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Thread: Some Dust Storm

  1. #31
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    Default Re: Some Dust Storm

    Hi Les.
    Shows the power of being a member of a union. A young bloke and his wife and child were wiped out in the fires on the coast, he was a member of the building union, he rang up a mate and the next thing there was a gang there and they rebuilt his house in two weeks, so good to see it happen.
    Des

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    Default Re: Some Dust Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Des Taff Jenkins View Post
    Hi Les.
    Shows the power of being a member of a union. A young bloke and his wife and child were wiped out in the fires on the coast, he was a member of the building union, he rang up a mate and the next thing there was a gang there and they rebuilt his house in two weeks, so good to see it happen.
    Des
    That is so true mate as there are many unionist from all ranks pulling up their sleeves and doing the right thing and the only thing that Scotty from marketing can do is to denigrate unions especially the main ones. Seems that we live in a divided country here. All of Australia pulling together but held back with something akin to a sea anchor called Parliament in Canberra.
    That's the way the mop flops.

    My thanks to Brian for this site.

  3. #33
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    Default Re: Some Dust Storm

    State gov has said they will pay for all removal of debris from local fires, at no cost to owners, so rebuilding can begin as soon as possible.

    Main problem for many will be finding builders, most are tied up with suburban buildings as that is where the money is at present.
    But there may be some local ones that will see the opportunity to make a quid here.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

  4. Thanks Chris Allman, Doc Vernon thanked for this post
  5. #34
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    Default Re: Some Dust Storm

    Andrew Drain

    11 January at 10:39

    I feel I need to write this in an attempt to try and help some understand why I think the green movement have a lot to answer for regarding these fires and the build up of fuel.

    This is a complex issue but I will try my best.

    In 2000 huge chunks of forestry land was handed over to NPWS. They then shut down a lot of the fire trails and fenced and gated many more. They then banned all hoofed animals from the parks and kicked out the cows that helped keep the under scrub down. They also informed us they now had a no burn policy and if we got caught doing fuel reduction burns - we now faced 25 years in jail. Then they disappeared back into their offices never to be seen again.

    The remaining forestry lands were de-funded and also left to its own devices.
    Ok! - that's the public lands.

    Private land
    The Department of Land and Water Conservation was once a great organization that were staffed with people that had a pretty good understanding of on farm life and used to offer us advice and also carry out capital works on country themselves, changed.
    I often went to them for advice regarding repairing and rehabilitating land for clients.
    Something that made up a lot of my work. They were good to work with.

    Until we got a state Labor Government that needed green votes. When they were in office, they got rid of the public works side of the department and started to seemingly stack the office with young uni educated kids that appeared to tow the line of the green agenda.
    We found they were becoming more aggressive towards our works and had a whole new set of ideas.
    It didn't take long for the farmers we worked with, see through this new agenda and before to long our friends had become the enemy and we were not welcome anymore.

    That was OK, because they were basically pretty lazy and didn’t leave their office very often .
    We now know why, because they all appeared to be working on destroying the farmers.

    Unfortunately, something we didn't realise at first, until we were all called into public meetings, where they then explained the new system they had designed for us.

    First thing they took was the farmer's ability to clear 5 acres a year - that by this stage very few farmers did anyway, down here on the coast.
    Can't talk for over the range as I don’t know.

    Next thing was we could only build dams to a certain size as they had come up with a new water harvesting formula - worked out on the size of the land holding which then determined how much water you could store.
    So dams stopped being built. They instructed us that the rain was now theirs and that it only landed on our lands on the way to their creeks and rivers and into the ocean.
    As you can imagine the farmers couldn't understand why we were being denied water to just watch it flow into the oceans and we all become suspicious of what was going on in these offices.

    Next thing you know they started turning up with maps and pink pens, apparently they had decided they could now tell you where and what you could do with your land - and if they thought it was environmentally sensitive - out come the pink pen and they just marked the map as a no go zone - decided by them with no evidence or consultation needed.

    By this time my business and a lot of our works been made illegal .We were never offered any compensation and told to "just reinvent yourself "..

    Then come the blow of all blows - the Government decided to deregulate the dairy industry. Within 2 years we had lost over 600 dairies 2 processing facilities and 14 farmers had committed suicide through stress of being unable to cater for their families - just in this area alone.

    This meant that a lot of the farming land around here was now unviable to farm and the majority got split up and sold to Sydney hobby farmers. They soon learnt you couldn't afford to maintain the lands without a farm income - so the land was left to overgrow with mainly lantana and other exotic weeds.
    There are now thousands of acres of once good productive land covered in this overgrown fire hazard.

    This is about the same time the EPA now the department of environment and heritage arrived on the scene. They were my new gate keepers.

    Every time a disgruntled greenie decided I shouldn’t be operating a bulldozer - they would ring and make an anonymous complaint - and out of the office would come an officer.
    I always tried to work within the law so we got to know them pretty well and they would turn up claiming their time had been wasted and that we could continue with our works. I was never charged by them.

    Until all of the sudden we started getting letters after the visits stating after further investigation they had decided not to take any further action and I would just be issued with an official warning. When I asked why I was getting an official warning, if I had done nothing wrong, I was informed, don't worry that’s just what we have to do.

    Then in August 2017 the new Liberal State Government changed the native vegetation act, so back into the Department of Land and Water we went, to try and find out the rule changes . We were not at all welcomed, and told they didn’t agree with the changes and would thus be implementing a go slow on any works we wanted to get through for our clients under the new rules. This is exactly what they did - to the point my clients just give up trying.
    Again the green agenda had reared its ugly head

    Now comes all our favorites the local council. They come up with a great new plan called the E4 Zone that is Environmental living zone. This was brought in without one bit of consultation with the people and just imposed on people's lands at councils discretion .

    Finally it all come to a head a couple of years ago for me .I was clearing lantana from the back boundary of a property and the new ordnance officer from council turned up and informed me I was illegally clearing. He told me this land is now E4 zoned.
    At that stage I had never heard of it. I was informed that meant no tracked machines were allowed, even if the client wanted to build a chook pen, they needed a DA. This was a rural block of 50 acres.
    I pointed out it was a boundary between the NPWS land and was covered in lantana 40 foot up into the trees. I then asked how do we clear it and was told with high powered poison sprayers and it will die and disappear.
    I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I stated if I was fined for this it could possibly put me out of business.
    I was told " good "..

    Council then fined me for undertaking development without development consent. I challenged them in court and without being able to afford representation and the fact they spent over $30k to make sure I was convicted, I was screwed.
    Not surprisingly those EPA official warnings turned up and painted me as someone that had had 3 warnings and was a bad boy.. Thankfully, the judge saw through their game and wouldn't allow them to increase my fine from $6k to the now $120k they wanted. He also only awarded them $1500 towards their court costs stating they would only get what a duty solicitor would get.
    But unfortunately I couldn’t have my conviction overturned as I had actually inadvertently broken their new law. He was not happy with their conduct.

    Now this is just my experience in my local area of the Mid North Coast, so I don’t know if this is national policy. But if you’re wondering how our lands have become so overgrown and have huge fuel loads on them, I hope this helps explain my version of what has happened in my area.

    Now I'm not a climate change denier, but to allow these public departments to hide behind their faceless facards, when in fact they are the biggest offenders for allowing these huge fuel loads is crazy, and if we do not address the idiocy and maladministration of these government funded departments, we will only bring more of the same in the future.

    I expect all the abuse I will receive and have broad shoulders, so fire away. I'm passionate about our flora and fauna along with our food and water security, so please try and understand I was never intending to wantonly destroy our country, for like so many of the rural community, I was just trying my best to help supply food for the cities, a quest we continue against significant adversity. .

    To try and blame the current PM is just ill advised - as it's a state matter anyway.

    I believe the situation been aided by these poor performing state departments and also believe they should be held responsible for their crazy green agendas.

    That my friends is how I think the greens have created this situation - without ever being in power.

    Hope it helps some understand . I know a lot won't want to. .lol
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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  7. #35
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    Default Re: Some Dust Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by happy daze john in oz View Post
    Andrew Drain

    11 January at 10:39

    I feel I need to write this in an attempt to try and help some understand why I think the green movement have a lot to answer for regarding these fires and the build up of fuel....................................


    I believe the situation been aided by these poor performing state departments and also believe they should be held responsible for their crazy green agendas.

    That my friends is how I think the greens have created this situation - without ever being in power.

    Hope it helps some understand . I know a lot won't want to. .lol
    Apparently, we only have one Green Party MP over here John; her initiative - charge £150 a go for a tour round the Houses of Parliament (btw, they can can be had officially for £26)
    Last edited by Chris Allman; 22nd February 2020 at 01:22 PM.

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