Category: Australian News

Police have launched a high-visibility operation for this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival to ensure country-music fans enjoy the event safely.
Operation Tamworth Country Music Festival 2019 will be in place for the duration of the event which starts tomorrow (Friday 18 January 2019) and runs until Sunday 27 January 2019.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is Australia’s largest music festival, with a program featuring 700 artists and more than 2800 events, across 10 days.
General duties officers from Oxley Police District and across Western Region will be assisted by specialist police from the Operations Support Group (OSG), Dog Unit, Licensing Police, Bicycle Unit, and Traffic and Highway Patrol Command throughout the operation.
Operation Commander, Superintendent Fred Trench said, police will be out in force focusing on road safety, anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related violence.
“Thousands of people make the annual journey to be involved in the festival, and while the vast majority are well-behaved, police will act swiftly if you choose to do the wrong thing,” Supt Trench said.
“Everyone should be able to enjoy the event in Tamworth safely, but not at the expense of other people’s safety, so make sure you behave responsibly and think before you drink.
“Police will not tolerate any form of dangerous or criminal behaviour and alcohol-free zones in the CBD will be enforced,” Supt Trench said.
Additional Traffic and Highway Patrol officers will be deployed to ensure country-music fans and other motorists make it to and from their destinations safely.
Music fans are also reminded that there will be a number of alcohol-free zones throughout the Tamworth CBD for the safety and security of all festival-goers and the wider community.
“Camping is a popular choice among festival-goers – so take care of yourself and your belongings while in and around the event precinct,” Supt Trench said.
Police offer the following safety and security tips for campers:
• Plan your trip in advance and if possible, make a booking;
• Get to know your surrounding campers;
• In large crowds, be mindful of your own safety and security as well as that of people around you;
• Leave valuables at home – if you must take valuables with you, ensure they are secured and kept out of sight;
• Lock your caravan or campervan when unattended;
• Where possible, use a lock to secure your tent;
• Where possible, use a portable alarm in your tent or camper;
• Plan for changes in weather conditions;
• Ensure valuables are not left in unattended vehicles;
• Report any suspicious behaviour to police.
For comprehensive event details, visit the official festival website: www.tcmf.com.au
Special-event traffic information can be found at: www.livetraffic.com.

Seismic testing is the first step to drilling in the Great Australian Bight and will have devastating outcomes for SA, the Greens say.

“This is a bad decision – bad for our marine life, bad for Kangaroo Island, and bad for SA. Seismic testing is the first step to drilling in the Bight, and an oil well 90km off Kangaroo Island is a disaster for South Australia,” Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“It seems as though after endless chances for the Norwegian company to finesse their plan, the regulator has buckled, doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry.

“PGS now has the green light to send seismic blasts into waters 90km from Kangaroo Island. This is an area sperm whales migrate through and where blue whales feed, sending constant blasts into the water for three months straight will devastate our marine life.

“The last time we had seismic blasting in the Great Australian Bight, whales beached themselves at Ardrossan and died. There is never a safe time for seismic blasting, and our environment will suffer for the regulator’s decision today.

“NOPSEMA has ignored the community, the fishing industry and Traditional Owners who want our Bight protected. 74% of South Australians want to see the Bight protected, and thousands of people have joined The Greens’ campaign to nominate the Bight for World Heritage Protection

“The Greens are fighting tooth and nail alongside the South Australian community to stop big oil and gas drilling off the coast of Kangaroo Island and in the Bight. The impact on our tourism industry and the marine life off our coast would be devastating.”

The Liberal National Government are hiding critical information about draining the Menindee Lakes twice in three years, the Greens say.
“The Government’s refusal to release this information, by order of the Senate, stinks of a cover-up and puts them in contempt of the Senate,” Greens water and environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“For over six weeks we’ve been waiting for answers from the Minister about why water was released from Menindee Lakes twice in three years. We still don’t know how or why those decisions were made. I was concerned about it back in November, and now after the death of a million fish it’s even more concerning.
“The Liberal National Government cannot be trusted to deal with this environmental disaster, and they can’t be trusted to be open with River communities. The cover-ups must end if we are to see this river, and the faith of the people who rely on it, restored.
“Water Minister David Littleproud is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Barnaby Joyce, standing up for corporate cotton interests rather than the communities that rely on this vital river system for survival.
“Australians want a healthy river system and a government that stands up for the environment. It’s clear this government is concerned about keeping big cotton happy at the expense of the river we love.”

Any local council punished for refusing to host citizenship ceremonies on January 26th under Scott Morrison’s new proposal can count on a Greens MP or Senator in their state or territory to conduct them in their stead, said Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale.
“Scott Morrison is playing a predictable political game trying to punish councils for reflecting the will of their constituents and standing up for justice for First Nations Peoples but the Greens won’t let him. We’re promising today that any council which is stripped of its ability to hold citizenship ceremonies because it refuses to hold them on January 26th can count on a Greens Senator or MP in their state to conduct those ceremonies in their place,” Di Natale said.
“The movement to change the date is an important step along the road to treaty, sovereignty and justice for our First Nations Peoples and we hope Labor will join us on that journey.”

Greens Senator for NSW, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, will visit Broken Hill and Menindee tomorrow (17 January) to meet with locals and see first hand the devastation occuring in the Murray Darling system as a result of mismanagement and climate change. Senator Faruqi is a civil and environmental engineer who has worked on water management for the last two decades.
Senator Faruqi will also meet the Broken Hill Greens Convenor, Eve-Lyn Kennedy. Senator Faruqi will be available for media on Thursday and on Friday morning.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The shocking scenes of the fish kills is the result of consistent abuse of the environment for greed and profit. The ecosystem is collapsing because politicians have pushed the Murray Darling River system to the brink.
“The continued abuse of the Murray Darling System is nothing new and, sadly, what we are seeing now is the inevitable result of years of neglect and incompetence, especially by the National Party. The Nationals must be held to account.
“The Liberal and National Parties are more interested in appeasing big corporate interests than looking after the needs of the community and fostering a healthy river system.
“The Greens have been the most consistent advocates for protecting the Murray Darling. Greens in Broken Hill have been fighting for years to have politicians listen to the reality of what is happening to their community.
“For years there has been over-extraction from the system, restricting environmental flows that allow the Murray Darling to function. This has been devastating for communities and the environment.
“Climate change is the elephant in the room. If we don’t take urgent action to stop our planet warming, extreme heatwaves and drought will become more and more common.
“I’ll be meeting with locals and touring the area to see the extent of the situation and hear ideas about how to fix it.
“The axing of the National Water Commission under the Abbott Government was a reckless move that has led to a lack of national leadership and no independent auditing of water management in Australia.
“This is a huge wake up call. We need to urgently return the environmental flows that have been stripped. The Greens have called for a Royal Commission to expose the mismanagement, greed and corruption that has caused this,” she concluded.

The Greens are urging the Liberal National Government to lift the freeze on water buy backs to restore much-needed flows to the Murray Darling Basin.
“Today, I’m writing to the Water Minister David Littleproud  asking him  to lift the ban on water buy backs immediately so water can be secured for the river to avoid further environmental collapse. Buying back water is the most economically efficient and environmentally effective way to restore the river and help stem the damage done to the environment,” Australian Greens environment and water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We know millions more fish could die within the next few months. This ecosystem is in collapse because there is not enough water going to the environment. The Minister should fix this, or he should go.
“This is a man-made problem caused by the mismanagement and incompetence of Barnaby Joyce and the Liberal National Party. Barnaby Joyce crowed about stopping water buybacks, ensuring water meant for the environment went to big corporate irrigators.
“While the environment goes without, the cotton industry continues to profit. We need a Royal Commission into the mismanagement and over extraction of water in the Murray Darling Basin.
“Putting fish back in the river is not going to work when there is not enough water. The Murray Darling Basin is a living ecosystem crying out for urgent relief – which means putting the environment, and our river communities ahead of the cotton industry.
“The Liberal National Government has failed the river while there is plenty of water in the storage dams of big cotton irrigators upstream.”

Seismic testing is the first step to drilling in the Great Australian Bight and will have devastating outcomes for SA, the Greens say.

“This is a bad decision – bad for our marine life, bad for Kangaroo Island, and bad for SA. Seismic testing is the first step to drilling in the Bight, and an oil well 90km off Kangaroo Island is a disaster for South Australia,” Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“It seems as though after endless chances for the Norwegian company to finesse their plan, the regulator has buckled, doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry.

“PGS now has the green light to send seismic blasts into waters 90km from Kangaroo Island. This is an area sperm whales migrate through and where blue whales feed, sending constant blasts into the water for three months straight will devastate our marine life.

“The last time we had seismic blasting in the Great Australian Bight, whales beached themselves at Ardrossan and died. There is never a safe time for seismic blasting, and our environment will suffer for the regulator’s decision today.

“NOPSEMA has ignored the community, the fishing industry and Traditional Owners who want our Bight protected. 74% of South Australians want to see the Bight protected, and thousands of people have joined The Greens’ campaign to nominate the Bight for World Heritage Protection

“The Greens are fighting tooth and nail alongside the South Australian community to stop big oil and gas drilling off the coast of Kangaroo Island and in the Bight. The impact on our tourism industry and the marine life off our coast would be devastating.”

The Liberal National Government are hiding critical information about draining the Menindee Lakes twice in three years, the Greens say.
“The Government’s refusal to release this information, by order of the Senate, stinks of a cover-up and puts them in contempt of the Senate,” Greens water and environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“For over six weeks we’ve been waiting for answers from the Minister about why water was released from Menindee Lakes twice in three years. We still don’t know how or why those decisions were made. I was concerned about it back in November, and now after the death of a million fish it’s even more concerning.
“The Liberal National Government cannot be trusted to deal with this environmental disaster, and they can’t be trusted to be open with River communities. The cover-ups must end if we are to see this river, and the faith of the people who rely on it, restored.
“Water Minister David Littleproud is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Barnaby Joyce, standing up for corporate cotton interests rather than the communities that rely on this vital river system for survival.
“Australians want a healthy river system and a government that stands up for the environment. It’s clear this government is concerned about keeping big cotton happy at the expense of the river we love.”

The Federal Water Minister must force the NSW and QLD Governments to urgently invoke their powers and embargo the cotton industry’s water extraction from the Murray Darling Basin after widespread fish deaths, the Greens say.
“The Federal Water Minister must intervene and force an embargo on water extraction for cotton irrigation as a matter of urgency. The Federal and State Governments must act to stop over extraction, and lift the freeze on environmental water buybacks,” Greens environment and water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We need an emergency intervention to the unfolding ecological disaster in our river system. The NSW and QLD Water Ministers must use their emergency powers to embargo further water take for cotton irrigation.
“The Liberal National Party is trying to blame this on drought when in fact it is cotton, corruption and climate change killing these fish and our river. We should be putting people and the environment before big corporate cotton growers.
“Greedy cotton farmers upstream are still storing water and irrigating their crops. We are watching this river die along with the hundreds of thousands of fish floating along the banks of the lower Darling.
“There was a 1,000km algal bloom in 1991 and we did not see mass fish death at this scale. This is the clearest demonstration of what happens when a political culture of robbing the environment for corporate interests goes unchecked.
“We are spending $13 billion on the Murray Darling Basin Plan and it has failed at the first drought. This is the consequence of terrible mismanagement by all levels of government.
“Rivers die from the bottom up. The Coorong is dying, the Lower Darling is in the midst of ecological collapse. Our river won’t survive if we continue putting corporate irrigators above all else.
“The Murray Darling river system is the lifeblood of communities, from QLD to SA, and for too long governments have prioritised their big cotton grower mates over the environment and the communities who rely on the river to survive.
“There must be an immediate embargo on water extraction on the river if we are to have any hope of making positive steps in managing this precious resource.”

The Australian Government has commenced national consultations on a proposal to establish a National Public Register of Child Sex Offenders.
A National Public Register of Child Sex Offenders would be the first of its kind in Australia and would make certain information about child sex offenders available on a publicly accessible website.
Consultations have begun with state and territory governments and law enforcement agencies and will also involve non-government stakeholders.
The Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said a register would be an important measure to improve protections for families and children.
“It would have a strong deterrent effect on offenders and ensure that parents are not in the dark about whether a registered sex offender has access to their children,” he said.
“The abuse and exploitation of children is a global epidemic that is becoming more prevalent, more organised and more extreme.
“Thwarting that exploitation is a key priority for me as Minister for Home Affairs. I have always fought for the protection of children and this is a battle that we must win.”
Some states and territories already publicly release information about child sex offenders in specific circumstances. However, a nationally consistent approach would afford nationwide community protection and ensure offenders cannot evade public scrutiny.
Reports of child sexual abuse and exploitation in Australia continue to rise – reports to the Australian Federal Police soared by 77 per cent in 2018 over 2017.
Mr Dutton said the Morrison Government was already making substantial efforts to protect children – including establishing the Australian Centre to Combat Child Exploitation – and a national public register of sex offenders would complement and enhance those efforts.
“It will send a clear message that Australia will not tolerate individuals preying on the most vulnerable members of the community – our children.
“I look forward to working with state and territory government and key non-government stakeholders on this important initiative,” Mr Dutton said.
Non-government stakeholders are expected to include the Law Council of Australia, National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, Carly Ryan Foundation, Bravehearts, the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation and other interested child protection and advocacy groups.