Save The Darling & Murray

Time for strong laws/legislation that actually work to defend our natural environment from inappropriate overuse and development - like the plundering of the Murray-Darling river system of its water.

What Are We
Doing About Carp?

There is an industry opportunity here going begging, along the lines of "Charlie Carp" (in Deniliquin) whom has been making fertilizer out of carp for years.

The big success has been the adding of Murray Cod fingerlings to our river systems, it has come to my attention that the native Murray Cod has done a great job on the Carp in the Lachlan River and if governments were to subsidise introducing more cod fingerlings to the rivers it would be a great move, this program and others like it needs supporting and expanding, urgently.

Known as one of the most popular freshwater table fish in Asia and Europe, the demand for carp for human consumption is slowly rising in Australia, but the species is sold primarily for fertiliser, bait and turtle feed.

There is an apparent increasing in consumer demand at seafood markets where smoked carp is on the rise in popularity and the fish is also used in carp sausages/roll mops.

With such an abundance of a fish resource what is wrong with current/past governments?... This Carp situation for an industry expansion, is a total no brainer, and if future government MP's don't soon take this opportunity to market on several fronts this current "Pest" we call the "Carp"...our rivers water/oxygen quality, the banks that stabilise and give structure/support to critical vegetation, our domestic fish species will be decimated, to name a few of the obvious current/future impacts.

Floodplain Harvesting

What is a floodplain without unencumbered floodwaters traversing over it...nothing!

When did some decide that it is OK to take what is not theirs to take...to have a consequence so large that would only be ultimately...to the benefit of the few?

Raise Dam Wall Heights

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate Forbes and other towns in the state's latest floods, the Lachlan River reached levels not seen since 1952, thousands of megalitres poured from the Wyangala Dam.

With the dam wall raised this would mean around 650,000 megalitres or about 53% more storage. Flood mitigation is about slowing the rate of having to release huge amounts of water at any one time, anyone with any amount of common sense should realise that it is always about giving flood waters time to move on before adding to already soaked catchments.

More capacity, whatever that maybe, will allow further time between major releases, it is the sudden impact of too many major releases that cause the most destructive damage similar to a flash flood situation...too much water in a small amout of time will destroy anything in its path.

It blows my mind to listen to those current politicians that suggest that 650,000 extra litres in capacity in Wyangala specifically won't make a difference when it will give us time at least. I am not surprised, however, we are always governed at all levels by people with absolutely no life experience, that come from cities that have never experienced firsthand major floods, most of which come from years of "kicking the can down the road".

These then so called enlightened sitting politicians then come out to suggest that monies are better spent on upgrading road and rail systems in and around flood prone communities so that when devastating property destroying floods do occur we can evacuate the people of those towns...to where I ask...have we gone mad, how is it even reasonable to say...

"Oh well, can't do anything to protect your homes, your assets but hey...at least you won't drown because we have built your escape route."

What happens after that...I ask...like the township of Lismore NSW...your on your own...and if you are lucky we will buy out you out of your home for a minimal price to have you move somewhere else, that's if you can afford to live anywhere else.

We can do better...if elected...I can do better.

Water Storage Towers

Water towers serve key purposes, the first of which is utilitarian: harness gravity to provide adequate water pressure for potable use - typically following a strenuous multistep treatment process - in the immediate area.

The second applies to the storage of clean usable water in times of drought, but do we use this method anymore...no, if anything we decommission most existing towers and one has to ask why...maybe it has to do water trading/pricing?

High-capacity water towers will become essential utilities to a greater subset of any regional town population, especially if our towns want to grow. Too many times we have land available to place large water storage infrastructure especially in country towns that exist right on the rivers, but we spend no time or monies storing water at peak times of floods, we simply allow flood waters to rise, destroy townships and move on out to sea.

It amazes me that having more inland water detention basins that hold huge amounts of water from floods that come and go ready for use in the dryer drought times makes huge sense, these structures could also be used as flood mitigating structures if the appropriate weir type "gates" were constructed to allow river overflow in and not out...a prime example of a wasted inland water detention basin is located at Gum Bend man-made lake at Condobolin.

Throughout the recent 2022 floods this lake was seen to actually drop in water level while it's banks lapped or were inundated with flood waters with no way of filling or trapping the flood waters within the lake complex itself.

This Gum Bend Lake could be redeveloped to ensure at least in an emergency flood situation it could take on flood waters to help mitigate (to a point) the property destruction of the town of Condobolin and those further downstream to "Condo".

Imagine the tourism multiple lakes in multiple river towns could cater for, if we were to appropriately locate new man-made lakes next door to our rivers...everywhere...through the townships of Barwon. Models of such lake schemes already at Penrith at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and built right next to these lakes on higher ground are additional water filtration/desalination facilities to be turned on in times of droughts to take the pressure off our local river systems.

Water towers and lake systems are the best way to store water for times there is little or none coming from the heavens, and add to this by placing solar panels that float on open lakes will help mitigate evaporation of fresh water, but having said that, if elected, and by placing multiple large lakes and towers throughout the electorate of Barwon, the evaporation of lakes in dry times will help generate air moisture in semi-arid areas (if we are clever in our placement of such)...

And what do the old "Cockies" say..."If the likes of Lake Eyre is full of water, the rains will certainly follow", more water evaporation will mean more local rainfall, tower storage of overflow water are both good reasons to give this idea more consideration.

With your vote...and my subsequent election...I will bring fresh ideas and prospective to the table that are very much needed.

Beer Tax, Un-Australian

While predominately a "Beer Tax" comes under Federal Government control if elected I will do everything in my power to reverse these community destructive taxes. Aussie pubs are closing at an alarming rate due to all manner of pressures, not least of all now as well...increased taxation.

No Coal Seam Gas

Changes to aquifers and coal seams underground cause the land to fall away, this is something that we cannot recover from.

These changes could then alter the natural flow of floodwater on the floodplains and a fertile river flat which impacts directly the way surrounding farms manage floods and irrigate crops. The cost/benefit ratio to the rural farming communities that are surrounded by coal seam extraction that will only benefit a few is too high a price for such a short term gain.

Government Overreach

In a country whereby in over hundreds of years, there has been little or no major disease outbreaks to speak of, we as a primary producing nation are being forced to comply with yet another intrusion and considerable cost burden of electronic tagging of all manner of livestock by 2025.

This incursion to allow real time tracking for authorities for all manner of 'Data harvest' capabilities, while being sold to our primary producers as something that will be good for them individually in the long run.

Across the country in the 'beef industry', there are complaints about the performance of these tags, in calves, tag retention is almost 100% up to 18 months of age, mature calves average around 90% retention, a full 10% drop after cows hit 18 months. And in some cows, tag loss ranged from 3% to an astonishing 35%, and it's the mature cows that seem to be the problem for producers.

Tag retention is definitely an issue and one that goes beyond mere frustration by hitting the bottom line of every producer no matter it being sheep, goats, and cattle.

Investing the time and dollars in tagging an animal with the expectation it's going to be there for the life of that animal and then at some point you have to go back and redo it at considerable cost to the producer is not an outcome to serve at only the authority's pleasure.

Cattle producers are reporting high ongoing rates of National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) tag losses, almost 14 years after it became compulsory in Australia for all cattle to have an NLIS device at the time of sale for traceability purposes. In some cases, individual producers have lost almost 100% of NLIS tags over an eight-year period.

Affected producers say tag losses are not only adding up to significant financial costs and time delays but also causing associated losses in market value when disruptions to lifetime traceability restrict access for cattle to premium-paying markets.

Intended benefit of the national livestock identification system was the potential it offered for producers to take advantage of 'whole of life' data recording across their breeding herd, but concerns about tag longevity and lack of confidence in retention standards mean many producers have chosen to only apply NLIS tags to breeding cattle just before they are sold, making the system obsolete for my mind in the event of a disease outbreak.

From the fourth year onwards, it's suggested, the tags begin to deteriorate, with buttons succumbing to a 'star' split from the centre outwards before gradually fragmenting into pieces. The amount of money these companies have made selling producers these types of deficient tags.

Apparently, if you don't have disinfectant on the tags when they go in, they get infected and they come out, disinfectant, it lubricates the tag and stops the infection. If the tags go in dry, they get infected with dust and flies and then of course the cow wants to scratch it, and tags are ripped out.

Personally, I feel this implementation of yet another expense on producers that only benefits authorities and the "Big Brother" aspect with data being eventually sold and shared between government authorities to keep a tight check on producers, rather than this being a benefit to the producer or being a real support to anyone, should a major disease outbreak occur.

For my mind, authorities will always just draw a circumference circle around any disease outbreak area and order the culling of all livestock within that area determined (regardless)...We saw this with the recent Bee hive destruction in and around Newcastle recently and I have personally experienced this practice by the relevant authority's, many times in my time as a primary producer within the poultry industry...

Electronic tagging is an unreasonable cost burden for little result for the producer which ultimately the burdened cost will be borne by the 'Aussie' consumer...The tag system we have to already endure, will achieve the same...Hands off to any further Government control methods of our currently under strain livestock industry.

Telecommunications

A lack of competition and lack of consistent access to broadband has plagued the Barwon/Greater Parkes electorate with terrible customer service and unreliable internet access.

Fix Our Roads

While the question of "Who will build the roads?" is typically presented as a problem that only government can solve, all too often, government does nothing to solve it, or, in some instances, makes the problem worse. Every election year we listen to the politicians all preach about the crumbling infrastructure and how they will fix it. And, every year after each election, the people of Barwon/Australia never see those promises come true.

We Need More Doctors
Not More Locums

Locums enable healthcare organisations to maintain appropriate staffing levels and allowed staffing flexibility, but they also give rise to concerns about continuity of care and patient safety.

Some evidence suggests that the way locum doctors are recruited, employed and used by organisations, may result in a higher risk of harm to patients. A better understanding of the quality and safety of locum working is needed to improve the use of locum doctors and the quality and safety of patient care that they provide.

The struggle to attract and retain regional doctors is nothing new and is being felt in rural and regional towns across the country, but it could be argued that this situation is increasing to urgent need, the lack of knowing what the left and right hand is doing at all levels of government is contributing to the critical shortage of regional doctors, this has to change with new government and representation...this is my pledge if elected.

More Support For
Emergency Services

Although purchasing and maintaining equipment are huge challenges for small fire departments, many face a more severe dilemma. The physical and time demands associated with training; responding to incidents; maintaining facilities, apparatus, and equipment; fundraising are gruelling.

In addition, rural communities must be able to maintain a steady stream of younger future responders if we have any chance of long term protection for our regional communities and that takes adequate, consistent funding from government, and not just lip service.

While it seems to be the case that appropriate funding is about to arrive at a state level, much has to have happened, debated, 'hashed out', kicked down the road several times over to many years of inaction by governments to have this funding finally occur...

What does this say about our current and past leaders that our emergency services have had to endure budget cuts at times when we need our emergency responders the most. One only has to look at the 2019 catastrophic bush fires situation of lack of funding to make this claim...

Fire fighting expenditure would need to grow by at least $39 million to $50 million just to keep pace with inflation and population growth.

Address The
Teacher Shortage

Underlying, unresolved issues that are being expressed as some of the reasoning behind or contributing to the current crises of teacher shortages are;

Burn Out and Paperwork overload - Caused by administration increases, largely due to the process of accreditation which requires massive amounts of paper work (evidence) to prove that each teacher is competent. In addition, there is an apparent massive push for teachers to collect data on students' behaviour, and learning progress.

Accreditation - Professional learning has also become burdensome, as it is another over done aspect of Accreditation - teachers having to do so much more to attain accreditation over a period of time.

The behavioural issues of students - In schools where teachers are not supported by executive staff in following up student bad behaviour the working atmosphere it has been suggested, is unpalatable, which in turn is contributing to a higher turnover of proficient teachers.

Recent mandates have exacerbated the shortages with many older teachers bringing forward their retirement and would either not go back at all or only do casual work now, as a direct result of implementing overreaching vaccine mandates.

Younger teachers, have expressed to me that they are not so keen to return to full time work or are still on extended leave due to the heavy implementation of a mandated policy by departments. Experienced teachers going on long service leave on less pay and/or maternity leave, again as a direct result of medical mandates, so with the above in mind is there any wonder why our schools are now facing one of the most critical teacher shortages.

Fixing the shortage requires dealing with the root causes;

Overhaul the accreditation process to ensure it is fit for purpose and allow extra release time for teachers to complete accreditation. Reduce unnecessary paper work. Streamline data collection processes. Supervisors, in consultation with teachers, recommend "Professional Learning" for teachers when needed to pursue a new pathway in teaching or upskill in a particular area.

In the short term, final Year teachers in training could fill gaps by doing internships at schools with minimal appropriate supervision.

We have run out of time, there is such a critical need to address this critical shortage by governments, for everyday this situation is allowed to fester will undoubtedly have far reaching consequences for our children in their abilities to learn and to grow and contribute meaningfully to our future society.

Better Rural Health Services

It is becoming well recognised that the greatest impact of degrading health services will be felt by the most vulnerable rural populations, whom have less access to critical health services.

We must scale up home care, clinic care and hospital care, we must avoid stigmatising and discriminating against rural patients and we must ensure people living in remote areas do not feel isolated from what supposed to be national health care.