Dear Northern Rivers Guardians

Hi to all. Below is the agenda Sledge has put together for the last meeting of 2021, which is this Saturday, an hour earlier than usual. We’ll have the AGM, too, and when we’re finished with both, we’ll have a holiday social. So bring nibbles to share and your own drinks.

Date: Saturday, 18 December
Start time: 11AM
Location: CWA Hall, 11 Queen Street in Murwillumbah

Hope to see you there!

Agenda for NRG monthly meeting on Saturday 18th December 2021

The monthly NRG meeting to start at 1100 and run to about Noon at CWA Hall , M’bah

Sledge as Chair to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land.

Present: Sledge, Dee, Daniele, Caz, Gwyn & Marian, Geoff & Joyce, Sue

Apologies: Bill, Fiona, Suzanne, Lyn & Dave, Meg & Peter, Rainer,

President’s Report : Sledge –
1. Welcome visitors and members

2. Rail & cycle trail – M’bah Showgrounds gathering (16/12)

3. Farmers 4 Climate Action – Kyogle and Lismore (16/12)

Approve Minutes. Minutes from the 20th November 2021 meeting

Treasurer’s Report : Rainer (away)/Dee – Cheque account balance of $ ….
Legal account balance of $……
Income : deposits from Mem’ship $ / Pass-the-hat…. .
Additional funds: fund-raising float of $100; and $75 petty cash.
New account established for TSC campaigns $……………..

Business Arising.

1. Writing columns for media: If writing as a representative of NRG, please send to Sledge or Dee for review and possible editing.

• See NEC column by Sledge in December NGT p. 7 & Bernadine’s p. 14 & letters by Gwyn / Marian

2. New member applications ?: Dee

3. Any mail at PO Box 3321 Uki 2484 NSW ? :Cas

4. Burning wood for electricity : Sledge ( read note from Redbank Action Group?)

5. Stop ADANI : Cas – new video from W &G. info@stopadani.com

6. Council elections 4th December : Gwyn/Sledge : NRG’s TSC election committee meetings = Community Voice
b. elections also in Byron, Kyogle and Lismore, (OSF/ AJP & Greens) : Sledge

7. Thanks to candidates and helpers : Sue

New Business:

1. Cherry Tree SF protestors camp at Deep Creek contact Jim 0488 696 846

Announcements.

1. NEFA Court case . EDO : Sledge- the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is taking the State and Commonwealth Governments to court over their failure to recognize the changing environment while rolling over the Regional Forest Agreement for another 20 years.

Media Release August 4, 2021- https://www.edo.org.au/2021/08/04/nsw-forest-logging-agreement-faces-legal-challenge-over-climate-biodiversity/

In what could be a landmark case for north-east NSW forests, the Environmental Defenders Office solicitors acting for the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) have today served papers on the Commonwealth and NSW Governments challenging the re-issued Regional Forest Agreement for north-east NSW.

“NEFA will argue that when the Prime Minister executed the varied RFA, he did not have regard to assessments of key environmental matters as required by law,” said NEFA President Dailan Pugh.

2. Fridays 4 Forests: meets every week at 10 AM. rotates thru regional towns and will concentrate on Cherry Tree SF for a while, with a protest camp at Jim Morrison’s south of Mallanganee: Casino.

3. Media storm for forests : Daniele – Please write email to decision-makers and letters to the editors of your local papers supporting the F4F media release. https://www.facebook.com/groups/fridays4forests.

If you then copy & post your letters to the Fridays4Forests Facebook Group it will help inspire others to do the same and help make for a digital storm. Biomass Action Group vate Log the Logging Trucks Group has two sort of arms. Please click here to request to join https://www.facebook.com/groups/1140329013160945

Arm #1: Community tracking of the woodchip trucks, with the goal to find out what they are taking, and where from, since all that info is being hidden.

Arm #2, our only option is to go digital atm, so we’re doing an online digital storm. There is a Google spreadsheet to add contacts to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QGU1HSrfQPVX7rmG85Fcdr2Sc9j-oGwKm5wXGAbQo3w/edit#gid=0

If you don’t use FB, go directly to this page : HTTPS://WWW.NEFA.ORG.AU/WRITING_ON_THE_WALL_FOR_WOOD_FIRED_POWER_STATIONS

Process:

Send email of the letter to ministers. change it a bit
once sent, follow up with ministers you’ve sent to
send same letter to editor
share to social media, saying you’re standing up for forests and include this link
read letter to editor as a video and share that to socials, noting to go to the link below
share that far and wide

BAG page: https://www.facebook.com/Biomass-Action-Group-BAG-113707436667776

4. Water Mining issue – the Council Elections: Gwyn

Firstly, the article in this paper concerning the intention of Matthew Karlos to stand for the Council. Mr Karlos is a member of a family that has extracted water over a number of years in Urliup. After many years of extracting more water than their initial DA allowed, using allegedly illegal infrastructure they were eventually pulled up by the Council for breaches of their DA. The family applied to the Land and Environment Court three times and were unsuccessful each time. With the court ruling in favour of the Council.

The Council eventually voted to ban water mining in the local LEP and no future approvals will be issued. Mr Karlos has stated that he is standing for Council as he believes the Shire needs a more conservative Council and will align with the current conservative Councillors that supported his family’s operations on every vote in Council.

5. Redbank Action Group – draft : On Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 7:37 AM susie russell wrote:

Here’s a beginning. Can do more on it later.

“Reopening one of Australia’s most polluting power stations or export woodchipping is precisely what the Hunter Valley doesn’t need moving forward to a cleaner future. The developer has been unable to say where the huge volumes of wood required to run it will come from. A green light for Redbank would be a green light to kill threatened species on an industrial scale,” said David Burgess from Redbank Action Group.

The Land and Environment Court begins a five day hearing this week on whether the Redbank power station in the Hunter Valley can substitute wood for coal and be subject to no further assessments.

Conservationists from the Nature Conservation Council, Hunter Environment Lobby, North East Forest Alliance and the Australian Forest and Climate Alliance will address the court on Wednesday.

All these groups are concerned about the impacts of burning around a million tonnes of wood every year will have on the forests and biodiversity, the atmosphere and greenhouse gas emissions, and all the roads that will be subject to tens of thousands more heavy truck movements.

North Coast Environment Council spokesperson Susie Russell said “It’s clear from the documents supplied by the developer that this proposal will mean millions of trees that would otherwise be left to grow in the forest, will be cut and burnt. That this can be proposed as a ‘renewable green’ energy, tarnishes the genuine renewable energy sector.”