There is a long list of controversial developments on public land where the Clarence City Council has treated the community terribly. The Council is acting as a property developer and pushing a development agenda on Council and State government land while failing to consult the most important people, the rate-payers.
For more than 100 years this project has reared its ugly head. It has been defeated every time, more or less always for the same reasons:
A lack of strong business case.
A lack of local support and interest.
The land is publicly owned, and inevitably the developer wants the people to make a gift of the publicly owned land.
On 1 January 2018 China’s National Sword Policy came into effect, reducing acceptable contamination levels for 24 types of recyclable materials to between 0.5% and 1.0% (down from 5%). For Australia, the biggest impact will be on paper, cardboard and plastics. There is likely to be little impact on recycling of metals because Australia exports most of its recyclable metals to countries other than China.
The State Government’s changes to planning legislation have sown the seeds for over-development in Tasmania’s iconic cities, coastal hideaways, heritage towns and wilderness areas, whilst creating opaque processes that empower the Planning Minister and strip the community’s rights. They have plans for more draconian changes.
Over 65 people joined us to launch the stories of our five Tasmanian film star cats (along with their humans), who have embraced life on the inside. Inside with Cats video series is an exciting collaboration that aims to demonstrate (through story) that we can experience the joys and benefits of cat ownership while protecting wildlife and keeping neighbours happy.
Bruny Island has been selected by the Federal Government as one of five islands in Australia to progress feral cat eradication. This is in recognition of the potential threat that feral cats pose to the significant biodiversity values of the island. The Federal Government has committed three years of funding to kick start the process. This exciting project also offers a case study for other cat management programs across the state.
Every now and then a court decision comes along that requires us to stand up and take notice. The role of courts in our democracy is extremely important and, arguably is becoming more and more important as the years pass. Courts do not just determine disputes between people or determine whether people have committed criminal offences. A more fundamental and arguably important role of courts is to determine the limits on the power exercised by our governments and by our Parliaments in a federal system. As our governments and parliaments are increasingly captured by well-resourced lobby groups - aided and abetted by large multinational news corporations - the role of courts on checking overreach by state parliaments has grown.
