North West

Wednesday, 2 September

WA Greens Energy spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said he was astounded to learn of a provision in Synergy customer agreements that prohibited them from installing a household battery, or charging an electric car.

"Battery storage systems are going to completely revolutionise the way that we use energy, offering West Australians the opportunity to simultaneously save money and cut their household emissions," Mr Chapple said.

"The Greens solar postcodes report, produced by Senator Scott Ludlam, has shown that 1 in 5 WA households now have rooftop solar - an increase of 19% in just one year - suggesting that WA is prime for the uptake of emerging battery technology.

“The WA Greens predict battery storage systems will be at the forefront of a huge energy shift and as such are re-evaluating their Energy 2029 plan so that we have the best policy to allow West Australian's to benefit from new energy generation technologies.

“But bizarrely the Barnett government seems to be blocking it out of the market completely; a response that is protectionist and frankly not in the best interests of their constituents.

"Under it’s current structure – with an almost $600 million annual subsidy – Mike Nahan has conceded the WA grid is unsustainable, yet in practice the Barnett government’s policies tell a different story.”

Mr Chapple said he had grave concerns about some of the broader implications of the policy for society.

“These systems will allow people with sleep apnoea or home dialysis machines to be secure in the knowledge that their device is not going to switch off in the event of a power outage which, let’s face it, is an all too common theme across parts of this state,” he said.

“Home security systems will be less reliant on grid power, as will firefighting capabilities in an emergency situation – I could go on and on.”

Mr Chapple said he was also afraid large numbers of Synergy consumers might have already signed the agreement.

“We have almost 50% of households in the Canning electorate with some form of rooftop solar; did Synergy force them all to agree to these Terms and Conditions?” he said.

“To me, this is a policy that is punishing those very consumers who have taken the first step towards sustainable energy generation. It is a policy approach that dictates to those wishing to take up solar that they must maintain the status quo.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Thursday, 2 July

Since the Barnett government came into office in 2008 at least 3,207 Aboriginal heritage sites have lost their registered status, according to a new report.

WA Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal Affairs Robin Chapple MLC said the report was extensive and revealed much more disturbing long-term trends about the assessment and protection of Aboriginal heritage sites.

“This is now about much, much more than the 37 sites deregistered on faulty advice from the State Solicitor’s Office (SSO) prior to the Robinson vs Fielding Supreme Court decision,” Mr Chapple said.

“What this report proves is that the Barnett government has all but abandoned its statutory responsibilities to protect Aboriginal heritage in Western Australia.

“Not only have more than 3,000 sites had their status, and hence protection, downgraded but since 2010 the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee (ACMC) has rejected 86% of new site submissions. Prior to 2010 that number was only 10%.

“What is most confusing about the data in the report however is the sheer number of site status changes – more than 14,000 – that occurred across this time period, often into new categories that were later removed.

“Under the Aboriginal Heritage Act the status of any site must be assessed by the ACMC. Given the ACMC monthly meetings have radically shortened under its new chair I find it very hard to believe that any of these status changes have been given proper consideration.

Mr Chapple said Aboriginal people across WA were deeply concerned about their heritage despite Department assurances that every action was undertaken with consultation.

“At the Department of Aboriginal Affairs estimates hearing last week I was assured that all informants (Traditional Owners) were told whenever a decision was made about a heritage site,” he said.

“Yet I’ve had a great many people contact me fearful about places that are significant to them and to their people; they’ve heard nothing.

“The government’s handling of Aboriginal Affairs since 2008 has been absolutely to the detriment of Aboriginal people. We are currently presiding under a government who will stop at nothing to open doors for industry and to refill its own severely depleted coffers.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Tuesday, 30 June

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier has further confused the debate around remote community closures after commenting that the Kimberley and Pilbara regions were the government’s primary focus.

Mr Collier made the comments at a regional cabinet meeting held in Kalgoorlie over the weekend after being questioned by a Ngaanyatjarra elder.

WA Greens spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs Robin Chapple MLC said comments such as these only added to the anxiety being felt by Aboriginal people living in remote communities throughout Western Australia.

“When will this government start to take the concerns of Aboriginal people seriously and tell the truth about their plans to close remote communities,” Mr Chapple.

“On one level we have the official line which is that no decisions about closing communities have been made, and won’t be made until proper consultation has taken place.

“Yet we continue to hear from various government representatives that some communities are known to be unsustainable, and now that only communities in certain regions will be targeted.

“I’m glad the Minister is not focused on closing communities in the Goldfields region, but what does that mean for people in the Pilbara and the Kimberley. They are only left further in the dark by this revelation.

“Furthermore, industry representatives have revealed the government has given them reassurances about remote communities that may fall within their jurisdictions. So why does this government insist on keeping Aboriginal people in the dark?

“As the WA Greens have said from the start, any policy concerning the provision of services to Aboriginal people living on country in remote areas needs to begin with a conversation and a willingness to actually listen.

“The Minister, his Department, the Government’s handling of this issue, and indeed the concept of closing remote communities at all, is absolutely deplorable.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Reports of roaming cattle flooding in from Kimberley

Tuesday, 9 June

There are almost daily reports of high cattle numbers on the Great Northern Highway between Broome and Derby, according to Greens member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC.

“I was contacted just yesterday afternoon and alerted to an incident involving a learner driver just 80 kilometres out of Broome on Roebuck Plains Station,” Mr Chapple said.

“Photographic evidence confirms the incident involved a collision with roaming cattle, and I would be very surprised if nobody in that car was injured.

“This same contact told me they had counted 148 cattle on the Highway between Broome and Derby that afternoon, including 76 on Roebuck Plains Station alone.

“I find it very hard to believe that Western Australia is, as the Transport Minister has said, ‘leading the nation’ in keeping cattle of roads given the frightening reports that I receive from constituents on a weekly basis.

“Main Roads and the Department need to urgently reassess their commitment to animal mitigation because at the moment, it simply is not working and is only a matter of time before more lives are lost.“

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Wednesday, 4 March

Environment Minister Albert Jacob’s overnight approval of the Kintyre Uranium mine proposal was wrong on every level and should be immediately rescinded, according to WA Greens Uranium Spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC.

Mr Chapple said it was an inappropriate given the Office of Regional Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) was still investigating allegations of corruption into the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation’s (WDLAC).

“The Minister should not have made any decision until the position of the Martu people, with regards to a Uranium mine on their lands, had been absolutely clarified,” he said.

“Instead what Mr Jacob has done is slip this through quietly overnight with complete disregard for the investigation, or the mountain of appeals he has received in opposition.”

Mr Chapple said aside from potential legal ramifications the Kintyre proposal was a major environmental threat to the region’s unique desert environment and lacked the bipartisan political or broader public support necessary to validate its approval.

“This is yet another example of our government’s throwing its weight behind a rapidly ageing industry that will lock WA into an unsustainable future,” he said.

“This proposal will directly threaten the Karlamilyi National Park, the Karlamilyi River water catchment and the many threatened native flora and fauna species that inhabit this unique desert environment.

“To top it off the minister has recommended there should be no rehabilitation bonds, a move that could see liability for the clean-up of this mine fall on the taxpayer and not the company behind the proposal.

“Cameco have an appalling environmental record and are soon to face court in the USA and Canada over allegations of tax avoidance, yet we want to trust them to mine this dangerous mineral in such a fragile part of our state.”

Mr Chapple said issues raised by environmental and Indigenous groups had fallen on deaf ears.

“Appeals submitted on the basis of threats to groundwater, radiological uptake by native flora, the lack of baseline studies and commitments to monitoring in key areas have been dismissed,” he said.

“If this proposal ever wants to see the light of day it needs to be taken right back to step one and properly assessed.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver           

Mobile: 0431 9696 25

Thursday, 26 February

Greens MLC for the Mining and Pastoral region Robin Chapple yesterday slammed the government’s 2015 Barrow Island management plan as largely not addressing the extent of the issues present nor accounting for the growth in size of the Gorgon project.

The environmental management plan lays out the government’s expectations relating to the island’s natural environment, cultural heritage and resources for the next 10 years.

Mr Chapple said the management plan offered nothing useful in the way of restoring what had already been damaged on Barrow Island but instead offered a method of simply managing the status quo.

“There is absolutely nothing new in this plan that wasn’t already a part of Gorgon’s original contract for the island,” he said.

“There has been a large expansion of the project – it is now 2 or 3 times the size it was intended to be – and this management plan fails to address any of the subsequent issues caused by this expansion.

“When Colin Barnett was opposition leader he said Gorgon should never have been allowed on Barrow Island and vowed to force them off should he become Premier.

“As is so often the case with our Premier he has neglected to follow through with this commitment, perhaps hoping the rest of us would just forget about the issue?”

Mr Chapple said Barrow Island was a poorly managed environmental disaster.

“Invasive species at critical levels, injured and threatened native species, loss of natural habitats due to concrete infrastructure, poorly managed quarantine – the list goes on,” he said.

“As the Gorgon project continues to expand so too will the threats to this pristine environment, in particularly the 24 species of endemic native flora and fauna.

“I believe the situation has reached a point where, once Gorgon has vacated the premises, it will take billions of dollars’ worth of reinvestment to return Barrow Island to the sensitive state it was in prior to the arrival of Chevron.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver     

Mobile: 0431 9696 25

4^th October 2014

The West Australian Greens have renewed calls for a reassessment of intrusive mining and petroleum leases after the release of a map, produced by the WA Water Corporation, which has revealed that the state’s drinking water reserves could be under serious threat. 

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC said the map showed petroleum exploration leases had been issued over a large proportion of the state’s drinking water reserves, some of which may later become the subject of fracking. This includes almost every coastal water reserve between Margaret River and Geraldton.

“That any development concerning mining or exploration of any kind gets such a free run is a disgrace,” Mr Chapple said.

“There are too many examples where the Department of Mines and Petroleum, sometimes against the wishes of the EPA, allows exploration in areas with significant and well known heritage, conservation or other factors at stake.

“The Burrup Peninsula, for instance, has an immeasurable concentration of the world’s oldest known human art – a unique and culturally significant heritage location not just for WA – yet this government continues to approve exploration and development that is sadly compromising this unique landscape.

“We knew there was exploration going on near water reserves because I have communities, farmers and small businesses all over my electorate up in arms about it but we didn’t know the extent.

“Gas fracking has already been given the go ahead a stone’s throw from the water supply bores of Green Head and Leeman, and similar proposals are facing strong opposition in Geraldton, Carnarvon and across the Kimberley.

“To see the extent of the problem and the amount of land the DMP has released for exploration, let alone how it has managed to fly this under the radar for so long, is alarming,” Mr Chapple said.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

Thursday September 25

The Australian Greens have expressed serious concerns that services for Aboriginal communities will be compromised by a deal which will see the Federal Government move responsibility for their municipal and essential services to the states.

"The Federal Government has made a point of emphasising its successful ‘historic agreement' to hand responsibility for municipal and essential services in remote Aboriginal communities to the states, but it is clear that this deal is far from perfect," Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues said today.

"The handover of responsibility of these services has been on the Commonwealth's agenda for a long time and communities have had serious concerns about this handover and what it means for their communities. While the Minister seems to think he has achieved a long term solution I don't think that is likely."

"Comments published today indicated that the WA Government is a long way from being in step with the Federal Government, with concerns over a shortfall in funding and the impacts on residents of those communities. The WA Government is suggesting that around 180 remote Aboriginal communities will be affected, and that the money offered by the Federal Government will cover only two years of services.

"I am concerned that while governments bicker between themselves, communities who are crying out for better investments in critical services will be forgotten. The financial pressure of this transition could lead to the States making cuts to services or looking to close remote communities.

"The Federal Government cannot jepoardise the delivery of essential services to remote community by hurriedly handing this responsibility off to the states. Doing so has the potential to serious undermine efforts to close the gap and can lead to a range of health and community concerns.

"I am calling on the Federal Government to ensure that any move to transition the provision of these services to the states guarantees adequate funding into the long term and robust, transparent monitoring processes to ensure communities do not lose out," Senator Siewert concluded.

Greens Robin Chapple WA State Parliament spokesperson for Aboriginal affairs was also highly critical of the move.

"WA is already failing to service remote Aboriginal communities and has already closed some and as Minister Marmion has pointed out this may mean more closures into the future," Mr Chapple said today.

"There seems to be a predilection with governments at both the federal and state level to dump on those who can least afford it.

"There are massive social and economic costs in closing communities as have been experienced by the closure of Oombulgurri and its pending demolition, heavily criticised by Amnesty International Australia.

"We don't go around closing small rural towns half the size of many of these communities, so why shouldn't Aboriginal communities by nurtured on their lands and in their towns places they have lived for thousands of years.

"This is just another short term bean counting exercise that will undo the good work of the last 40 years and provide a cost explosion in relocation and social breakdown into the future," Mr Chapple concluded.

Originally posted here by the office of Senator Rachel Siewert.

Friday 26 September

The Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation is today hosting a bush meeting at Yule River to educate and inform remote Aboriginal communities of the proposed amendments to the Aboriginal Heritage Act and how they will affect the rights of Aboriginal people in Western Australia.

The proposed amendments will give more power to the Department and newly-created CEO to make decisions with regards to Aboriginal heritage whilst effectively stripping the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee of any real powers and removing a requirement in the act to consult traditional owners or allow them right of appeal.

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC said the proposed amendments were an attack on the cultural autonomy of all Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia.

“I do acknowledge that the Aboriginal Heritage Act requires significant changes to empower Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia and protect their culture and heritage,” he said.

“What these proposed amendments do however is take a bad bill and make it worse; it’s rubbing salt in the wound.

“I’m here today in Yule River to do everything I can to help support and inform Aboriginal communities in WA, and to protest the underlying racism and absolute disregard for Aboriginal heritage shown by the Barnett government.”

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Thursday 18 September

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC said he was outraged by the government’s attitude towards regional energy security after Horizon Power announced it would be cutting 12 staff, including five in Kununurra, four in Broom and three in Esperance, by the end of this year.

This initial cut is part of the governments larger Strategic Review Program designed to reduce Horizon Power’s subsidy, and which could cut as many as 61.5 staff from the Kimberley, Midwest, Esperance, and Northwest regions by the end of 2016.

Mr Chapple has labelled the program as insulting to regional power customers, who already pay higher premiums for what is often a diminished service.

“It is precisely these regions where the government should be looking to improve power delivery to its customers,” he said.

“I don’t see how they’re going to do that with 60 less staff.”

A table provided by the Minister for Energy lists more than 170 outages in Kununurra over the last two years with an average of 327 minutes per outage, or more than 5 hours, however the Network Quality and Reliability of Supply Code states there should be no more than 16 outages per year of greater than one minute.

The data from Kununurra is greater than the prescribed standards by 1,100% in the frequency and 32,700% in the duration of power outages.

Mr Chapple said Kununurra had the least reliable power supply in Western Australia and the decision by Horizon Power to cut more staff was despicable.

“The community of Kununurra has been short-changed by this government,” he said.

“Nobody wants to pay for a service that is so dodgy it regularly cuts out for hours at a time.

“In some instances residents were without power for more than twenty hours.

“Yet the Strategic Review Program has outlined a total of 14.5 staff cuts that will be made in the Kimberley region by the end of 2016.

“I think it can be safely said that this government cares little for the present, or future, energy needs of Kimberley residents.”

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.