SINGLE-officer police stations are the “lifeblood” of smaller regional communities and must be retained, according to Victorian shadow police minister Edward O’Donohue.
Mr O’Donohue visited Macarthur police station last week with South West Coast MP Denis Napthine as part of a tour of local police operations.
“We, as a Coalition, strongly believe in the value of single-member stations,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“They are integral to the lifeblood of communities and we want to make sure that they are preserved, that they stay open and that they continue to be central to the life and heart of so many communities in Victoria.”
Mr O’Donohue accused the State Government of failing to match the Coalition’s police recruiting drive and creating a shortage of officers for regional Victoria.
“When we were in government we recruited 1900 additional police, the largest single additional recruitment of police in Victoria Police’s history,” he said.
“Labor has turned off the tap. The police academy is operating at half strength. Labor has made no commitment to additional police.”
Police Minister Wade Noonan in response accused Mr O’Donohue of running a scare campaign during his visit to the south-west and said police offer allocations were a matter for the Chief Commissioner.
Under the previous Coalition State Government, Victoria Police released a ‘blue paper’ policy discussion document that suggested smaller police stations would lose their full-time officers.
As a replacement, ‘super stations’ would be created to send roving officers to where they were needed.
The previous and current state governments have played down the ‘blue paper’ but The Spectator understands that Victoria Police has continued to survey officers for their thoughts on the ‘super station’ model.
Mr O’Donohue said police ‘hubs’ could help supplement single-officer stations, but should not replace them.
“A larger hub can always provide reinforcement, can always work with these sort of stations (Macarthur), but it can’t
replace, in our view, the work that these sort of places do,” he said.
Dr Napthine also said he was committed to keeping single-officer stations.
“The frontline of community safety, and community confidence, is the local police station and the local officer,” he said.
“That’s got to be maintained, protected and reinforced.”
Dr Napthine also welcomed amendments to a recent ‘two-up’ police safety policy that aimed to eliminate instances of police officers working alone.
The new policy was implemented in response to a heightened terror alert level and several terrorism-related incidents, but exemptions were added because of the burden placed on regional police stations.
“What we want is the opportunity for experienced single officer stations to operate with common sense; priority on safety for themselves but at the same time having the flexibility to respond as required in the community,” Dr Napthine said.
“Safety of officers must be the highest priority, but you can also achieve that with common sense.”
SOUTH-WEST Victoria is potentially sitting on a $6 billion oil and gas deposit with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, according to Melbourne-based industrial engineering and mining company Mecrus Resources.
Mecrus has told Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into a potential onshore unconventional gas inquiry, via a written submission, that there is a ‘shale oil’ and natural gas deposit between Casterton and the South Australian border.
The company believes the commercial prospects for this deposit are “beyond doubt” after it “invested significant money to date in detailed exploration and investigation” and commissioned an independent study.
Representatives from Mecrus are due to give testimony to a Gas inquiry hearing in Hamilton’s Performing Arts Centre on Wednesday.
“The oil shale is quite deep and it is significantly separated from any utilised groundwater aquifers,” Mecrus managing director Barry Richards wrote in the submission.
“The identified resources in our primary target area are also extremely thick and of world class in nature”.
The primary target area is comprised of two mineral exploration licence areas held by Mecrus with a combined size of about 1500 square kilometres.
The two tenements, EL5298 and EL5297, incorporate land from around Ardno, Strathdownie and Wilkin to the south, to around Lake Mundi and Tullich in the north.
The eastern border of the two adjacent tenements begins about 10 kms west of Casterton and is hemmed in by the variety of state nature reserves and Crown land between Casterton and the SA border.
The exploration licence areas EL5298 and EL5297 in south-west Victoria, held by Mecrus Resources and believed by the company to contain ‘world class’ shale oil deposits
“If the progression to the next stage from exploration to mining is successful, then it would be expected that many support companies would establish offices and service centres to support the development,” Mecrus’s submission stated.
Mecrus did not state how deep underground the oil deposit is meant to be, but other oil and gas companies have been exploring about four kilometres beneath the surface near Penola, SA.
The ‘Mecrus Group of Companies’ includes a variety of businesses focussed on groundwater management and desalination.
But its resources department is current focussed on mineral and petroleum exploration and not production.
The largest single project that Mecrus has worked on, according to public reports, is a $135 million contract to supply four giant coal-handling machines at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal in North Queensland.
Some of the company’s flagship contracts, listed as ‘case studies’ on its website, were worth between $2m and $10m.
The revelations in Mecrus’s submission could further agitate anti-gas activists and locals farmers who have joined their cause.
Landowners from south-west Victoria joined a protest rally in Melbourne on Sunday that called for the entire state to be declared “gasfield free” due to concerns that an onshore unconventional gas industry would damage agriculture.
Mecrus has also stated that, if an oil drilling project goes ahead, south-west Victoria could also be used for ‘carbon sequestration’ to held Australia meet its international emissions reduction targets by pumping greenhouse gas underground.
The Mecrus submission said the deposit as been “independently assessed” to likely contain 360 million barrels of oil as well as pockets of natural gas.
The deposit is believed to have a lifespan of 40 years and could produce more than $600 million in royalties for the Victorian Government during that time.
Given that oil royalty rates in Victoria are usually about 10 per cent of net production value, the economic value of the deposit could be as high as $6 billion.
If the project ever goes ahead it could, at peak production, create a yearly economic output larger than Iluka Resource’s Hamilton mineral sands separation plant or the Portland Aluminium Smelter,
Mecrus Resources notes that the “financial expenditure for such projects is extremely large” but says that it would bring “massive flow on effects for local communities”.
“If the progression to the next stage from exploration to mining is successful, then it would be expected that many support companies would establish offices and service centres to support the development,” Mecrus’s submission stated.
“This also will have a positive impact on the employment of local citizens through support functions to a new industry.”
The company says its exploration results indicate “there is a significant Oil Shale reserve and associated hydrocarbons contained within these Oil Shales” in the Otway Basin.
Mecrus has submitted ‘commercial in confidence’ documents to the parliamentary gas inquiry, including work and operation plans, an environmental management plan and groundwater contingency plan.
The managing director offered to give MPs a confidential briefing on request and stated in its submission that the aboveground impact from oil drilling in its exploration licence areas would be about one hectare in total.
Mecrus will probably have to use the controversial hydraulic fracturing, AKA ‘fracking’, technique to improve yields from any oil and gas deposits found in south-west Victoria.
Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemical underground to break up rock layers; the technology has been a major source of opposition to unconventional gas from farmers.
Mecrus has also proposed to fill the remaining underground void with carbon dioxide to cash in on the search for ‘carbon capture and storage’ facilities.
Brown coal power stations are a major contributor to Australia’s high per-capita carbon emissions.
A recent advertising campaign by the Mineral Council of Australia, promoting coal as “amazing”, has talked up the possibility of carbon capture to improve the economic and environmental virtues of the fossil fuel.
There is only one functional carbon capture operation in the world, located in Canada, but there are plans to use the technology to store emission from coal power stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.
Mecrus has successfully completed a number of large construction and maintenance projects since the company was formed in 1999, but it has never started or delivered a mine or oil production site.
Mecrus established its mining and resource division in 2009 and was awarded its first exploration licence in 2010.
The collapse of oil and gas prices over the past 12 months has proven to be a challenge for Australia’s petroleum exploration and production companies.
South Australia’s Beach Energy, which holds a number of onshore gas exploration licences in south-west Victoria, was forced to slash capital expenditure after oil prices dropped and its share price plummeted.
Mecrus is a privately owned company with a much lower profile than its publicly traded competitors and it does not have to publish its annual reports.
The Victorian Parliamentary submission by Mecrus represents a rare insight into the company, as its latest press release was issued in August 2011 and its last four-page newsletter came out in late 2013.
Backing up what the company told Victorian MPs in 2011, the July 2015 submission states that “we do not believe there is any commercially viable Coal Seam Gas reserve” in the Otway basin.
The company wants any future oil activity to be governed under Victoria’s Mineral Resources Sustainable Development Act, rather than the Petroleum Act.
This could see oil and gas projects go ahead in Mecrus’s south-west Victorian exploration licence areas even if the Victorian Government decided to extend its current moratorium into onshore gas exploration and fracking.
Mecrus argued that treating south-west Victorian oil extraction under mining legislation would “strengthen regulatory safeguards and prevent delays to development of the industry”.
WANNON MP Dan Tehan has missed out on a ministerial portfolio from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s post-leadership spill cabinet reshuffle.
Some of Mr Tehan’s fellow Victorian Liberals were big winners in the reshuffle, which saw a number of key Abbott-era ministers replaced but the Immigration, Finance, Environment and Trade portfolios left with their original holders.
Melbourne MPs Kelly O’Dwyer and Josh Frydenberg picked up key business portfolios as part of an effort to overturn Abbott’s ‘economic team’, who were strongly criticised by Mr Turnbull during a speech announcing his intention to challenge for leadership.
Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield has also moved up to the Communications and Arts portfolios.
Mr Tehan had backed Mr Abbott to remain as Liberal leader and Prime Minister, but said before the reshuffle that he would be happy to serve in any role under Mr Turnbull.
Mr Tehan will likely attend selected cabinet meetings in future as part of his work on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industry.
He is also chair of the high-profile Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which is primarily tasked with reviewing proposed counter-terror and intelligence gathering legislation.
The Committee recently released its report into legislation designed to allow the Australian Government to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals who engage in terrorist activity, or join or fight overseas for a terrorist group.
New ministry sworn in September 21, 2015:
TITLE
MINISTER
Prime Minister
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP
Minister for Indigenous Affairs
Minister for Women
Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Cabinet Secretary
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Government
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Counter Terrorism
Senator the Hon Arthur Sinodinos
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield MP
The Hon Michael Keenan MP
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
Assistant Minister for Productivity
Assistant Cabinet Secretary
The Hon Alan Tudge MP
Senator James McGrath
Dr Peter Hendy MP
Senator the Hon Scott Ryan
Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development
The Hon Warren Truss MP
(Deputy Prime Minister)
Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia
Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
The Hon Paul Fletcher MP
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister
The Hon Michael McCormack MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Minister for Trade and Investment
Minister for International Development and the Pacific
Minister for Tourism and International Education
Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment
The Hon Andrew Robb AO MP
The Hon Steven Ciobo MP
Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck
Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck
Attorney-General
Senator the Hon George Brandis QC
(Leader of the Government in the Senate)
Minister for Justice
Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs
The Hon Michael Keenan MP
Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti–Wells
Treasurer
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Minister for Small Business
Assistant Treasurer
The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP
The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP
Assistant Minister to the Treasurer
Mr Alex Hawke MP
Minister for Finance
(Deputy Leader of Government in the Senate)
Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann
Special Minister of State
The Hon Mal Brough MP
Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
Senator Anne Ruston
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science
(Leader of the House)
The Hon Christopher Pyne MP
Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
Assistant Minister for Science
The Hon Karen Andrews MP
Assistant Minister for Innovation
Mr Wyatt Roy MP
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
The Hon Peter Dutton MP
Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs
Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti–Wells
Minister for the Environment
Minister for Cities and the Built Environment
The Hon Greg Hunt MP
The Hon Jamie Briggs MP
Minister for Health
The Hon Sussan Ley MP
Minister for Sport
The Hon Sussan Ley MP
Minister for Rural Health
Assistant Minister for Health
Senator the Hon Fiona Nash
Mr Ken Wyatt AM MP
Minister for Defence
Senator the Hon Marise Payne
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC
The Hon Stuart Robert MP
The Hon Stuart Robert MP
Minister for Defence Materiel and Science
The Hon Mal Brough MP
Assistant Minister for Defence
The Hon Darren Chester MP
Minister for Communications
Minister for the Arts
Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield
SOUTH-WEST Coast’s state by-election Liberal candidate will be Woolsthorpe farmer Roma Britnell after she won support from a majority of local party members at a preselection vote on Sunday.
Ms Britnell told The Spectator that she was “honoured to have been nominated to represent the Liberal Party in South-West Coast.
“I have lived in the region my whole life and raised a family here and I look forward to addressing its issues, strengths and challenges,” she said.
“Roads will be one of the significant issues.”
Ms Britnell is the vice president of United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, a commodity group of the Victorian Farmers Federation.
Her family’s farm was selected to host the launch of the Federal Government’s Agriculture Policy Whitepaper in early July.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and Wannon MP Dan Tehan attended the whitepaper launch.
The parliamentary secretary for agriculture, Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck, also attended the July event.
Senator Colbeck was promoted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday to Minister for Tourism and International Education and minister assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment.
The Weekly Times has reported that 90 Liberal Party members engaged in two rounds of voting to preselect Ms Britnell.
Glenelg Shire Councillor Anita Rank and Portland accountant Deborah Kieller had also stood for preselection.
The Spectator understands that the Warrnambool region has about four times more Liberal Party members than Portland, where Ms Rank and Kieller were based.
Former state upper house MP Donna Petrovich, and fashion retail businesswoman Jacinta Anderson and Tom Napthine, the son of former South-West Coast MP Denis Napthine, were also contenders.
Ms Britnell will be going up against the Coalition’s partner, the Nationals, who have nominated former Warrnambool Mayor and Liberal Party member Michael Neoh as their candidate.
The Greens have announced Warrnambool student Thomas Campbell as their candidate and Roy Reekie may run as an independent if Labor does not nominate for the seat.
South-West Coast was vacated by former Premier Denis Napthine after 27 years of representing the region, which goes to the polls for the by-election on October 31.
THE State Government’s proposed rates cap will cause “long-term unsustainability” and cuts to staff or services from local governments, according to Southern Grampians Shire Councillor Dennis Dawson.
Cr Dawson made the comments during a debate on how to respond to the State Government’s latest round of consultation, which took place in Wednesday’s council meeting.
Cr Katrina Rainsford said she supported the rates capping policy as a way to make local governments more “efficient and effective” but criticised the State Government for increasing its own levies by seven per cent.
Cr Paul Battista also supported the rates cap but said he was concerned that it would increase the Shire’s vulnerability to unexpected large costs, such as superannuation blowouts or natural disasters.
The actual motion was only to note the release of the Essential Services Commission’s ‘A Blueprint for Change’ draft report and provide the Shire’s response by August 28.
The report set out the State Government’s review into how it would impose rates capping and deal with applications for an exemption by local governments.
Southern Grampians Shire Council voted unanimously to note the report and prepare its response.
Shire services director Bronwyn Herbert told councillors that the report was “very important for all councils across Victoria” as the Essential Service Commission would determine if certain shires could get exemptions from the cap.
“This report takes in all those submissions and presents a model for rate capping in the future,” she said.
“It needs to be considered very seriously.
“Tonight is not about discussion particular views or ins and outs of the policy.”
Despite Ms Herbert’s request the debate turned to the rates cap policy itself.
Cr Dawson said he was concerned that rate payers would be confused by rates and some charges being capped while others were not.
Cr Dawson was also concerned that rate payers would believe the cap would still be at the Consumer Price Index inflation rate rather than the new proposal to base the cap on an amalgam of financial forecasts.
“I think these distinctions are going to create confusion for people who relate to the whole cost as detailed in the rates notice,” he said.
Cr Dawson said the rates cap would have the potential to fundamentally change the relationship between local governments and their communities.
“One of the downsides of this proposal is that it has the strong potential to end the cross-subsidisation of council activities,” he said.
“We do cross-subsidise council activities in the community interest to make services available at reasonable prices.
“I think that rate capping will push councils towards a full cost recovery models for some services and will take away that supportiveness of cross-subsidisation.
“It ensures that we continue to be motivated by money rather than the sense of community responsibility and community support.”
Cr Dawson said he believed that rates capping would affect waste services, home help, meals on wheels, recreation services and “services to help less advantaged members of community”.
Cr Rainsford said shires need to have a “finger on the pulse” and recognise that people in business and farming “are doing more with less”.
“I’ve served on council for a long time and I haven’t seen the political will for councils to collectively, at times, say ‘no’,” she said.
“It’s not about not continuing to provide services, it’s about actually reflecting the general community as a lot of people out there don’t get five to six per cent rises each year in their pay packet.”
Cr Rainsford did criticise the State Government’s policy of increasing the levies that it requires local governments to collect.
“We have got a government that talks about the cost of living but it’s not going to worry about the fire services levy, which people are linking to their rates notices,” she said.
“They have put the levy up by seven per cent while at the same time talking about rate capping.”
Cr Albert Calvano said the shire needed to make note of the close deadlines for preparing its draft budget and any application for a rates cap exemption.
Cr Battista said he welcomed the rates cap but noted that it could increase the impact of possible “unexpected monetary issues” in the future.
“For to long many councils throughout Victoria have set their rates at a very large level and communities have been saying ‘we can’t afford it any more’,” he said.
“It is going to make us more responsible with our budgets and make sure that we get the process right by what we put forward to the community.
“I think we will work hard and maintain our services.”
A GROUP of Gunditjmara people have protested against a keeping place and business centre that Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation has proposed to build at the Lake Condah Mission.
A number of Gunditjmara Elders led the protest against the “multi-million dollar” plan for a “huge building”, which involved about 30 people attending the mission site on Saturday morning with placards and banners.
The slogans displayed included ‘Land not Profit’ and ‘Not a Human Zoo’.
A keeping place is designed to exhibit pre and post-colonial Aboriginal culture, but opponents claim that it will be focussed on tourism and only a few members will get the economic benefits.
Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation was established in 2005 by Gunditjmara traditional owners to progress “rights and interests in native title, cultural heritage and caring for country”.
The corporation’s management have denied that the keeping place will be commercial in nature and have defended its decision making and consultation process.
Management said it has been “entirely offended and sickened” by some of the statements that have been made accusing keeping place supporters of betraying other members’ heritage.
A statement from the corporation said that last year it commissioned “three sets of independent legal advice at a cost of just under $30,000 to review the Full Group processes in relation to the Keeping Place/Business Centre being constructed at the Lake Condah Mission”.
A GROUP of Gunditjmara people protest on Saturday morning against a keeping place and business centre that Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation has proposed to build at the Lake Condah Mission. Photo: BILLY EASSON.
Elder and traditional owner Sandra Onus told The Spectator that that proposed keeping place had been “contentious from the word go” and many Gunditjmara people wanted it to be built in Portland.
“We have archaeological evidence that out people lived in that country,” she said.
“That’s where my people were concentrated; they grew up there.
“It’s a sacred place.”
Ms Onus said the building would be a “commercial venture” and an “intrusion” on a place where her people had enjoyed “peace and quiet” to “reflect on their journey”.
In response to a request to comment, the Gunditj Mirring provided The Spectator a statement it had made to organisers of the ‘Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page.
The statement said that the Lake Condah Mission keeping place proposal had been planned since 2007 and there had been a “lengthy, heartfelt and emotional process of talking between Gunditjmara Elders and people about the Keeping Place”.
“As part of the 2007 Gunditjmara native title settlement agreement, the Gunditjmara community negotiated $1,000,000 for the construction of a non-commercial Keeping Place to have a place for the return of Gunditjmara cultural heritage and knowledge as well as Business Centre for the Gunditjmara community to operate its business dealing with caring for country, native title, cultural heritage and our continuing connection to country,” the corporation’s statement said.
“Following an extensive Location Evaluation Study in 2008 on where the best place to build the Keeping Place/Business Centre, the Full Group decided to construct the Keeping Place/Business Centre at the Lake Condah Mission.”
The ‘Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page had 438 ‘likes’ at the time of publication but claimed that its posts on Saturday’s protest had been shared with thousands of people.
The page described itself as having been “created for members of Gunditjmara who are against the proposed building on what our elders consider to be sacred and significant land”.
Gunditjmara Elder Eunice Wright appears in a video posted to the page in which she says she feels a duty to protect the mission area as her family was the last to leave its confines.
“Lake Condah Mission, to me, is sacred”
“The land means everything to me, it really does.
“Out of respect for my family, I’m trying to protect the mission and, as we were the last family there, I will not stop fighting for that mission to be left as it is.”
Ms Wright said she lived “really well” on the mission for seven years and caught rabbit and kangaroo with traps.
The Traditional Owners Corporation has disputed some of the statements made about its management and voting membership by the Save Lake Condah Mission’ Facebook page.
“While respecting the right of people to protest, the Gunditjmara people attending the Full Group meeting held on 7 August 2015 are entirely offended and sickened at the suggestion that decisions made by the Full Group are to be labelled as the ‘raping of our land’ as described on the ‘Save the Lake Condah Mission’ page on Facebook.,” the statement said.
“As always, the Full Group meeting is open to all Gunditjmara people.
“All Gunditjmara people must respect our Gunditjmara country in honour of our Ancestral Beings, our cultural heritage and identity, our Elders, our community and our future.”
A SENATE committee’s call for a new federally-controlled wind energy regulatory regime has been described as “misguided” and “baseless” by the Victorian Government.
The Victorian opposition has backed the committee’s call that “local councils should retain development approval decision-making”.
The Senate Select Committee on Wind Farms this week handed down 15 recommendations, inducing a call for wind energy subsidies to be slashed from 20 years to five.
The majority of the report’s authors want to establish an ‘Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Industrial Sound’ to provide advice on wind farm developments and commission research.
The report calls for State Governments to be excluded from receiving renewable energy certificates if they reject new federal guidelines on proposed wind farm developments.
If the report’s recommendations were implemented in full, existing wind farms could also face sanctions for breaching any new wind energy regulations on noise, infrasound or other impacts on humans and the environment.
Labor Senators produced a dissenting report that labelled the call for more regulation “enormously expensive, duplicative and unworkable” and accused the Australian Government of a campaign to “hamper the expansion of renewable energy generation in Australia”.
“Labor Senators reiterate their strong support for the wind energy industry in Australia,” the dissenting report stated.
Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm, who sat on the wind farm committee, criticised Wannon Federal MP Tehan’s support of wind farm jobs and investment on Sky News this week,
Senator Leyjonhelm said Mr Tehan had made an “assumption” that “if you don’t have wind energy, you don’t have renewable energy”.
“There are plenty of jobs from solar, biomass and geothermal and those sorts of things,” he said.
Mr Tehan did not respond to a request to comment before publication deadline.
Western Victoria State Labor MP Gayle Tierney dismissed the call for a greater regulatory regime on wind farms.
“These recommendations, along with the majority of recommendations in the report are misguided and founded on baseless theories,” she said.
“The report simply attacks the wind industry, including the current and future jobs it provides for Victoria.”
Victorian shadow energy minister David Southwick, who toured south-west Victoria earlier this year in support of wind farm jobs and investment, called for a “balanced” approach.
“The Victorian Coalition is committed to providing an affordable and reliable renewable energy sector that delivers jobs and investment for Victoria,” he said.
“Wind is a key component for Victoria’s energy mix, but must be balanced with community consultation to protect amenity and environmental value of our communities.
“(Premier) Daniel Andrews has ripped away local input into planning decisions on wind farms from local councils which are now purely at the discretion of the Planning Minister in Spring Street.”
Cape Bridgewater landowner Sonia Trist, who lives near a wind farm and blames the turbine noise for her health problems, told The Portland Observer that she hoped the Australian Government would adopt the recommendations.
Macarthur landowner Annie Gardner appeared on Alan Jones’s TV program on Sky News this week and gave her support for the recommendations.
She blamed the neighbouring AGL Macarthur wind farm’s construction for the decline of her fine wool growing business and the turbines for her family’s headaches and heartburn.
“We didn’t know anything about infrasound and we didn’t get a great deal of background noise but the infrasound is there 24/7; all day and all night our home is toxic,” she said.
WESTERN Victoria’s aquifers and surface water face a “low” risk from onshore unconventional gas fracking, according to a State Government report that has been harshly criticised by The Greens.
The report explored “hypothetical onshore natural gas development scenarios”, including a wide band of shale gas west of Casterton and three coal seam gas areas between Casterton, Merino and Dartmoor.
Another hypothetical coal seam gas field was modelled in the prime dairy region between Macarthur and Koroit.
Unconventional gas development involves, to varying degrees depending on the type of gas, the controversial extraction method of hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’.
Water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure in order to ‘frack’ a gas well and the process has been depicted by activists as dangerous to the environment and human health.
Though the main body of the report presented unconventional gas as low risk, its introduction made candid statements about the proposed industry.
“Gas extraction depressurises the gas-bearing formation and may cause a decline in groundwater level, which could impact water users and ecosystems,” the report stated.
“Groundwater level decline may also cause land subsidence.
“Hydraulic fracturing can increase gas yield, but may unintentionally contaminate water supplies with hydraulic fracturing fluids and induce seismicity (earthquakes).”
Victorian Greens Leader Greg Barber has rejected a water table report’s main findings as “flawed” and accused the consulting company that produced it of having a commercial interest in seeing the fracking moratorium lifted.
“If the government is backing these findings, they seem to be saying that drilling in Western Victoria will be a lot lower risk than other places,” he said.
“I’m just not buying it.”
“There’s no actual evidence provided that the water table will only fall by 2 to 10 metres from gas drilling and extraction. All their other conclusions follow from that.
“That impact could be devastating enough to fragile farmlands and sensitive ecosystems, already stressed by drought and climate change.”
The Spectator has sought comment from Western Victoria Labor MP Gayle Tierney but she did not respond before publication deadline.
The ‘Otway region synthesis report: overview of the assessment of potential impacts on water resources’ was one of four submissions made by the Victorian Government for the State Parliament’s inquiry into unconventional gas.
The inquiry is due to report its findings to Parliament in December, and the recommendations could see the State Government lift or extend its current moratorium into most onshore gas exploration activities.
The water report stated that gas development in the Otways and Western Victoria would have a “low” impact on the water table with water flow changes and aquifer depressurisation “within historical ranges” and “the potential for chemical contamination of groundwater from hydraulic fracturing fluids is low”.
Lowan Nationals MP Emma Kealy repeated her party’s pledge to not approve any gas development that would pose a threat to agriculture.
“The Coalition has a strong history in unconventional gas, banning the use of dangerous BTEX chemicals, introducing the gas exploration moratorium, and commissioning extensive water and environmental studies and entering into a broad community consultation process,” she said.
“This is in stark contrast to Labor, who recklessly issued 72 gas exploration permits and 23 extraction licenses with no studies into the impact of fracking on our land, environment and water.
“This report forms just one of the submissions to (Parliament’s) Inquiry into Unconventional Gas. I await the final recommendations of the Inquiry with interest.”
The water report’s authors used test drilling results to estimate the water table impact of hypothetical shale and coal seam gas development in the Otways and Western Victoria regions.
Though much of south-west Victoria is covered by shale and tight gas exploration licences, The Spectator has only found one coal seam gas exploration licence that was granted in Western Victoria in previous years.
The private company that owned the licence, Mecrus Resources, “has ruled out CSG” according to a separate State Parliament report.
The current report found that “shale gas…is expected to exist in the Casterton Formation at depths greater than 2500m.”
“Prospective shale gas resources could be located near the South Australian border.”
THE parents of former Casterton area man Lachlan Beaton, who posted an emotional online video calling for same-sex marriage in Australia, have called for Wannon MP Dan Tehan to change his mind on the issue.
Wando Bridge cattle farmers Andrew and Juddie Beaton met with Mr Tehan in person after Lachlan’s video started gaining media attention.
The video has also become part of Queensland LNP MP Warren Entsch’s campaign for a bipartisan same-sex marriage bill.
Lachlan posted the video to YouTube three weeks ago and he estimates it has been seen 70,000 times across various video and news websites.
In the video Lachlan describes his 12-year struggle to come to terms with his own sexuality, which he successful hid from identical twin brother Charles.
Lachlan grew up around Casterton and felt pressure to conform to a local culture at the time where gays were seen as outsiders to be made fun of.
Andrew and Juddie now believe that same-sex marriage legislation will be vital to sweeping away the last pockets of discrimination.
WANDO Bridge cattle farmers Andrew and Juddie Beaton, who are calling for Wannon MP Dan Tehan to change his mind on same-sex marriage, on their farm near Casterton. Photo: JUDY DE MAN.
Mr Tehan’s position throughout the recent national debate on same-sex marriage has been to support “the current definition of marriage contained in the Marriage Act 1961, which states that marriage is a union between a man and a woman”.
“However, I acknowledge that there is a diversity of views in the local community about this,” Mr Tehan said previously.
“While I support the traditional definition of marriage, I also support this issue being dealt with as a matter of conscience.”
Andrew said he and Juddie had spent 50 minutes discussion the issue with Mr Tehan.
“We asked for a meeting and I said to his secretary: ‘if he’s not prepared to listen then let us know and we won’t bother coming’,” Andrew said.
“He did listen and he was really good but he started off by saying that he didn’t know how he would feel, as a parent, because he wasn’t in that position.
“He is like a lot of other politicians who make a decision on this matter and they don’t really know how it affects them or other people.”
Juddie said the mental health issues also should be sufficient to get Australia to “move on from this situation”.
“It’s a terrible thought: those children have to find themselves somewhere, work out their own identity, and it’s much better if it’s done with their family’s backing.”
Andrew noted that “governments spend a lot of money on mental health, and just saving lives.”
“Driving around here with all the safety barriers that are put on roads to save a life; well this is one decision that would save more than one life, it would save a lot of lives,” he said.
Lachlan revealed in his video that his coming to terms with being gay involved periods of self destructive behaviour, excess drinking and depression to the point of hospitalisation at some points.
The Beatons see the issue in historical as well as personal terms, likening the same-sex marriage as just another reform following voting rights for women and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
They spoke of the recent referendum in Ireland and United States Supreme Court decision, both of which paved the way for same sex marriage in those countries.
“We would really like Dan Tehan, our local member, to change his mind,” Andrew said.
“We have changed our mind. We wouldn’t have thought like this ten years ago. So many of our friends have said the same thing.
“One of the slogans ‘it’s OK to be gay’. Same thing for politicians: ‘it’s OK to change your mind’.
“The next generation will look back and think ‘gee we debated all this, fancy that’.”
Juddie said she suspected some MPs were reluctant to challenge their party leader’s position on the issue because they wanted posts as cabinet ministers.
Federal Parliament will resume on August 10 but it is unclear whether a private member’s bill will even get to the stage of facing a vote.
HAMILTON Medical Group has defended its new ‘pay on the day’ policy for GP appointments, which was announced last Saturday and will take effect on September 28.
The clinic has pointed to a freezing of Medicare rebates to GPs since November 2012, under both Labor and Coalition Governments, as a partial reason for its payment policies.
A statement from Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley said doctors should not use the rebate freeze as an excuse to unfairly increase prices.
The clinic’s announcement was heavily criticised on Facebook and it also reignited a long-running debate about the local availability of bulk bulling for GP visits.
The clinic stated via an advertisement in The Spectator that “in view of the Government freezing of the Medicare rebate, in order to sustain a medical service and attract doctors to come and work in Hamilton, the Hamilton Medical Group will be changing its billing policy.”
From Monday, September 28, 2015 full payment will be required for all consultations on the day of service
“Rebates can be paid directly into your account on the same day.”
At the time of publication, 158 comments had been posted on the ‘I’ve Lived in Hamilton, Victoria’ Facebook page listing issues with Hamilton Medical Group’s payment policies.
There were also messages in support of the clinic, including one popular comment that asked locals to consider “how lucky are we to live in a country that allows us to access medical treatment for many issues”.
Prior to the ‘pay on the day’ policy announcement, The Spectator had asked users of its own Facebook page about their opinion of bulk billing.
A number of users said the non-bulk billed cost of repeated GP visits, often because of having multiple children or a chronic illness, was a major issue.
Hamilton Medical Group board chair Dr Dale Ford told The Spectator that the new payment policy would have exceptions for financial hardship and was not the only medical clinic to adopt similar measure.
“We are going to try to move to a ‘pay on the day’ policy,” he said.
“The reason for that is: as a result of what happened in recent months and years the amount of money outstanding has increased significantly and we are trying to move to have ‘pay on the day’ whenever possible.
“We understand that sometimes it’s not going to be possible, but that will also be part of the policy.”
For many families facing multiple GP visits, there has always been calculation of whether it would be cheaper to drive to Penshurst, Coleraine, Portland or Warrnambool rather than attend a non-bulk billed appointment in Hamilton.
One woman who contacted The Spectator said she considered herself to be one of the “working poor” and was battling the cost of GP visits while managing a chronic illness.
“I have many friends with young children who simply can not afford to go (to the doctor),” she wrote.
The Hamilton Medical Group states on its website that it is “a private medical practice, not a bulk billing clinic.”
Dr Ford said that despite this policy there was a “significant percentage of consultations that are bulk billed” as the option was at the discretion of doctors.
“Bulk billing is becoming far less common in the medical community because there has been no increase in any bulk billing rebates since November 2012,” he said.
“And that has been the stated intention of this Government that there is no increase in rebates from now into the distant future.
“The issue with that, for not just this practice but every other practice, is that costs clearly continue to increase.
“Our rent, the utility fees, the wages, insurance, materials, accreditation go up in the medical sector by an average of 10 per cent per year, and that’s been the case since November 2012.”
Dr Ford said the clinic wanted to “be a part of the community” and make arrangements for people in difficult circumstances.
“We do our best to look after those people that have issues, but at the same time we don’t want to abandon our approach to be a quality practice, which means getting the best doctors that we can to work here and delivering the best standard of care we can,” he said.
Dr Ford described the cost impact on poorer people of managing a chronic illness as a “national issue”.
“Is there a better way of trying to organise it? I’m sure there is but we don’t get to make the rules, we have to live by them,” he said.
“If the rebates had continued to keep pace with inflation since 2012 this may be a different story.
“This has been a political decision that I can only see as being an attempt to reduce the amount of bulk billing.”
The Spectator asked Wannon Federal MP Dan Tehan to comment on bulk billing issues in Hamilton but he referred the query to the Federal Health Minister’s office.
A statement from Ms Ley said the ‘temporary GP rebate pause’ shouldn’t provide an excuse for any unfair “sneaky price increases”.
Ms Ley’s statement said Health Department modelling suggests the rebate for GPs would only be $0.65 lower in 2015/16 and $2.10 lower in 2017/18 under the freeze.
“At the end of the day, doctors are in control of what they charge patients and I expect vulnerable and concessional patient to continue to be protected” Ms Ley said.
“I have also made it clear that I am open to reviewing the rebate indexation pause in the future as part our ongoing work with doctors and patients to reform Medicare.”
