Law & order

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act (ATSIHP Act) allows the Federal Environment Minister to make a declaration protecting a significant Aboriginal heritage area where it is under threat of injury or desecration ... I have decided to make a partial declaration under section 10 of the ATSIHP Act to protect a significant Aboriginal heritage site near Blayney, in central west New South Wales, from being destroyed to build a tailings dam for a gold mine.

Iron Gates has the go-ahead after decades of opposition – Goldcoral Pty Ltd has permission to build on the land next to Evans River. It is a devastating decision for those Evans Head residents who have fought the development for so long.

Another local has narrowly avoiding losing thousands in an elaborate scam attempt. I spoke to the family of the retired person recently, who shared their story, as a warning to others ... The scammers instructed the retiree to head to their local post office and purchase five $1,000 Apple iTunes cards.

EPA Victoria says a rise in illegal burning in Western Victoria is damaging the environment and putting people’s health at risk with contaminated residue and hazardous smoke. The environmental watchdog has investigations under way in the Hindmarsh, Horsham and Northern Grampians areas after recent fires on farming, industrial and residential property.

The elephant in the room is poverty, says Greens candidate for Namatjira, Blair McFarland, in the election campaign mostly focussed on what to do about crime. “We’re already the most over policed region in Australia. If public safety depended on police numbers we’d be one of the safest places in the world.”

Fortune Agribusiness  is again the controversial winner in the  Western Davenport Water Allocation Plan 2024-2027  announced by Environment Minister Kate Worden yesterday – a day before her government entered caretaker mode ahead of the election this month. The government’s decisions about the use of groundwater from the 24,500 square kilometre basin 350 km north of Alice Springs have vehemently been opposed by the Arid Land Environment Centre.

Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) has been fined $360,000 for breaching conditions imposed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to help the recovery of the Yambulla State Forest, near Eden, after the Black Summer fires. FCNSW plead guilty to two offences in the Land and Environment Court ... after it failed to identify two environmentally significant areas on its operational map, resulting in 53 eucalypt  trees being cut down in one of those areas.

Narugga MP Fraser Ellis says he was prepared to accept his guilty verdicts, until the Director of Public Prosecutions launched an appeal against all charges he was acquitted of earlier this month. On July 1, Mr Ellis was found guilty on four charges of deception in regard to misusing the state Country Members Accommodation Allowance (CMAA), which he has now appealed after the DPP’s decision to appeal against another 19 charges he had been acquitted of ... "I feel as though I have been singled out of a group of Members of Parliament who made similar errors."

The Wattle Range Council is investigating a cyber incident, where data has been accessed and taken from its IT environment. The council confirmed that the cyber attack involved access to some of its file drives by an unauthorised third party ... Council said a priority of their investigation was to determine exactly what information was involved, and who it related to.

It’s time parents of delinquent young people took control of their offspring, and if they don’t, laws need to be brought in to oblige them to do so. CLP Member for Namatjira Bill Yan said this in an interview with the  Alice Springs News  on Show Day, two days before “about 20 male youths” allegedly assaulted, at 2.15am, four off-duty police officers, including three women, walking home at the end of night on the town.

Six local community members presented evidence to a Land and Environment Court conciliation conference between Yamba developer Clifton and Clarence Valley Council ... Mr Cousins said recent reports identified that by the year 2030, there is a chance between 50 and 80 per cent of the houses in Yamba will be uninsurable and before any development on the floodplain is allowed to proceed, developers should "get the fundamentals right".

Australian Alliance for Animals. The Australian Senate has this week passed historic legislation enshrining the phase out of live sheep exports into law. The Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Act 2024 prohibits exporting live sheep by sea from Australia by May 1, 2028 and unlocks a $107 million industry adjustment package. Australian Alliance for Animals spokesperson, Dr. Jed Goodfellow, welcomed the passage of the legislation, describing it as a pivotal moment in the history of animal welfare in Australia.

Jess Liddy. Narungga MP Fraser Ellis was found guilty on four charges of deceit in the Adelaide Magistrates Court yesterday (Monday, July 1). Mr Ellis faced 23 charges of deception in relation to improperly claiming the Country Members Accommodation Allowance from April 2018 to June 2020 ... Outside of court, Mr Ellis said he was surprised by the verdict. "I did not expect the outcome," Mr Ellis said.