June 14th, 2011
This is a Tiger Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus)
Photo courtesy of Sean McClean.
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It is Australia’s largest carnivorous marsupial on the mainland and it has become endangered because of humans destroying its habitat, shooting it and poisoning it.
It is not a cat. Much information may be obtained online simply by typing ‘tiger quoll’ on Google.
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The following extract is from the website ‘Convict Creations‘ (15-Feb-2010):
‘Tiger Quoll…the next to die’
“Without disrespecting the Koala or Kangaroo, the Tiger Quoll is one of Australia’s most interesting animals. It sort of resembles a cat except it has a pouch, bright eyes, a moist pink nose and a powerful bite. It can grow to up to 75 cm in length and weigh up to 7kg. If trained, it will even use a kitty litter tray.
The Tiger Quoll is the type of animal that tourists would love to see on their Australian safari.
Unfortunately, they are quite rare so few have ever caught a glimpse of them.
European colonisation of Australia could have been great for the Tiger Quoll. With Europeans introducing rabbits, rats and mice, the Quoll saw a drastic increase in its food source. Had the colonists warmed to them, then a mutually beneficial relationship could have formed. Farmers could have encouraged Quolls to take up residency in order to keep rodent numbers down with little fear that their livestock would be in danger. As an added bonus, by eating carrion, the Quolls would have reduced the threat of blowfly strike.
Alternatively, they could have just made pets out of the Quoll. Apparently the Quoll has all the positive characteristics of a cat or dog. According to Professor Mike Archer, Former Director of the Australian Museum, who once kept a Quoll as a pet:
“I just can’t praise these animals highly enough as companions for human beings. They have all the good features in dogs and cats, and in my experience not a single downside”.
If colonial owners had taken care of their Quolls, then both Quoll and owner would have been happy. If not, the Quoll would have just escaped and done Australia a service by cleaning up decaying meat, rabbits and other introduced vermin.
Unfortunately, colonists never formed mutually beneficial relationships with the Quoll. Instead, they introduced the cat to serve the role of pest controller. For more than a century, farmers deliberately released cats onto their properties in order to control rabbit and mice populations. Once the cats went feral, they started to compete with the Quoll for food. Although the Quoll was better adapted to Australia’s cycle of droughts, the cat’s symbiotic relationship with humans proved to be an even better environmental adaptation. If feral cats were ever wiped out in a drought, or declined for whatever reason, they still had the family home as an oasis in the desert. From the family home, they were well placed to repopulate the bush once good conditions returned.
Even worse than competition from the cat were the environmentalists’ attempts to “help” them. The use of 1080 poison has been one of the main helping strategies. When it is used to kill rabbits, it indirectly deprives Quolls of food. So much so, by killing rabbits, human deprive Quolls of even more food than is lost due to competition by cats. To compound matters, when 1080 poison is used to kill the cats and foxes competiting with Quolls, it also ends up being eaten by Quolls. In fact, Quolls are more likely to eat the poisons because they have a keen nose for carrion while the feral predators prefer fresh kills.
A very odd example of the misguided environmental policy was recently seen in in Tasmania. 1080 was first used to reduce rabbit numbers. A rumour then developed that foxes had finally established a breeding community in the island state. Even though it was just a rumour, to be on the safe side, environmentalists decided a large scale baiting regime needed to be implemented to eradicate foxes as well. On the State Government’s own data, more than 140,000 poison baits were laid. So far, there has been no evidence that foxes were actually present. There was; however, plenty of evidence of Quoll dying!
The odd wilderness protection policy caught the attention of David Obendorf, a vet with a research focus in marsupial diseases. According to Obendorf:
“Three Tasmanians have each offered $1,000 fox rewards (Tasmanian Times: “$1,000 fox reward”). All remain unclaimed despite farmers, landowners and professional shooters all knowing about them. And yet the government “guessimate” claims there are up to 400 foxes living in Tasmania … somewhere. In my opinion Tasmania’s use of 1080 poison over the last five decades – to kill browsing and grazing native herbivores – has had a significant effect on the over-population followed by the facial tumour disease-crash in devil numbers and in the widespread establishment of feral cats across the island….Ironically the state government has now ceased the use of 1080-laced carrot/apple baits on public lands to kill grazing wildlife but now uses tens of thousands of meat baits in public forests where they claim they are targeting those cryptic foxes.” (1)
The use of 1080 poison could be legitimately referred to as Australia’s dumbest environmental policy since the construction of a 1,833 km fence to “keep” rabbits out of WA. It seems that Western Australians weren’t smart enough to realise that rabbits can dig under fences. All that was required was for a single pregnant female to dig a hole and then 1,833 km of fence line would be obsolete. Perhaps WA politicians did in fact realise the folly of it all, but decided it was more to important to show they were “doing something”.
As an added bonus, “doing something” kept people in regional Australia employed. Perhaps 1080 poison is used for similar reasons. Unfortunately, “doing something” to help Quolls is really not helping them at all. It forces them into wilderness reserves where scientists can erect huge fences to keep out ferals and then make a lucrative income maintaining them. (2)
Even though the Tiger Quoll is mainland Australia’s largest native predator, Australia doesn’t have any professional sporting team named after them. In fact, they don’t really exist in public consciousness in any significant shape or form. Perhaps this is because Quolls spend their time out in the bush where they are only ever seen by rangers.
Alternatively, perhaps the name Quoll just isn’t scary enough.
Zoos – The only real industry is as a research subjects by scientists, or to provide an endangered animal story that can be used by wilderness groups to write emotive appeals asking for funding to save them.
Pest controllers – Potentially, Quolls could make great pest controllers. They could compete with cats and foxes for food, and eliminate rabbits and rats in the process. Landowners could breed them and sell them as a substitute to 1080 poison.
Pets – Sometimes scientists have made great pets out of Quolls. At present, the general public is not allowed to do likewise. The general argument is that Quolls require special care that only a scientist can give. Consequently, Australians have to reserve their abusive ownership methods for dogs and cats that simply go bush if they are unhappy with their owners.”
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The Snowy River is a surviving stronghold of the Tiger Quoll
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“In East Gippsland, the areas on the Errinundra Plateau, Snowy River and Tingaringy are strongholds of the Spot-tailed Quoll”. (GECO)
“The Upper Snowy River and its tributaries was the Victorian stronghold of the Tiger Quoll before (the 2003) devastating Alpine bush fires. The Tiger Quoll is believed to have lost up to 75% of an estimated population of 1,000 in the area.
Following the devastating effects of recent bush fires The Tiger, or Spotted-tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) has been reclassified as nationally endangered. it is feared that the fires will have a lasting effect on the Quolls that remain.”
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References:
[1] ABC, ^http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s145805.htm
[2] David Obendorf – ^http://www.animal-lib.org.au/news/1080–the-real-killer.htm”
[3] ^http://www.fame.org.au/current_projects.html
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~ article by Tigerquoll, first published on CanDoBetter.net 15-Feb-2011
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June 13th, 2011
Radical Australian wildlife activist ‘Tigerquoll‘ from the popular socio-political website ‘CanDoBetter.net‘ is set to join The Habitat Advocate.
Tigerquoll, over recent years, has established a forthright and controversial online blog presence at CanDoBetter.net
Victorian-based Tigerquoll, from Suggan Buggan in Snowy River Region of Australia, says he can offer us a more southern and ‘colder’ perspective on Australian wildlife issues and threats.
Tigerquoll has expressed that he remains an angry young man resentful of those who harm wildlife and of government agencies who falsely proclaim their role of wildlife conservation and protection.
He admits a dogged resolve and a lack of diplomacy.
He feels he often attracts aggression yet feels he is misunderstood since his intentions are honorable to those he seeks to protect
Check out: Tigerquoll’s Blog
We at The Habitat Advocate welcome our new contributor and what is set to become a more activist tone for our cause for maximising wildlife respect and conservation.
Watch this space!
~ Editor
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June 10th, 2011
One by one, roadside vegetation, roadside communities, and villages through the Blue Mountains are capitulating to the New South Wales Government’s agency, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). One diesel-driven programme to convert a regional highway into a dangerously fast heavy trucking expressway.
The RTA is an ‘authority’ alright – a testament to when absolute authority is allowed to overrule local values at any cost.
Leura, Blue Mountains, Australia, 22nd Dec 2006)
(click photo to enlarge)
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RTA rainfall retention gross failure, Leura 30th June 2005
(click photo to enlarge)
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Trees hacked to make way for the RTA expressway, 4th February 2007
(click photo to enlarge)
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RTA construction sediment down the drain and into Blue Mountains World Heritage creeks, 16th January 2006
(click photo to enlarge)
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June 9th, 2011


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A poem…
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Evil upheaval
Another dead wombat, roadside
always inverted
confirming horrific death
by morning – motionless, cold, dead
gone
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A mother ripped from her family
a life gone
dependant lives cast into upheaval
she’s not coming back
empty nights, waiting, searching
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Someone’s roadkill
no mourning
no roadside memorial
just Nature’s maggots
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A family’s world gone
lost to night driving,
lost to special places where wombats once roamed free, content and without fear.
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~ Editor’s reflections from last Monday morning (6th June 2011) observed along the roadside on the way in to Mittagong; now permanently implanted in memory.
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June 8th, 2011
Australia’s Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)
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Like many native species in Australia, the Powerful Owl’s conservation status is deemed to be ‘Vulnerable’.
It remains the largest owl in Australasia, endemic to eastern and south-eastern Australia (that is it lives naturally nowhere else on the planet).
Now uncommon throughout its range where it occurs at low densities preferring woodland and open sclerophyll forest to tall open wet forest and rainforest.
The Powerful Owl requires large tracts of forest or woodland habitat but can occur in fragmented landscapes as well. The species breeds and hunts in open or closed sclerophyll forest or woodlands and occasionally hunts in open habitats. It roosts by day in dense vegetation comprising species such as Turpentine Syncarpia glomulifera, Black She-oak Allocasuarina littoralis, Blackwood Acacia melanoxylon, Rough-barked Apple Angorphora floribunda, Cherry Ballart Exocarpus cupressiformis and a number of eucalypt species.
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The main prey items are medium-sized arboreal marsupials, particularly the Greater Glider, Common Ringtail Possum and Sugar Glider. There may be marked regional differences in the prey taken by Powerful Owls. For example in southern NSW, Ringtail Possum make up the bulk of prey in the lowland or coastal habitat. At higher elevations, such as the tableland forests, the Greater Glider may constitute almost all of the prey for a pair of Powerful Owls. Birds comprise about 10% of the diet, with flying foxes important in some areas. As most prey species require hollows and a shrub layer, these are important habitat components for the owl.
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Pairs of Powerful Owls are believed to have high fidelity to a small number of hollow-bearing nest trees and will defend a large home range of 400-1450 ha.
Powerful Owls nest in large tree hollows (at least 0.5 m deep), in large eucalypts (diameter at breast height of 80-240 cm) that are at least 150 years old. During the breeding season, the male Powerful Owl roosts in a “grove” of up to 20-30 trees, situated within 100-200 metres of the nest tree where the female shelters.
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Unlike many humans, Powerful Owls are monogamous and mate for life, making them a superior species.
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Human Threats to Powerful Owls
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Powerful Owls have for decades been threatened by the human caused ongoing loss and fragmentation of habitat. Important forest and woodland habitat continues to be cleared and burned for reasons justifying human residential and agricultural development. This loss also affects the populations of arboreal prey species, particularly the Greater Glider which reduces food availability for the Powerful Owl.
Inappropriate forest harvesting practices that have changed forest structure and removed old growth hollow-bearing trees.
Loss of hollow-bearing trees reduces the availability of suitable nest sites and prey habitat. Can be extremely sensitive to disturbance around the nest site, particularly during pre-laying, laying and downy chick stages. Disturbance during the breeding period may affect breeding success.
High frequency hazard reduction burning is also reduce the longevity of individuals by affecting prey availability.
[Source: NSW Department of Environment, http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10562]
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In 2007, the New South Wales Labor Government in its State Transit department was found to have poisoned many powerful owls and other wild birds around Ryde in its so-called pest control plan.
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‘The government-owned agency employed a poison expert to kill pest Indian mynah birds at their bus depot in Ryde but local residents watched in horror as kookaburras, galahs, magpies and rosellas started falling out of the sky.’
‘A spokeswoman said the last poisoning campaign, using baited bird seed, was on November 12.’
[Source: ‘Bird-brained system killing wildlife’, The Daily Telegraph, 14th December 2007, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/bird-brained-system-killing-wildlife/story-e6freuzi-1111115108124 ]
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June 4th, 2011

In Indonesia, bulldozing rainforest for profitable palm oil plantations for western diets has become highly profitable due to western corporate demand…


In Indonesia’s Borneo (Kalimantan) the rainforest habitat of orangutans is being destroyed, largely to make way for palm oil plantations due to western diet demand

Arnott’s relies up on palm oil in its popular western ‘Tim Tam’ biscuit product

Just like these other western brands do:

The palm oil driven rainforest deforestation in Borneo (Kalimantan) thanks to unethical palm oil demand from the likes of Arnott’s…

Try finding a shrinking rainforest map on the wrapper of a packet of Tim Tams!
Indonesian unethical destruction of orangutan rainforest habitat continues to provide for palm oil plantations.
This is costing the lives of about 50 orangutans every week.

Arnott’s knows this, yet continues to buy the palm oil and drive the Indonesian palm oil deforestation.

Arnott’s is expanding its sales of palm oil Tim Tams with new product offerings:

2011 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Forests.
Arnott’s knows this.
It won’t be long before human demand for Tim Tams and other palm oil consumer products have driven the orangutan into extinction.

Tim Tams have become the western addiction driving orangutan extinction.

Arnott’s chocolate biscuits are more than a weight gaining guilt.
You eat them, you kill a species.


Will someone make clear to the Arnott’s Board that for Orangutans THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR QUALITY HABITAT.
Tags: arnott's, Borneo, fragile forest ecosystems, Kalimantan, no substitute for quality habitat, orangutan, palm oil plantations, pringle orphans, rainforests, tim tam, tim tam orphans, UN International Year of Forests, World Environment Day 5th June Posted in Kalimantan (ID), Orang-utans, Threats from Deforestation, Threats from Farming | No Comments »
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June 2nd, 2011
Jamison Valley from Sublime Point, Leura
(Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia)
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For those who have purchased an escarpment-edge bush block in Blue Mountains villages of Leura, Wentworth Falls or Katoomba, who have ‘arranged‘ for native escarpment habitat to be killed in order to gain property views to the magnificent Jamison Valley, such actions are selfish and contribute to the ecological vandalism and disappearance of important and scarce escarpment habitat.
For others enjoying the Jamison Valley naturally on foot, to look back up at the Leura escarpment has become an ugly one dominated by increasing housing development.

Views are bidirectional, but try explaining that to a property developer or to those real estate agents who only appreciate the sales commission.
On the spectacular escarpment fringe of the much valued village of Leura in the much valued Blue Mountains, not only have the fire-lighters taken a fancy at setting fire to nearby prized escarpment bushland, but the property developers have been in with the bulldozers.
The Blue Mountains (city) Council has for decades signed off on developer applications for clifftop development and consequential deforestation. More recently, Blue Mountains (city) Council continues to happily signed off on approval of applications from subsequent clifftop property owners to ‘hazard reduce’ the surrounding escarpment bushland ~ either to improve the views or to save money having to bushfire protect their properties.
Either way, valuable limited habitat along the Blue Mountains escarpment overlooking the Jamison Valley continues to disappear for new selfish housing views.
All along the Jamison Valley escarpment, the following photos tell a tragic story of the selfish developer destruction of the Jamison Valley Escarpment …
Wildlife Service ‘hazard reduction’ burn notice for Sublime Point escarpment at the end of Willoughby Road, Leura back on 15th March 2008.
(click photo to enlarge)
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Warrimoo Rural Fire Service set up to conduct hazard reduction at Sublime Point, Leura (Carleton Road, Leura, 15th March 2008).
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Rural Fire Service setting fire to escarpment vegetation at Sublime Point on the Jamison Escarpment, Leura. (Photo from Willoughby Road,Leura, 15th March 2008).
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A year later again at Sublime Point…
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DECC Wildlife Service ‘hazard reduction’ burn notice for Sublime Point escarpment again on 24th March 2009, almost exactly a year to the date.
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Blue Mountains Wildlife Service ‘hazard reduction’ burn of the Jamison Escarpment at Sublime Point 24th March 2009
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Blue Mountains Wildlife Service ‘hazard reduction’ burn of the Jamison Escarpment at Sublime Point 24th March 2009.
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Fire-lighters watching on as their blaze gets out of control at Sublime Point 24th March 2009.
(Click photo for enlargement)
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Same ‘hazard reduction’ burn out of control, requiring expensive and embarrassing helicopter water-bombing to stop the fire spread down into the protected Jamison Valley
East side of Sublime Point (5th April 2009) showing burnt vegetation, where the HR burning had escaped and nearly entered down into the Jamison Valley.
(The media spin by bushfire management was that this section was arson, but not surprisingly the culprit was never found).
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Meanwhile, property developers at Sublime Point, a block away…
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Leura’s recently approved and created ‘ The Links Road‘ (31st May 2008) following Council approved destruction of escarpment vegetation and subsequent subdivision ready for escarpment housing..with views.
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Meanwhile, further along Cliff Drive at Katoomba…
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Editor inspecting native escarpment site on Cliff Drive, Katoomba back on 12th January 2008 that had been recently slashed by the Wildlife Service.
It just so happened that a house opposite on Cliff Drive was up for sale and would benefit from the fresh views of the Jamison Valley.
Same site, same date.
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Seven months later, a few hundred metres west along Cliff Drive Katoomba,
some developer gets escarpment views towards Nellies Glen approved,
or is it more a case of ‘overlooked‘ by Blue Mountains (city)Council?
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-end of article –
Tags: Blue Mountains City Council, Blue Mountains western escarpment, Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, bushland housing, hazard reduction, housing encroachment, Jamison Valley, Katoomba, Leura, Links Road, NPWS, prescribed burning, Sublime Point, Wentworth Falls, Wildlife Service Posted in Blue Mountains (AU), Threats from Bushfire, Threats from Development | No Comments »
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May 30th, 2011
Land holders of Illford take a stand against the corporate mining threat
(Central Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia)
(©Photo SMH, 20110530)
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Illford rural landholder, Nell Schofield, has learned of deals by the New South Wales government and corporate miners to dig up rural land around her and the local community and bugger the environment in the process.
Greedy Sydney-based coal exporter Centennial Coal and Swiss-based coal-mining multinational Xtrata have secretly secured underground mining exploration licenses from the previous unscrupulous Labor Government of New South Wales in the rural Illford area, situated north-west of the Blue Mountains in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.
In true Labor Party style, the big coal companies have strategically taken on a divide and conquer tactic over the local landholders to secure a legal foothold, by offering financially enticing agreements to individual land holders, slyly one by one.
”The way they come into the community is divide and conquer … they throw contracts down in front of landowners who don’t have lawyers. They just get done over“, says Schofield.
This reverberates of the similar scheming tactics employed by the NSW Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) across the nearby Blue Mountains. Under the past decade of NSW Labor Government direction, the RTA has village by village, bulldozed its juggernaut B-Double expressway through the Central Blue Mountain’s, urbanising villages into suburbs and dividing locals geographically in the process.
But these corporate miners will have a fight on their hands as their baby boomer boards pursue their 20th Century dirty energy agendas.
The locals of Illford and surrounding districts affected by this mining threat are set to follow the ame reaction by hundreds of Queensland farmers who have already vowed to lock their gates to keep coal and gas explorers at bay. They are also not alone – check the links below.
[Source: ‘Not in my backyard, actor tells coalminers’, by Cosima Marriner, The Sun-Herald, Sunday 29th May 29, 2011, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/not-in-my-backyard-actor-tells-coalminers-20110528-1f9fr.html, viewed 20110529].
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Find out about the Gas Industry Report in NSW 2009-10, click HERE
(Go to page 27, and be aware that from 1st March 2011, thanks to the previous NSW Labor Government, Origin Energy acquired the remaining dominant retail energy providers of New South Wales: Integral Energy and Country Energy).
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Drew Hutton and friends, the Greens
(Darling Downs, south-west Queensland)
(prepared to get arrested for campaigning against coal seam gas…and he did).
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Massive coal seam gas projects in the Darling Downs have received government approvals, but not community approval. The scam laws negotiated with the Queensland Government, under Section 804 of the Petroleum and Gas Act, permits mining and gas companies access to private land and provides for $50 000 fines for hindering the companies’ access.
This corporate intimidation of locals at its worst, and Origin Energy stands to be one of the largest investors, buyers and beneficiaries.
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‘Origin Energy to invest additional $114 million in Queensland Coal Seam Gas’
(ASX/Media Release, 25th July 2006)
‘Australian integrated energy company Origin Energy will invest an additional $114 million in its Spring Gully Coal Seam Gas Project to double its production capacity to around 85TJ/Day thereby providing further security to Queensland’s energy supply. This investment will see Origin supply natural gas to prominent Queensland businesses QAL, Incitec Pivot and Energex.
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Located 90km north of Roma in central Queensland, the original $200 million Spring Gully Gas Project entered into commercial service in July 2005 and has been performing above expectations by delivering higher than expected levels of natural gas. The Plant was officially opened in November 2005 by Premier Peter Beattie.
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Origin Chief Operating Officer, Karen Moses, said the expansion of the Spring Gully Project further underpins and secures Coal Seam Gas as a reliable and key energy source for Queensland in the decades ahead. “There is a strong and ongoing role for Coal Seam Gas in the mix of Queensland’s energy supply,” said Ms Moses.
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“Since Origin was listed in 2000 it has invested over $800 million in Queensland in oil and gas production, power generation and LPG distribution. Doubling the output of our Spring Gully Project maintains Origin’s position at the forefront of the gas industry in Queensland, as well as one the major providers of commercially proven Coal Seam Gas.”
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“One of the most significant changes in Australia’s gas supply in recent years has been the emergence of Coal Seam Gas as a reliable and viable major new energy source for Queensland. We are particularly pleased that our Coal Seam Gas developments in Queensland are playing a crucial role in supporting the State Government’s Clean Energy Strategy* ”
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“Origin is already committed to clean energy and, with over 100,000 customers, sells green power to more customers than any other energy retailer in Australia. Indeed, Origin has introduced GreenEarth Gas, the first product of its type in Australia to offset a customer’s greenhouse gas emissions from their use of natural gas” added Ms Moses.
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Origin is also seeking Government approval for a nominal 1,000 MW gas fired power station to be co-located with the Spring Gully Gas Plant.’
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[Source: http://www.originenergy.com.au/news/email-article/asxmedia-releases/682]
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Live in NSW and concerned whether you’re at risk from mining leases under you?
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Check this NSW Government Mining Lease map and make sure that you’re not in either of the two chlorine blue zones:
NSW State Mining Lease Map (‘TAS’)
(Source: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/minerals/titles/online-services/tasmap)
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Further Information:
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[1] ‘ Not in my backyard, actor tells coalminers‘, by Cosima Marriner, The Sun-Herald, Sunday 29th May 29, 2011, ^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/not-in-my-backyard-actor-tells-coalminers-20110528-1f9fr.html
[2] Lock the Gate Alliance, Inc. ^http://lockthegate.org.au
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[3] ‘ New Era for Mining Consultation in NSW‘, by Suzanne Hill, Thursday 14th April 2011, ABC Rural (NSW), ^http://www.abc.net.au/rural/nsw/content/2011/04/s3191549.htm?site=sydney
[4] ‘ New Mining Minister says reaching balance between mining and agriculture a challenge‘, by Suzanne Hill, Friday 15th April 2011, ^http://www.abc.net.au/rural/nsw/content/2011/04/s3192718.htm?site=sydney
[5] ‘ Anti-mining activists protest in Sydney‘, by Jessica Burke, 22nd March 2011, CoalMining.com.au, ^ http://www.miningcoal.com.au/news/anti-mining-activists-protest-in-sydney?utm_source=20110530&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletters
[6] ‘ The Impact of Coal Mining on the Gardens of Stone‘, by Keith Muir, March 2010, The Colong Foundation for Wilderness, ^http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/Gardens_of_Stone/Impact_of_coal_mining_on_GoS2_final_low_res.pdf
[7] (Various media releases on this issue), The Colong Foundation for Wilderness, ^ http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/media_releases/media_archive09.htm
[8] ‘ More on the death of Thirlmere Lakes‘, by Chris, 30th November 2010, Rivers SOS, ^http://riverssos.org.au/tag/colong-foundation-for-wilderness/
[9] Campaign against Mining & Gas, Nature Conservation Council (NCC), ^http://www.nccnsw.org.au/campaigns/mining-and-gas
[10] ‘ Open Cut Mine for Blackalls Park? – Where will you be when it all hits the fan? ‘, published in the interest of the community by webmaster: John Woods, ^http://www.anzacs.net/Awaba.htm (Lake Macquarie Electorate, NSW)
[11] ‘ Protest Centennial Coal AGM‘, Rising Tide Australia, ^http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/255 (Dated 2004, but organisation still very active)
[12] ‘ Charged Green won’t take foot off the gas‘, Daniel Hurst, 31st March 2011, Brisbane Times, ^http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/charged-green-wont-take-foot-off-the-gas-20110330-1cg57.html
[13] ‘ Farmers to ‘lock the gates’ on mining companies‘, Sunday 28th November 2010, by Jim McIlroy, ^http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46263
[14] Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) on Mining, ^http://www.edo.org.au/edonsw/compliance/mining.html
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© Photo: Groomgreens.org
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-end of article –
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I built for peaceful retirement some years ago, along the Blue Mountains Gt Western Highway, past Mt Victoria Inns, P.O.,traffic lights, on the left, ahead of Victoria Pass.
A few other retirees wanted to build quietly here on their lots but are victimised -and here I quote from your page heading -because: “Expressway rips through Blue Mountains” plus -“diesel-driven programme to convert a regional highway into a dangerously fast heavy trucking express way”.
“Diesel-driven” seems apt in that around 2003.
An artists impression frontispiece of the Blue Mt’s Gazette falsely depicted the then future Caltex Servo as a picturesque French-style cafe outdoor setting, with flowers and shrubs, dining tables shielded by colourful ‘continental’ umbrellas’ – no room for locals to draw petrol hardly, let alone “diesel-driven” invasion to our peaceful Village.
It wasn’t long before huge diesel tanks were gouged out and finally truckies stormed in. With only a relatively few Caltex parking spaces, they were bound -ever since, to park outside residences both sides of G.W H’way, 24/7, driving us sick to death, year in year out.
B.M.Gazette refers to “Blitzkrieg”,Unofficial Truck Parking”, “Sleeplessness”, “Pollution“, etc. What a con from bad Council Planning and as you say “Capitulating to the New South Wales Government Agency -the Road Traffic Authority (RTA) – allowed to overrule local values at any cost”.
PLEASE ADVOCATE FOR US.
Historic Mt Victoria, rises to over 1,100 metres ASL and is where Australia’s early explorers crossed The Great Dividing Range by foot and bullock cart. Much gory and ghostly struggle is written here, along and around the many pioneers paths. Early settlers would turn in their graves at thought of “diesel driven project/destructive diesel expressway” here, whereas present day communities along the highway see themselves as destroyed slowly.
The ‘Dangerous Expressway rips through Blue Mountains’ with its consequences for communities and wildlife. The worst blight for Mt Victoria is the Service Station attracting Parking Trucks pollution around the clock 24/7 and the diesel smear in our kitchens, in our bathrooms and in our lungs.
Henry Lawson, an old time Aussie Poet it’s said, used to live here -some say just up from the currently wickedly sited service station. One wonders what he might have written about the haste to destruction.