Update from TBA President Paola Cassoni, sent to The Bimblebox Alliance Members 2nd October 2021
Apologies for my silence, but it has been a year where some notable action was hoped for but little has occurred until recently.
First, our court case. There have been a number of procedural hearings before President Kingham in the Land Court. Many of these revolved around witness nominations and timing for depositions etc. Recently Waratah Coal (WC) lodged an unexpected amendment to its mine plan whereby it proposed to forego open cut mining on the Bimblebox Nature Reserve (BNR) and maintain only underground mining in the area of the BNR.
We see this change as likely to have major, if different, adverse impacts, but it lacks detail and important information and we don’t believe these impacts have been fully assessed as yet. At time of writing it is unclear if this change will be determined by President Kingham to be within the Land Court’s jurisdiction and, if so, whether additional information and assessment processes will be required. We’re anticipating a decision on Tuesday 7th October and I will let you know when we receive it.
The actual court case is still currently scheduled for next February.
I am sure you all have seen or been made aware of the 7.30 Report on WC’s proposed coal fired power station. The fact that such a development is to be determined by Barcaldine Shire Council is, in many people’s minds, a travesty. A number of organisations have campaigns underway encouraging people to register their opposition to both the power station and the way it is being determined. I encourage you all to join this campaign if you have not already done so. We have posted the Qld Conservation Council’s approach on our Facebook page.
For those of you who don’t already know, I have had to return to Italy to take care of my mother. Interestingly the internet between here and Australia works better than at my Desert Uplands home! So I am still very much in touch and look forward to seeing as many of you (virtually) as possible at our coming AGM.
The BNR itself continues to be carefully managed by Ian Hoch and the occasional volunteer. Covid has made interstate travel particularly difficult. Numerous plans have had to be cancelled or postponed. John Brinnand has done some much needed work on the visitors’ camp with more to be done. Hopefully the coming year will see some return to normality and the rejuvenation of the camp site completed.
We will announce the date for our AGM shortly. The accounts are currently being audited and should be available for distribution soon. There appears to have been little progress on our application for donations to be tax deductible. One has to assume this is deliberate Federal Government policy. How can it take more than a year to make such an assessment?
Thanks to Sharyn Munro and Paula Jayne, the Bimblebox 2022 Calendar is now available online.
Kindest,
Paola