Yamba Port & Rail Scheme: was the NSW Upper House Inquiry into Crown Land misled?

“We service the property developers and property investors by unlocking access to the best available lands at the best available price.” [United Land Councils Ltd, website page retrieved 20 August 2016]

On 15 August 2016 four representatives of United Land Councils Ltd & United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd gave evidence before the NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND.

These are excerpts of evidence given by MICHAEL ANDERSON, Deputy Chair, United Land Councils and United First Peoples Syndications:

We advocate the idea of forming a working party with key government stakeholders through which we will secure the support of Aboriginal New South Wales. We are confident that, if we cannot achieve greater unity of Aboriginal people, we will certainly be able to deliver a large number of the most important strategic areas of New South Wales, particularly the coast and some regional locations west of the Blue Mountains. We have brought to the Committee a sample of works we are doing. We present to the Committee our introductory brochure with which we introduce ourselves to Aboriginal organisations across Australia. The brochure sets out our objectives and the benefits we bring to them as members uniting with us. In that brochure, we identify major projects such as damming the Great Katherine dam and building pipelines inland to irrigate the arid central Australia, converting it to Australia's food bowl to the world. We also discuss the project of a super port in Yamba to cater for the international trade for the next two centuries and, through that port, opening up the vast network of disused rail networks to provide a safe and efficient transportation mode. We attach a separate summary of the Yamba super port proposal because that is directly relevant to this Committee and how, working with Indigenous communities, major infrastructure can be created combining port and rail to become the leading means for distribution throughout Australia. We also attach a profile of our leading joint venture partners such Grossman, which a leading German solar, civil engineering and construction company, and the MHR Group, which is a leading Dubai pipeline and infrastructure group. One thing Arabs know is deserts and how to irrigate them. We provide a Lever arch folder that contains some of the template agreements used to effect an amicable settlement on the current Aboriginal land claims that are outstanding. We have drafted a master settlement agreement and we provide for every conceivable use of the land. We provide draft agreements for parks and conservation management, licences for Aboriginal farming and fishing use and access, Indigenous social housing models, trust funds for the provision of the next generations of Aboriginal peoples, and a series of land use agreements to promote business and industry….

Large high-tech warehousing is ideally suited to land under claim. The promise of employment and lasting careers for the younger generation on their own land is meaningful to the Aboriginal community. This same thinking applies to the Yamba super port and rail development. New regional hubs will be created around train intersections. Almost all of these potential growth areas involve Aboriginal lands or land claims.…..

As we hope to present to you, we have the backers, both in international investors and venture partners. We have the capacity and funds to change our destiny. All we ask is that we get on with it. We need no charity. We need no patronising. We ask that we plan for the future together and get the red tape out of our way…..

I sit on another national committee on water planning. New South Wales is yet to put its water plans in to the Commonwealth Government under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I sit on those committees and I am one of the assessors on whether New South Wales is doing the right thing with their water resources plan. So we are looking at those rivers and factors that are important to us in terms of looking after them. When you talk about planning, Aboriginal people already know what can be used and what cannot be used. I can tell you that a lot of that land will not be used……

The Hon. SCOTT FARLOW: Could you come back to us on notice as to which land councils in New South Wales are part of your organisation?

Mr PETERSON: Sure.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: I would ask on notice what is your relationship like with the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council? Is it a positive relationship, have you sat down and spoken with them about this particular proposal, are you on the same page? Secondly, what do you mean by "progressive" land councils, if you could provide that on notice?

Mr PETERSON: Those that have been keen to show interest in development.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: Development-focused land councils?

Mr PETERSON: Yes, taking it from bush to something.

Mr ANDERSON: I know a lot of the land councils really want to progress and develop economic strategies, housing estates and start doing that, but unfortunately they are really tied down with a noose around their neck.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: If you could answer Mr Farlow's question and mine about the land council on notice that would good.

The CHAIR: We are also looking for the cemetery and the ports attachments, if you can table them.

Mr PETERSON: Yes. [my red bolding]

This development group was thought to have been in discussion with Des Euen and Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd (A.I.D.) for some time and, although it is possible that United Land Councils & United First Peoples Syndications may have adopted this infrastructure scheme as its own when the original Yamba Port & Rail (Y.P.R Australia Ltd) unsolicited proposal was rejected by the NSW Government in April 2014, all may not be as it first appears.

A.I.D. and United First Peoples Syndications are sharing the same graphics and presenting the port proposal in the same terms.

Clarence Valley residents who attended the 2 June 2016  A.I.D.'summit' in Casino will probably recall this graphic prepared by David C Jones, Inverell, for Yamba Port and Rail aka Y.P.R Australia Ltd sister company to Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd (A.I.D.):

[See: http://www.aid-australia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/A.I.D.-CASINO-SUMMIT-v20a.pdf]

This is a similar graphic also prepared by David C Jones, Inverell, for Yamba Port and Rail, being used by United First Peoples Syndications:

[See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWRePyoHjI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KzCURkafsI & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sgGg8QU_Uc, Sydney, 17 May 2016]

If any sort of business relationship exists between A.I.D. and either or both of the two companies which gave evidence, then a reasonable person might expect that this would have been disclosed to the Inquiry - given formal rejection of the Yamba Port & Rail development proposal by the Baird Government.

Just as this inconvenient fact was sidestepped, so too the companies avoided telling these same committee members that both United Land Councils Limited (registered in New Zealand in July 2016) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd (registered in Australia in April 2016) share Richard John Green as sole director of both companies and, when one delves into the official corporate history, he is the only reliably identified shareholder as well.

Nor did any of those representatives who appeared before the Inquiry explain why United Land Councils appears to believe that it has a right to use Clarence Valley estuary land to; service the property developers and property investors by unlocking access to the best available lands at the best available price. Outright sales are available, but often it will be the interests of the developers or investors to enter into collaborative arrangements…..

When it came to the actual Yamba ‘mega port’ it was more than misleading to avoid mentioning to this parliamentary standing committee the fact that the Yaegl people (holding native title on Clarence River waters from just above Brushgrove right down to the river mouth at the breakwater walls) are concerned about this scheme to industrialise 27.2 per cent of the total estuary area and had refused to meet with A.I.D. in August.

That some measure of local indigenous concerns would have been known to the United Land Councils and United First Peoples Syndications can be inferred by the following statement in the Clarence Valley Independent on 24 August 2016:

Chair of the Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation (YTOAC), Billy Walker, told the Independent that his board has not yet discussed the matters raised at the inquiry; however, he said it had met with Messrs Green and Anderson earlier this year. Mr Walker said: “From my point of view, I’d have to see what they have to say to the board before making any comment.” He said that a future meeting had not been organised.

When questioned on the subject of the peak state land council the companies avoided disclosing the obvious antipathy towards the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, evidenced by the director's opening remarks at a company event:

“We’ve got the state land council which is not helping our people in any way. You know we’ve got all the councilors sitting up in there in those big offices earning all this money and what have we got for over the last forty years….”
[See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWRePyoHjI]

There was also a marked failure to mention that, along with the existing port infrastructure ie. “Goodwood Island wharf, a large shed that can accommodate vessels up to 120 metres in length, a small tug wharf and pontoon” [Port Authority of New South Wales Annual Report 2014/15], the estimated land area required to build the proposed "super port" terminals is land on which native title has been officially extinguished. 

Additionally, the vast majority of this land is privately-held regionally significant farmland. In other words, not Crown land (including land under claim) which is the focus of the inquiry.

Full details of the extent of the legitimate Native Title proudly and responsibly held by the Yaegl people can be found here.

When United Land Councils Ltd & United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd spoke of having backers who were international investors and venture partners, like A.I.D.,  they weren't telling untruths. One only has to look at what correspondence is publicly available and, the photos and videos turning up on social media of various "super port" proponents with individuals representing foreign capital, multinationals, professional company directors, corporate strategists and legal shills.

It is hard to escape the suspicion that Chinese investors and foreign/domestic infrastructure and development companies have been using both these companies (just as they use Australian Infrastructure Developments) as a way of bypassing the values of Clarence Valley communities and other vulnerable communities across Australia in order to sate their own financial avarice.

One has to wonder what the Committee Chair The Hon. Paul Green (CDP, LC Member), Deputy Chair The Hon. Lou Amato (Lib, LC Member) and members The Hon. Catherine Cusack (Lib, LC Member), The Hon. Scott Farlow (Lib, LC Member), The Hon. Daniel Mookhey (ALP, LC Member), Mr David Shoebridge (The Greens, LC Member) and The Hon. Ernest Wong (ALP, LC Member) would think of being given less than the full picture when it came to the proposed Port of Yamba overdevelopment.

The Inquiry into Crown Land reports to the NSW Parliament on 13 October 2016 and, as there is no way for local communities to correct the record, Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6  will make recommendations regarding Crown lands on the NSW North Coast with an imperfect understanding of the situation in the Clarence Valley.

Brief background

A full list of registered New Zealand companies in which Richard Green was/is a director and/or shareholder can be found here.

Further information on a number of these companies can be found here.

Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd organisation details:

It is noted that no company named First Peoples Advancement Charitable Trust of 89 Kiteroa Street, Rd 2, Cambridge appears on the New Zealand online company register as of 20 August 2016. However, on 22 April 2016 First Peoples Advancement Charity Pty Ltd was registered in NSW, with Richard John Green as sole director & company secretary and all shareholdings held by First Peoples Advancement Charitable Trust (NZ) on behalf of unidentified individuals and/or corporations.

Google Earth image of the New Zealand address of the First Peoples Advancement Charitable Trust:

Memo to potential investors in the Yamba Mega Port scheme

No Yamba Mega Port map

Dear Potential Investors,

You may have seen promotional material created by Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd or Y.P.R. Australia Pty Ltd for the unsolicited proposal often called the Port Yamba Development (Eastgate) or the Yamba Port Rail Project.

The material probably looks rather intriguing to many of you.

However, there are some matters that this promotional material either does not address or merely skates over.

Today is Wednesday, 10 August 2016.

This is the Port of Yamba Development project timeline still up on Australian Infrastructure Developments’ official company website:

Even if one allowed for the possibility that the NSW Baird Government is politically suicidal enough to give consent for a mega port in the Clarence River estuary and that the first terminals would not be operational until 31 December 2018, that only leaves Des Euen, Thomas Chiu and Lee Purves a mere 873 days to push this project to Stage 1 bulk terminals completion.

Before any part of the extensive port expansion scheme can be progressed there is the sensitive matter of Dirrangun reef, the breakwater walls and possibly the internal training walls, to be addressed. 

Once the potential impact of the removal or significant alteration of breakwater walls sinks in with the communities of Iluka and Yamba I suspect that the friction between community and Yamba Port Rail proponents will increase dramatically.

If any activity required to open up the river entrance for those mega ships looks like placing Dirrangun at risk I’m sure that the Yaegl people, who have now spent twenty years fighting to legally protect their river and dream time reef, will not be happy with the port expansion proceeding and they will have a right to be concerned. A right that is now legally recognized as existing since before written history began in Australia.

As neither Des, Thomas or Lee has held a public information night for Lower Clarence communities to date, that particular failure is going to place a drag on the company’s project timetable from the start.

The hypothetical clock is now ticking.

The dredging of an est. 20km of navigation channel inside the river, at the very least is going to require:

*negotiations with NSW government departments/agencies;

* a least two advertised tender invitations if investors are not planning to just throw their money away;

*sediment sampling at the proposed dredging site and particle size distribution and acid sulphate soils testing to assess sediment properties over the full depth to be dredged;

*assessment of potential impacts on threatened species including wading birds along the est 20 km length of the dredging site;

*assessment of potential noise impacts including what day or night hours of dredging/placement are acceptable; 

* the creation of a dredge spoil management plan;and

*consultation with Birrigan Gargle Local Aboriginal Land Council, Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation as native title trustees, the general public, local residents and commercial operators, commercial and recreational fishermen, waterway users and environmental groups.

Staying with this hypothetical scenario. Once these lengthy negotiations, assessments and consultations are finalised I suspect the actual dredge and spoil disposal would take up to three years to complete. After all this dredge has to remove at least est.13 metres of river bed in every square metre of a continuous 20 km long line an est 60m wide.

Add to this the time needed to purchase privately held regionally important farm land which the company hasn’t even commenced yet – land held by a number of individual owners some of who are adamant they will not sell - and then allow time for the rezoning process which is bound to be resisted by local residents and affected Lower Clarence communities.  Now those 873 days are beginning to look very inadequate.

At this moment you may be thinking that if all the individual planning procedures were undertaken at the same time the port expansion might move forward faster. However, any large project is only as fast as its slowest strand of required assessment/modelling/
testing and this particular project is being undertaken by a company which admits it has never handled any sort of development project before.

By the time one factors in the many studies required to create a viable development application to commence construction of the built environment then 2023 would not be seen as a long enough time frame to finish Stage 1 bulk terminals.

Some of these studies would be obliged to include the sourcing, transport and stabilzation of enough fill to raise 36 sq.km of terminals and berths above projected flood levels and modelling of existing & changed flooding conditions - because all the proposed terminal & berth areas will be submerged in a 1 in 100 flood to est. depths of 0.05 to 2.8m unless the land is raised. 

At this point in the development process state and local government may become alarmed at the amount of flood water in even a 1 in 20 year flood that will be displaced by a mega port at the end of this ancient floodplain. 

Displaced water (that has likely in some flood events to come at some speed down both the Clarence River and out of the Esk River) which will almost inevitably inundate the proposed remaining undeveloped half of Palmers Island, along with low lying sections of  Woombah, Iluka, Yamba and Wooloweyah, as well as exacerbate upriver flooding as far as Maclean. Quite rightly both tiers of government would quail at the thought of this occurring in conjunction with a king tide entering the mouth of the Clarence River and the clock might be permanently stopped on the mega port scheme then and there.

If not and planning madness prevails, the fact that a freight road bridge and new road/s would need to be built so that bulk product can actually reach the bulk terminals - because Stage 1 will not see a completed Pacific West Rail Link stretching from the coast to north-west NSW - and 2023 turns into a rather sad phantasy because the number of planning hoops the company has to jump through just grew in number.

Australian Infrastructure Developments and its shadowy backers would be foolish to believe that Stage 1 would be remotely achievable by 2028.

It is hard to imagine that Australian Infrastructure Developments will ever be able to establish the social contract with the Clarence Valley it needs to proceed, when its grand plan will diminish or destroy so many existing aesthetic, environmental, cultural, social and economic values within the estuary.

Twelve years is a long time to have investment money tied up in a mega port scheme that in all probability will be successfully scuppered by Northern Rivers people power.

Twelve years in which your company reputations and that of your principal shareholders will be held up for global scrutiny. 

Given the power of almost instant communication that the Internet will give to over 50,000 people and the ability of anyone of those with a personal computer to identify and research your company or superannuation fund, are you sure that the hope of future financial returns is worth the public relations risk?

If you think I exaggerate, ask Metgasco Limited what community resistance across the Northern Rivers did to its plans to develop gas fields.

So, potential investors – you might like to consider taking your money and committing it to an infrastructure project in a locality that actually wants what you believe you have to offer.

This is entirely friendly advice, because I like many others would prefer quietly enjoying the Clarence River estuary and the easy, relaxed lifestyle its healthy environment allows me, rather than spending the next twelve years as part of a peaceful but relentlessly effective grassroots protest movement making your corporate lives a misery.

Sincerely,

Clarencegirl

Mouth of the Clarence River

Majority of Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation board members vote to boycott August meeting with Des Euen concerning his Yamba mega port proposal

Clarence Valley Independent, Wednesday 3 August 2016.

Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd still insulting people on social media

In reference to the fact that commercial and recreational fishing form part of the economic underpinning of local town/village economies within the Clarence River estuary, the Facebook page No Yamba Mega Port produced this banner:

Apparently this did not impress the proponents of the Yamba Mega Port scheme, presumably including the public 'face' of this proposal Des Euen.

A reader sent me this last Friday, 29 July 2016:

Which made me wonder what else this company was saying on Facebook that week and, oh dear, Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd aka AID Australia was back to its old ways - tossing insults.

Which by AID Australia standards is almost polite when you compare it to this use of bad language on 1 July 2016:

There's no excuse for unprofessional venting on Facebook - someone should tell A.I.D. Australia Pty Ltd.'s Des Euen

There’s no excuse for unprofessional venting on Facebook writes Eve Ash in Smart Company on 18 July 2016.

Something the CEO of Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd should perhaps bear in mind when he comments on the company’s Facebook page and elsewhere.

In response to one of the company’s shareholders, bagging the very political party and federal MP he needs on his side…..

In response to the community whose goodwill he needs to progress his grand plan……

Yamba Mega Port: nothing to see here, move along

This is the ‘back of the envelope’ mapping done by Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd for its proposed plan to construct an industrial port on 27.2 per cent of the entire Clarence River Estuary. Neat, tidy and full of unnaturally straight lines.

When asked about impacts on the environment the proposed industrialisation of the Port of Yamba would cause, the spokespeople for Australian Infrastructure Developments usually only have two things to say.

Firstly they point out that the initial environmental advice (which no-one outside the company appears to have sighted) gives the all clear – especially with regard to seagrass beds which supposedly do not exist in the channels to be dredged under this plan.

Secondly they say the Environmental Impact Statement which will have to be produced before they can move forward will be the company’s guideline for development.

In recent weeks there has been a third claim and that is that the company will cut another “entrance” on the north side of the river mouth so that Dirragun reef can lie undisturbed.

We are told there’s nothing for Lower Clarence communities to worry about at all.

But what do people actually living in the Clarence Estuary know about their river?

Well, firstly locals know that there are sea grass beds along the route the large cargo vessels will take back and forth from the four proposed terminals and, that the seagrass beds from the western end of Goodwood Island down the channel leading to the container terminal will in all likelihood be destroyed by the company’s deep channel dredging. 

They are also aware of the degree of mangrove loss likely to occur and, the saltmarsh that will be eliminated during construction along with roosting & feeding habitat of migratory birds protected under the internationally recognised Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (JAMBA), Australia-China Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA) and Republic of Korea–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (ROKAMBA).

These three agreements oblige the governments concerned; to take appropriate measures to preserve and enhance the environment of listed migratory species, including the establishment of sanctuaries.

Living as they do in a richly biodiverse region, locals are well aware that the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act also provides for protection of migratory species as a matter of National Environmental Significance.

[Clarence River County Council, Clarence Estuary Management Plan, 2006]

Click on images to enlarge

In fact locals know full well that Des Euen and his backers would have to play merry hell with estuarine and intertidal areas of a wetlands system that eight years ago the NSW Department of Environment was recommending should be placed on the National Reserve System [Clarence Lowlands Wetland Conservation Assessment, December 2008].

Secondly, locals are aware that any genuine Environmental Impact Statement would point to all these risks and more.

Thirdly, there is the puzzling matter of the proposed new harbour entrance which has surfaced.

As anyone can see on the snapshot of part of the NSW Roads and Maritime Services coastal boating map (below), the north side of the harbour mouth is already listed as the safe route for shipping to enter the estuary – the approach leads are clearly marked.

Click on image to enlarge

So where is this new entrance to be cut? Some or all of the 1,280m north breakwater wall built between 1952-1968 under the Clarence Harbour Works Act would have to be removed – and therein lies the rub.

Prior to construction of the entrance works floods caused significant changes to the shape of the river entrance and the location of navigable channels (Soros Longworth & McKenzie 1978) and the partial or complete removal of one or both of these walls is likely to see sand build up in the river between Iluka and Hickey Island as it did in the mid-1800s and/or further inside the smooth water limit of the main channel. Maintenance dredging may have to be an annual event, rather than a probable bi-annual event to keep the proposed new port navigable.

I won’t even go near the loss of a measure of protection in heavy seas and storms for all boats seeking harbour – the evidence of our own eyes during this year’s east coast lows are enough to give most of the population of Yamba and Iluka a fair idea of what to expect.

What will happen to the more than 40,000 year-old fishing rights if the NSW Clarence River Estuary is industrialised?

Dredging activities impact on the marine environment by smothering benthic biota and habitats and degrading water quality through elevated turbidites and bioavailability of pollutants. In addition, alterations in seabed morphology and bathymetry, and consequently to wave energy and water circulation, result in modified patterns of littoral drift (NSW Fisheries 1999, Watchorn 2000). The effects of this can include progressive accretion of sediments on some parts of the coast, and erosion in other areas (Winstanley 1995). Biota are obliterated during dredge removal and may take months or years to recover (Coleman et al. 1999). Species directly affected include invertebrates, fish and seagrass, although mangrove and saltmarsh communities are indirectly affected through altered water flows within estuaries (Edgar 2001). Dredging has been implicated in the disappearance of some invertebrates from port environments, such as a number of hydroid species that have not been recorded in Hobsons Bay, Victoria, since the advent of dredging programs (J.E. Watson, pers. comm., cited in Poore and Kudenov 1978b). Studies elsewhere have shown that the long-term influences of dredging on benthic infauna occur through permanent modification of the sedimentary environment (Jones and Candy 1981). [Commonwealth Dept. of Environment, National Oceans Office, Impact from the ocean/land interface, 2006]

Many North Coast Voices readers will be familiar with reports that deep and/or sustained dredging of tidal rivers and ocean harbours negatively impacts marine biodiversity resulting in species richness and abundance declining over time.

Environmental problems in the Port of Gladstone around 794kms to the north of the Port of Yamba have been in the news for years.

The Clarence River estuary is the largest combined river-ocean fishery in New South Wales and home to the biggest commercial fishing fleet in this state.

It is also a river which for a significant part of its length is held under Native Title by the Yaegl people (Yaegl People #1 & Yaegl People #2) of the Clarence Valley - from the waters approximately half-way between Ulmarra and Brushgrove right down to the eastern extremities of the northern and southern breakwater walls at the mouth of the river.

Here are the official maps outlining in green Native Title officially held to date:

On 2 June 2016 the CEO of Australian Infrastructure Developments was careful to note that this speculative company - lobbying for heavy industrialisation of the Clarence River estuary via a mega port covering 36 sq. kms or 27.2% of the entire estuary area - was yet to approach the Yaegl community or the trust created by traditional owners to manage these native titles.

Surely, with indigenous fishing rights recognised at law as existing on the Clarence River since time immemorial, any responsible company with a plan to extensively alter the riverine and marine environment should have asked the Yaegl people first before approaching the NSW Government with this:

Based on preliminary mapping published by Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd, yellow block overlays indicate bulk, liquid & container cargo terminals and shipping berths with grey overlays indicating proposed industrial areas

But then, Des Euen and his small band of backers have not yet publicly approached any of the Lower Clarence communities most affected by this prime example of environmental vandalism.

This is what Australia Infrastructure Developments and Des Euen want the people of the Clarence River Estuary to be complicit in establishing **WARNING: Distressing Images**

On 2 June 20016 CEO of Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd talked of the fact that his proposal for an industrial mega port in the Clarence River Estuary through the Port of Yamba would be capable of exporting live cattle for the Asian meat market.

Snapshot of part of power point presentation on 2 June 2016

Local media reported on the prospect on 4 June 2016:

NORTHERN Rivers cattle producers have welcomed preliminary negotiations for a live trade industry to Indonesia which could see the Port of Yamba revived as an export hub.

Exploratory trade inquiries, initiated by Australia-Indonesia Business Council executive member Welly Salim, has strong support from Richmond River Cattle Producers Association members, who sizzled rendang curry and satay sticks at their Casino Beef Week exhibit on Saturday in honour of the potential Indonesian market.

Mr Salim owns Oceanic Cattle Stations, a 15,800-head Tennant Creek station. He also has close business ties with Toowoomba transport tycoons, the Wagner family.

This week he was on a fact-finding mission, collecting data from brahman producers from Coffs Harbour to Tweed Heads.

It was hoped the Northern Rivers market could dovetail with the established Northern Territory live export trade industry, which shuts down over the wet season.

These are some of the live trade cruelties that would ruin the reputations of family-friendly, clean, green towns like Yamba and Iluka.

On the ship transporting cattle......

The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 June 2016:

ABC's 7.30 program on Wednesday night aired shocking footage and photographs taken by the experienced vet, Dr Lynn Simpson, who monitored the health and welfare of cattle on export ships.

The images depicted animals lying dead on floors centimetres-thick with excrement, which had also contaminated food troughs.

Other cattle lay injured, suffocating or bleeding and barely alive.

"It's just business as usual on these ships. I expect to see leg injuries, I expect to see pneumonia, I expect to see animals drenched in faecal matter," Dr Simpson told the ABC.

At some of the abattoirs which receive the exported Australian cattle.....

https://youtu.be/OiIeHMIkdeA

https://youtu.be/EwtFMq2tvHg

  https://youtu.be/le8Xh_38qKQ

Des Euen warned off Yamba by an online supporter

Not that Des Euen needed any hint that many Yamba and Iluka residents would be against the industrialisation of the Clarence River estuary…..

Facebook, 23 June 2016

Mr. Euen is rather sensitive about the few comments on the Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd Facebook page.

He recently removed comments from two Clarence Valley residents (at least one of whom attended the “summit” he organised at Casino on 2 June 2016) but left his accusations of selfishness against individuals living in the region which would be most affected by this highhanded attempt to make his fortune at the expense of so many ordinary people.

Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!

"All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values." [DLWC, Umwelt (Australia Pty Ltd, 2003, Clarence Estuary Management Plan: The Clarence Estuary - A Valued Asset]

The economic value of tourism is worth an est. $239.4 million per annum to the Clarence Valley with recreational fishing forming a significant part of the region's income and, in 2010 the commercial fishing industry was worth an est. $92 million annually to the valley.

The economies of the three main towns in the Clarence River estuary are heavily based on commercial and recreational fishing and water-based tourism, with Yamba and Iluka being principal holiday destinations.

Boating is a major recreational activity, with 90% of recreational boating related to fishing and 61% involving retired people. [Clarence Valley Council, 2003]

Fresh seafood caught locally forms part of the staple diet for many Lower Clarence households.

These are the faces of some of the people who threw a line in the last two months:

Bluff Beach, 10 June 2016

Catch at Moriaty’s Wall, 8 June 2016

26 May 2016

31 May 2016

Iluka Beach, 18 May 2016

Off the break wall, 8 June 2016

Brown's Rock, 16 June 2016

[Images from Iluka Bait & Tackle]

However, Australia Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd - along with Messrs. Des Euen, Thomas Chui, Lee and Nigel Purves - want to destroy this great year-round and holiday lifestyle by lobbying government to allow the 
construction of a large industrial port covering over 27 per cent of the Clarence River estuary.

Thereby severely compromising lower river commercial and recreational fishing grounds with the constant movement in and out of the river of mega ships such as these:

[North Coast Voices, February 2016]

With their bow wave and propeller wash sucking at known seagrass beds as well as riverbanks along the main estuary channels as they pass. 

Many of us who live on the river are firmly of the belief that we would rather have

“Fish n Chips not Mega Ships!”

Brief Background

Long before the arrival of Europeans in the area, local Bundjalung people were fishing the waters of the 'big river' for oysters and fish, as evidenced by the large middens found along the river banks and coastline. The first settlers to the area found a bountiful river surrounded by dense subtropical forests and swamps flowing out to the coastline. Fish were easy to come by and made up an important food source for the early settlers who set about developing forestry and farming in the area. Grafton was established in the 1850’s with the river being a principal source of transport. The introduction of sheep grazing to the area occurred in the late 1850’s and sugar cane farming was carried out as early as 1868 (Anon, 1980a). A small commercial fishery had its beginnings in 1862 when fish were caught to supply workers and their families employed in the construction of the river entrance works. This major project was designed to provide safe navigation for the coastal steamers that traded upriver. Commercial fishermen were supplying fish to the local market by the 1870’s, particularly seasonal fishing for mullet, which was an important local industry supplying the Grafton market (Anon, 1880). The fishing industry began in earnest in 1884 when shipments of fish were sent to Sydney twice a week, weather permitting. The fish, mainly whiting, bream, flat tailed mullet and flathead were packed in ice in large insulated boxes. The boxes were then reused to bring ice on the return trip (Anon, 1994). [Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, A socio—economic evaluation of the commercial fishing industry in the Ballina, Clarence and Coffs Harbour regions, 2009]

o   The commercial industry in Northern NSW provides about one-third of the product (fish) landed in the whole of NSW.

o   An assessment of fish stocks in NSW indicated most fisheries are probably sustainable but that there should be no expansion of catches.

o  The economic modelling results demonstrated that the industry provides quantifiable economic benefits to the Northern NSW region in the form of output, income, employment and value added (gross regional product).

o  The combined harvesting and processing sectors of the industry in Northern NSW provided total flow-on effects of $216 million derived from output, $36.1 million in income, 933 employment positions and $75.5 million in value added.

o   Two-thirds of the money generated by the operation of the industry is spent in the local and regional economies.

o   Commercial fishing activity in the Clarence River occurs in the Estuary General and Estuary Trawl Fisheries.

o   The ocean fleet has home port facilities in both Yamba and Iluka.

o   The Clarence River Fishermen's Co-op operates two depots with Maclean primarily processing catch from the river fishery and Iluka processing catch from the offshore fishery.

o   Ocean Hauling was one of the earliest fisheries to be utilised on the beaches in the Clarence district and continues to be an important fishery in the area.

[Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, 2009 & Clarence Valley Council, 2016]

o   In 2010 Clarence Valley Council estimates that the commercial fishing industry is now worth over $92 million and generates over 430 jobs, while the recreational fishing industry which forms a large part of the $280 million tourism industry in the Valley generates much of the economic base of Yamba, Iluka and Maclean.

o   Due to tourism Yamba and Iluka regularly double their population during major holiday periods and many retired and family holiday makers are thought to be drawn to the area by fishing and other recreational opportunities on the river.

o   Commercial ocean fish and crustacean species both breed and feed in the Clarence River estuary system.

[J.M. Melville, Submission to the Inquiry into the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on Regional Australia, No. 177, December 2010]

All the major economic sectors in the lower Clarence Valley are dependent to a considerable extent on understanding and protecting the estuary’s and floodplain’s natural processes and values…..

The outstanding threat nominated by the Maclean group was population growth and urban development, particularly where this is located close to the estuary. This is an interesting result, given that the Clarence overall is not an urbanised waterway. It may reflect the rapid changes that are occurring in Yamba, and the view in the community that further growth in this area will require major sustainability issues to be addressed. The appropriate growth rate and style of development in Yamba has been a major source of discussion for residents in the lower Clarence, especially in response to Council’s interpretation of the results of its community survey on the future of Yamba. Several other frequently nominated threats were examples of the types of threats that are associated with poorly managed urban growth that exceeds the capability of the natural system. Declining health of the estuary (from any cause) was perceived as a major threat by the lower Clarence community, acknowledging the high economic dependence on estuary health in this area.

[DLWC, Umwelt (Australia Pty Ltd, 2003, Clarence Estuary Management Plan: The Clarence Estuary - A Valued Asset]

The Clarence Valley Local Government Area’s Gross Regional Product in 2015 was estimated at $1.73 billion, which represents 0.4% of the state's GSP (Gross State Product)