as previously announced by the government under a deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party.
Ms Parker said the rules for shooting in national parks would be significantly different to those in place for state forests. Shooters would be closely supervised by National Parks and Wildlife staff in all areas where shooting takes place, which will be closed to visitors for the duration. Shooting will not take place during school holidays.
Additionally, no one under 18 would be allowed to participate, and use of bows or black powder muskets would be prohibited.
The Dunn report, released on Thursday, slams governance the Game Council, which it says is ‘‘deeply embedded in politics’’.
In a scathing assessment, Mr Dunn says public safety ‘‘does not receive a high level of attention’’ in planning documents prepared by the organisation, which is responsible for overseeing licensing of amateur shooters in NSW.
He says the council has been unable to resolve the ‘‘inherent conflict of interest’’ between representing the interests of hunters and regulating their activities in NSW.
The report says the council has ‘‘achieved significant results’’ since its establishment in 2002. But they have been achieved ‘‘at the taking of governance risks not normally associated with government bodies.’’
It concludes: ‘‘Allowing the Game Council to continue on its current path is not an option.’’
The review was ordered by Mr O’Farrell in March after an investigation found alleged illegal hunting by two Game Council senior employees on a property in outback NSW.
.. The IAB report also identified ‘‘possible breaches of Game Council policies and procedures, information which raises questions about governance procedures within the Game Council’’.
Sensitivity over the allegations were heightened by the decision by Mr O’Farrell to open NSW national parks to amateur hunting.
The decision was part of a deal between the government and the Shooters and Fishers Party, which holds the balance of power in the upper house, over passage of electricity privatisation legislation.
Mr Dunn’s report notes that the Game Council was established in 2002 because of the ‘‘influence and power’’ of the Shooter and Fishers Party. He says this power has resulted in the creation of an organisation lacking in accountability.
Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Brown is a former Game Council chairman.
More than a decade after the Game Council was established, a strategic plan has yet to be finalised and made public, Mr Dunn notes. His report recommends the 18-member Game Council be replaced by a NSW Game Board of not more than eight members.
It would be subject to control of the department and be responsible for representing the interests of hunters, promoting feral animal control and providing policy advice to government.
However, licensing, education and law enforcement functions – currently the chief role of the Game Council – would be handed to a government department, along with policy and legislation functions. Reaction is being sought from Game Council chief executive Brian Boyle and the Shooters and Fishers Party. >>
Hunting on NSW public land will be banned for at least the next two months and the Game Council will be disbanded. Yet the NSW Government is going ahead with its plan to allow volunteer hunters in national parks as part of a pest control program.
It’s a bold decision, which the Shooters and Hunters Party says even it had no idea was coming. This decision stems from the results of the Government commissioned Dunn Review into the governance of the Game Council. >>
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Dunn’s Scathing Review
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Dunn’s Review into the Governance of the Game Council was commissioned by the Government after an internal investigation into allegations that a senior member of the Council had been involved in the inhumane killings of a goat in Western NSW.
The final report acknowledged the Council had achieved many things in its years of operation but for the most part the report was undeniably shocking leaving the Government no choice but to take action.
Its author Steve Dunn questions how things got so bad. He found the Council has no overarching governance framework, lacks the skills and resources to ensure effective compliance and found breaches of record keeping and privacy legislation. The Game Council is a statutory body established under the Game and Feral Animal Control Act – and it should be subject to the control and direction of the Minister for Primaries Industries.
But Premier of NSW, Barry O’Farrell, says the Council strayed.
“Essentially it made the point that the Game Council was both the promoter and the operator in relation to hunting activities across NSW as well as the regulator,” he said. “That posed an unacceptable risk to the Government.”
The review found the Game Council has its fingers deep in the political pie, with the slices getting bigger thanks to the influence and power of the Shooters and Fishers Party in the NSW Legislative Council.
Steve Dunn wrote, “the Game Council has no parent and no siblings, no one wants to adopt it and no one really wants a close relationship with it, because of the politics.”
Shooters Party MP, Robert Brown, says he hasn’t yet had time to fully consider the O’Farrell Government’s announcement. But he says he’s personally disappointed the Game Council has been abolished and will be seeking a meeting with the Premier before he forms the Party’s response.
The Game Council will be replaced by an advisory board of no more than eight members, which will each be selected on merit, rather than being appointed by various organisations. The board will be in charge of advocacy. The regulatory aspect of the Council will now go to Department of Primary Industries.
Minister Katrina Hodgkinson says no Games Council jobs will be lost in the transition and, until that situation is fixed, shooting in state forests has been put on hold.
“It’s a hard thing to have to go through and accept a report which is so critical of an organisation. But we’ve got an opportunity now to make things right and make things good. We’ll be transferring the operations of the Game Council over into the Department of Primary Industries, which does have excellent governance.”
The temporary shooting stoppage will affect 400 state forests and 2 crown lands. However the Government is going ahead with its pest control program National Parks.
A trial in 12 parks will commence in October. The Environment Minister Robyn Parker says it will be regulated and managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and there will be strict controls and supervision.
The Minister acknowledged the 20,000 hunters in NSW that assist the Government with pest animal control in NSW.
“These hunters have played an important role in pest eradication.”
The Game Council and the Shooters and Fishers Party have been contacted for comment.
A one time candidate of the Shooters and Fishers Party says he’s always had concerns about the way the Game Council has been run. Jim Pirie is from Mudgee in New South Wales and has over 60 years of hunting experience under his belt, he was also a one-time candidate of the Shooters and Fishers Party. These days he’s the owner of a gun shop in town and he’s also the Treasurer of the Cudgegong Valley Hunters Club.
He spoke with the ABC’s Angela Owens frankly about his concerns over opening National Parks up to hunters and the growing power base of the Game Council.
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“Unfortunately the architects of all this are very egotistical, arrogant men and they won’t take advice from anybody,” he said. “It’s either their way or the highway.”
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“(Someone) stood up at a hunting organisation meeting one day and said there was no nepotism, no cronyism in the Game Council, well that was a joke.
“They appointed the people that they wanted and this at the end of the day was to the determent of the organisation.” >>
<< Daniel Boone was a man, Yes, a big man! With an eye like an eagle And as tall as a mountain was he!
Daniel Boone was a man, Yes, a big man! He was brave, he was fearless And as tough as a mighty oak tree!
From the coonskin cap on the top of ol’ Dan To the heel of his rawhide shoe; The rippin’est, roarin’est, fightin’est man The frontier ever knew!
Daniel Boone was a man, Yes, a big man! And he fought for America To make all Americans free!
What a Boone! What a doer! What a dream come-er-true-er was he!
Daniel Boone was a man! Yes, a big man! With a whoop and a holler he c’d mow down a forest of trees!
Daniel Boone was a man! Yes, a big man! If he frowned at a river In July all the water would freeze!
But a peaceable, pioneer fella was Dan When he smiled all the ice would thaw! The singin’est, laughin’est, happiest man The frontier ever saw!
Daniel Boone was a man! Yes, a big man! With a dream of a country that’d Always forever be free!
What a Boone! What a do-er! What a dream-come-er-true-er was he! >>
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[Source: ‘DANIEL BOONE’, lyrics by Vera Matson, music by Lionel Newman, Twentieth Century Music Corporation, 1964, New York, NY, USA, ^http://www.danielboonetv.com/themesong.html]
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The Game Council’s Cowboy Days Are Over
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<< The cowboy days are over for the recreational shooting of feral animals in NSW. A damning exposé of what the hunting regulator, the Game Council of NSW, has been up to over the past decade- written by a senior public servant who grew up in rural England, familiar with gun safety – makes astonishing reading.
Steve Dunn describes a politically untouchable posse of gun wielding vigilantes, who enthusiastically set themselves the goal of stopping illegal hunting – despite this actually being the job of police. Dunn says the Game Council was acting beyond its statutory role, and with an inherent conflict of interest. Ultimately they posed an unacceptable risk to the government. The Game Council has now been disbanded by the O’Farrell government.
Boring paper pushing, policy making, analytical or investigations skills weren’t seen as important to this bunch of Wild West public servants. The top job prerequisite to become a game council officer was to be a hunter, and to promote hunting.
Left to their own devices by successive ministers, the game council roamed forest frontiers from its head office in Orange, apparently unconcerned about issues of public safety, promoting their own novel concept of ”conservation hunting”, and cloaked from government oversight.
The Game Council’s website last week boasted of a surge of dead animals last financial year: a ”staggering” 1.23 million animals killed on private land by its hunters, and 21,000 shot on public land. And that these figures meant a 70 per cent increase in its key performance indicator.
But Dunn says the council was confused about its role under the Act. It wasn’t supposed to be tallying carcasses, but instead developing plans for hunter safety, public land access, licensing, education, compliance of licensed hunters and research.
The council considered themselves to be outsiders to other government agencies, who reported the renegades to be combative, assertive, and too aligned with the interests of the hunters they were supposed to be regulating.
The review described a pariah that no other government department could love. If agencies are generally organised into clusters, with small agencies needing both a parent and siblings to survive, the game council was an orphan.
”The Game Gouncil has no parent and no siblings, no one wants to adopt it, and no one really wants a close relationship with it – because of politics,” Dunn wrote.
Established in 2002 under the Labor government, the council had its roots ”deeply embedded in politics”, and arose because of the importance of the Shooters & Fishers Party to the government of the day in the upper house when governments needed to get legislation passed.
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The council complained it had an image problem in the wider community. But Dunn’s report considers it was a problem of the council’s own making.
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Carrying private firearms in agency vehicles and hunting on the job are not a good look for public servants. Was it appropriate for the hunting regulator to be handing out promotional stress balls that say ”Stressed? Go conservation hunting”?
In the fallout from the Dunn Review, the Game Council’s regulatory, enforcement, licensing and policy roles have now been transferred to the department of primary industries. A separate advisory Game Board will be formed to represent hunters and advocate hunting.
As the government prepares to allow licensed volunteer shooters to be involved in supervised National Parks and Wildlife Service culls of feral animals in 12 national parks in October, the cowboys that once reigned are out. Strict guidelines for the culls, which will only be held when parks are closed to the public, stipulate: no night shooting, no dogs, no bows and arrows – and no shooting from horses. >>
<< New South Wales Shooters MP Robert Borsak says there has been a culture war over gun control in Australia since the Port Arthur massacre, but he believes people are starting to “get over it.” Mr Borsak believes semi automatic weapons, which were banned in the wake of the 1996 massacre, should be put back in the hands of hunters and recreational shooters. >>
A controversial plan to allow hunting in 79 national parks including the Paroo-Darling National Park in far west NSW near White Cliffs has been delayed indefinitely, 20130220, ABC, ^http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2013/02/20/3694440.htm
<< I can feel the souls of my ancestors calling me back home
To all the familiar places and tracks I once did roam
I can see my Grandmother’s house at the end of Adams Street,
Where all the Aunties, Uncles and Cousins I did meet
To the banks of the Bokhara River running under the Richmond Bridge
You can hear the waters flow to the sound of an Elder’s didge
I can smell the boogalies cooking in a camp oven at my Aunty’s place
I can see the sun arising on the wrinkles of my Pop’s face
I can recall how my uncle taught me how to ride
In a paddock near their place with Robbo by my side
But I know I must stay here to get a good education
For I want to go back home after my graduation
To see the many family, friends and familiar faces I have known
I can feel the souls of my ancestors calling me back home
They’re calling me back, my ancestors in Mother Earth
I want to go back home, to the country of my birth. >>
Another heavy linehaul truck crashes on another wide, fast, multi-laned highway
Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.
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Hume Highway at Marulan July 2013:
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<< A man has died in a crash involving a truck and several cars on the Hume Highway, about 15km south of Marulan.
A NSW Police spokeswoman:
“The male driver of the semi-trailer was ejected from his vehicle and died at the scene. Emergency services responded to reports of a collision between a semi-trailer, a smaller truck and two cars in the southbound lanes of the Hume Highway” at 6.25pm (last night). The drivers of the other vehicles and their passengers were assessed by paramedics on site before being taken to Goulburn Base Hospital for further treatment.”
One southbound lane of the highway remained closed on Tuesday morning as traffic was directed around the crash site. >>
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Hume Highway at Kyeamba Gap (same night):
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<< Meanwhile, northbound lanes remain closed on the Hume Highway at Kyeamba Gap between Tumbarumba Road and Little Billabong Road following a truck accident there early this morning. >>
<< About 12.45am (Tuesday March 27, 2012) a B-double semi-trailer was travelling north laden with furniture , about 5km south of Marulan overnight.
The semi rolled onto its side spilling its load onto the highway, blocking all northbound lanes. A semi-trailer travelling behind the B-double truck crashed into the rear of the B-Double.
The driver of the B-double was taken to Goulburn Base Hospital suffering a possible fractured rib, while the driver of the second truck was not hurt. A salvage operation is underway following a double truck crash on the Hume Highway.
Australian Native Landscapes linehaul semi jack-knifes One of many speeding over the B,ue Mountains
Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.
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<< Jack knifed … a truck accident shut the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria this morning. The highway was shut for over an hour after a truck jack knifed blocking both lanes of the highway. A heavy tow truck was brought in to remove the truck. The road reopened around midday.
Australia Post (government-owned) StarTrack Express B-Double truck crashes off the Hume HighwayThe overnight linehaul truck driver fell asleep on cruise control
Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.
[Photo: CHRIS GORDON]
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<<The 47-year-old driver of this rig died when it ran off the Hume Highway near Marulan in the early hours of July 29. A report is being prepared for the coroner.
ROAD CLOSURE: The scene of Wednesday morning’s accident 500 metres south of Goulburn’s northern exit at 6am when for unknown reasons a B-double left the road. The driver suffered minor injuries.
With another two serious truck accidents on the Hume Highway near Goulburn in the past two weeks – one of them fatal – the Goulburn Post examines whether cruise control is a possible factor. LEIGH BOTTRELL reports.
IS cruise control on long-distance trucks – often allied with automatic transmission – contributing to serious accidents on our main highways?
This question increasingly is being raised as big semis and B-doubles proliferate and speed limits are increased on some major NSW country roads. Or, is boredom leading to drowsiness, brought on by modern “easy driving” truck technology and improved highways, the real culprit?
The jury is still out on this, while there is not yet definitive accident survey evidence pointing to cruise control’s role in accidents. But anecdotal evidence and practical knowledge of people long-associated with big rigs and their drivers suggests cruise-auto can be a mixed blessing.
Bert Cool has seen the aftermath of more truck accidents than probably anyone else in his 30 years with Royans, the Wagga Wagga-headquartered heavy vehicle recovery and repair group.
Now operating Australia-wide, Royans over the years have been called on to haul thousands of trucks back onto the road from every imaginable predicament. Too often, the smashed or burnt cabs tell the story of lives lost and families shattered.
And Bert Cool has no doubt that drivers falling asleep while their long-haul rigs are running on cruise control is a contributing factor to a growing number of highway accidents.
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Bert Cool:
“Definitely. It happens more often now. A driver can nod off and the truck just keeps going, because he doesn’t have his foot on the accelerator. Before he wakes up, they’re in the scrub, or they hit something.
Before cruise control, if a driver dropped off at the wheel his foot nearly always fell away from the accelerator and the truck slowed down. He usually was woken up before they got into real trouble.”
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However, Sergeant Rod Cranston, of Goulburn police highway patrol, doubts that cruise control by itself is a contributing factor to truck accidents.
[Ed (ex-trucker): Overnight driving is inherently dangerous, and with trucks the risk is exacerbated. Linehaul (long-distance) freight should travel by rail for reasons of safety away from ordinary road users and economy of scale. Local distribution freight should travel BY DAY on the roads until governments can adequately safeguard local communities from the unacceptable risks and consequences of heavy-vehicle driver fatigue.
Linehaul rail freight is inherently safer that linehaul road freight when professional management is on par. Linehaul rail freight is cheaper per unit of freight over a large volume. This will be moreso as the price of imported diesel structurally increases.
For hundreds of linehaul trucks driven by hundreds of drivers to do the job of one linehaul train say Sydney to Darwin is uneconomic. The door delivery component either end requires logistical design and efficiency (pulling bureaucratic fingers out).
Immorally, trucking companies exploit truck drivers by denying them employee status and benefits, selfishly to shift decent driver wages and benefits to employer profit.
Yet both Federal and State governments across Australia are stuck in a 20th Century truck-centric mindset when it comes to freight logistics strategic planning, disregarding the environment ruined in the process of building bigger, more and wider highways, disregarding the permanent negative impacts upon local communities, and driving truck drivers to early graves. It is all very selfish and ^Robber Baron in thinking. The main beneficiaries are the trucking barons.]
Linehaul has a smarter way: Intermodal Rail/Road Logistics
. Bucharest International Rail Freight Terminal (BIRFT)
A semi-trailer from the first scheduled train with intermodal wagons to arrive from Germany and Austria at BIRFT is transferred to a road vehicle by ‘Big George’ on 29 October. The terminal is operated by Tibbett Logistics, part of the UK-based Keswick Enterprises Group
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<< Romanian-based ^Tibbett Logistics, the operator of South-Eastern Romania’s prime intermodal rail terminal, has this week received the first scheduled train with intermodal wagons from Germany and Austria. The new service will initially comprise two trains a week in each direction.
The first train arrived early on the morning of 29th October 2012 with 38 units – eight semi-trailers and 30 45’ pallet-wide continental containers, destined for import customers in the south east of Romania, primarily Bucharest and Ploiesti.
Tibbett Logistics has recently renamed the terminal as the Bucharest International Rail Freight Terminal, or BIRFT, because it has become clear to the company – which is part of the UK-based Keswick Enterprises Group – that a large proportion of the marketplace in Eastern Europe remains unaware that the services offered at the terminal go well beyond simple domestic road-rail transportation.
The open-access terminal is used to transfer shipping containers arriving on rail wagons to road trailers, and vice versa. BIRFT is the only such facility in Romania operating regular scheduled block trains between Constanta Port and Bucharest, on both import and export movements. Customers include the major shipping lines and freight forwarders, as well as direct users.
In addition, it is the only intermodal rail terminal offering CFS (Container Freight Station) and warehousing services within the terminal itself, linked directly to the rail tracks. The terminal accommodates domestic and international conventional rail wagon traffic, and Tibbett Logistics combines these activities with conventional road transport whenever the latter is more efficient than collecting or delivering containers using its own rail wagons.
Completing the services offered at the terminal are stripping/stuffing containers, customs clearance and transit operations, along with container management, repair and storage.
Tibbett Logistics CEO, David Goldsborough, commented: “We believe that – via the Port of Constanta – Romania is the natural entry point to Europe from the East and elsewhere. Our aim is to facilitate the efficient transportation of goods from the Port to end-destinations throughout Europe, as well as from EU states back to Romania.
“Since the inception of our regular block trains between Constanta and Bucharest we have had many discussions with users and potential users regarding other rail-related services – including the handling of conventional wagons, where we already have an excellent infrastructure in place. We have developed additional services so that we can customise the mix of rail-based and road-based transportation in either containers or conventional trucks – depending on the exact needs of the customer. Given the increasing cost of diesel, this is being very well received by both existing clients and those coming to the service for the first time.”
Tibbett Logistics is Romania’s largest privately owned contract logistics specialist. In addition to intermodal activities, it offers comprehensive supply chain management services to the automotive, textiles, retail and other FMCG sectors throughout Romania and across South East Europe. It operates approximately 70,000 square metres of warehousing, plus a distribution fleet comprising tilt trailers, double- and triple-chamber reefers and container chassis – along with its own intermodal rail wagons. >>
Riverside Refridgerated Transport semi-trailer loses control at speed at night in the wet on the Great Western Highway in an 80kph zone
Then crashes into a Springwood home narrowly missing the occupants.
Last Monday 20130916 near midnight
So much for carting Cowra’s best produce to market
Pay peanuts, cut corners…
Fatigue Management is a farce
Bullaburra disappearing
Photo by Editor in Blue Mountains, Australia, 20130630, photo © under ^Creative Commons]
Click image to enlarge
B-triples (basically ‘road-trains’) have already been introduced on regional highways in South Australian, Queensland and Victoria
Midnight Refridgeration
…passing through a town near you
Sand Truck smashes into Adelaide house 2011
Not the first time for midnight trucking on four laned sections of the Great Western Highway
..and this is before you get to the deadly six-laned M4.
Artist’s scary impression…more trucking expressways.
Conservation Hunting
