Activists continue to fight bulldozers and corrupted government processes in Perth's southern suburbs

"Protest that endures.. is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success; namely the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence".
Wendell Berry

In Perth's southern suburbs a remarkable community- based campaign and furious community opposition and protest is delaying the controversial Roe 8 Project, an extension to the Roe Highway, which forms part of the Barnett Government's Perth Freight Link. 

The Barnett Government intends to build the Roe highway extension through the internationally recognized Beeliar wetlands and in the lead up to the March 2017 state election the Government began clearing major urban woodlands in the suburb of Coobellup to make way for the Roe 8 extension.

The wetlands and urban woodlands are an important habitat for threatened species, including the Carnaby's Black cockatoo and the forest red- tailed cockatoo. The sites are important heritage, Indigenous heritage, environmental and recreational sites and much loved and cared for by people who live in the southern suburbs.

The clearing is a cynical election ploy, designed to shore up support in a host of southern suburb Liberal- National party held seats that are at serious risk of falling in the March election.

For the last 8 weeks thousands of ordinary citizens have mounted protests to stop the bulldozers. They have sought legal injunctions, protested on site, occupied the site, locked themselves onto machinery, held sit ins and silent vigils, scaled and lived in trees for days to protect trees from bulldozers. 

Still the clearing continues.

Hundreds have been arrested by a police force, acting on behalf of the State Government, who stand accused of  over-reaction, use of excessive and unnecessary force and random arrest of protesters.

The protesters have been demonized by the Premier and his Ministers and by the major newspaper in the City.

The Director of the Conservation Council of WA Piers Verstegen has been one of the high profile public voices of the campaign and has successfully mounted the public case against the Roe 8 extension in daily forays in the media and in speeches on site.

Piers posted this powerful piece on his Facebook site today. He calls for a Commission of Inquiry into this profoundly corrupted and destructive project.

(Piers Verstegen comments printed with permission).

After being away from the Beeliar Wetlands for a few days and with the bulldozer briefly at bay, I took a walk into the site this morning to have look at what was due to be destroyed next. What I found was incredible.

These ancient paperbark (melaluca) trees are the largest and oldest I have ever seen. They would already have towered above the Beeliar Wetland at the time when the Swan River Colony was first settled. Now they are about to be destroyed within days by Colin Barnett's Bulldozer for the Roe 8 highway.

  

The towering paperbarks shading the cool sedges, rushes and and other understory species are part of an endangered ecosystem – the result of the longest continuous evolutionary process on this planet. Centuries ago, this type of woodland would have covered much larger areas, but with the majority of our wetlands having been filled in, drained or used as rubbish tips, this is one of the very few areas we have left in good ecological condition.

The site is a sacred women’s place for Nyoongar people and perhaps hundreds of generations of people would have been born here. This apparently is of no consequence because the State Government has unilaterally de-listed these areas from the Register of Aboriginal Heritage sites.

This is the section of the highway where a ‘bridge’ will be built, supposedly to minimise environmental damage. The trees that will not be bulldozed will be underneath huge sections of concrete which will block all light. Their roots, and the delicate groundwater hydrology beneath their massive trunks will be disturbed by the excavation of giant footings for concrete pylons. Giant cranes, earthmovers and other heavy machinery will compact the soil and further damage what remains of this place. The actual road-building work will not commence here for many months so destroying this place right now, just weeks before the election is totally unnecessary – an act of senseless environmental and cultural vandalism.


The fact that our environmental laws can allow a place like this to be trashed for a toll road which has no business case and no clear economic benefits, shows how deeply inadequate those laws are.

Last week I posted an open letter to the WA Environment Minister regarding failures to comply with conditions leading to the unnecessary death of bandicoots and other wildlife at the clearing sites. After having no response to that letter, the community has had a small win today as the contractors suspended clearing work to allow more trapping for wildlife to take place. Here, the community has managed to uphold the conditions on the project for a single day after weeks of blatant breaches with no response to hundreds of letters, emails and calls to the Minister or the EPA.

For now, these incredible ancient paperbarks stand. But together with so many others I am struggling to contain my anger and despair at the realisation that unless a miracle occurs, they will be destroyed forever within days. A permanent ugly scar will be left in the heart of this incredible place as a constant reminder of a heartless and misguided government desperate to regain popular support by taking a tough line on the environment.

One thing that gives me hope is that I believe that what has happened here with the Beeliar Wetlands will one day be the subject of a major Commission of Inquiry with far reaching consequences. All of this evidence will be examined – right from the beginning of the flawed EPA assessment (where EPA board members had conflicts of interest and the government failed to follow its own policies), to the last few heartbreaking weeks of constant blatant breaches of environmental conditions, to the history of corrupt and improper dealings by the companies involved, and to the misuse of police resources and well over 100 arrests of peaceful community members trying to uphold our environmental laws when the government and courts fails to do so. I believe all of this evidence will provide the platform for a future government to strengthen our environmental laws so that something like this can never happen again. And while the wetlands are trashed, those reforms will happen because people stood up for what they believed in.

When official reports obscure as well as explain: An analysis of the report on Cockburn Sound mass fish deaths

 

"Species loss is caused by the harmful actions of powerful actors, private interests that are facilitated by governments failing to act for the common good. At present, our political systems are deficient in preserving the variety of life around us."

David Ritter CEO Greenpeace Australia

The Department of Fisheries has released the report of its investigation into the massive fish die-off that occurred in Cockburn Sound in late November and early December 2015. Over 2000 fish and 15 species died.

 

An earlier piece I wrote on the environmental crisis is here and here.

 

However, like many official reports, the Fisheries report obscures as much as it explains. 

It is, for example,  silent on the extent to which thermal stress resulting from increased water temperature and oxygen stress caused by human induced climate change and global warming is a factor in the deaths in Cockburn Sound.

The Report finds that the immediate cause of the mass die-offs was an algal bloom of diatoms (of the genus Chaetoceros). This group of diatom have been implicated in fish kills both internationally and around Australia.

Diatoms are  the diameter of a hair, have spine-like bristles (setae) made of silica, and cause physical irritation to fish gills. The Report found that  algal numbers reached significant concentrations and the sectioned gills of freshly dead fish showed considerable physical irritation.

The report identified three potential contributing factors to the observed spike in diatom numbers- nutrients, higher than normal water temperatures, and reduced flushing conditions.
 

The report found no evidence of disease in the fish and no evidence of potential pollution or industrial causes of the fish kill.

It notes that the Department of Environment Regulation  assessed industry monitoring data and inspected local drainage systems, but no potential pollution sources were identified. The only substantiated spillage  identified was approximately 500 kilograms of canola grain at the CBH grain loading jetty, however there was no evidence of chemical contaminants in the spilt canola.

 

The Report found that the Southern end of the Sound was the likely source of the bloom.

 

The report links the fish deaths to poor water quality at the unstable southern end of the Sound. The area has historically had poor water quality issues including low dissolved oxygen levels associated with poor flushing of the embayment.  The report found that weak tides during the event may have been a contributing factor.
 

The southern end of the Sound is the site for  a proposed marine, canal and residential development between Cedar Woods and Landcorp, which includes a 500 boat pen, canal development, chalet style accommodation and an entertainment precinct.

 

Despite concerted opposition, the project received environmental approval in 2014 and has Government  and Opposition support, despite the EPA finding that the proposed development could worsen water quality in the southern part of the Sound

 

There has been strong and concerted public opposition to the  proposed development by environmental groups, campaigners and local communities and residents.

 

The Greens MP Lyn Mclaren used the release of the Fisheries Report to call on the Barnett Government to shelve the proposed development:

 

"The two causal factors of the fish kill were the algal bloom and dissolved oxygen. Both of these are known to be a problem in the southern area, so we should be working on improving the water quality at that area of the sound, not risking it by building a canal estate there."

 

The Fisheries Report leaves many questions unanswered.

The Report does nothing to dispel claims made at the time by the Barnett Government and government authorities that the mass die-off was a 'natural occurrence'. 

 Suggesting that an environmental catastrophe like this is a 'natural occurrence' implies it is a matter of chance and the workings of nature, rather than of human design and government and industry action and inaction. Events become arbitrary unforseen acts of nature, rather than manifestations of an economic and political order that is designed to maximise economic growth and profit at the expense of the ecosystem and the people and communities who share that ecosystem.

As Piers Verstegen from the Conservation Council of WA noted, this event should be a serious wake up call for the state of Cockburn Sound, not explained away as natural occurrence.

 

The Report does not identify  the underlying causes of  water quality issues in the Sound that resulted in the blooms that killed the fish, other than to identify three possibilities-nutrients, higher than normal water temperatures, and reduced flushing conditions. But we are no clearer in understanding the underlying cause(s) of the diatom bloom.

Clearly the marine environment in Cockburn Sound is changing for the worst and fish and marine life are struggling to keep up. It is essential that we know the exact cause of those changes. Without that understanding how can the Department and those responsible for the health of the Sound and its environment take the necessary action to ensure that water quality is improved and fish stocks protected?

The southern pocket is environmentally important to the health of the sound. It an area where sea grass is reasonably healthy and is also a fish nursery for a number of fish species.

Given its focus on the fish deaths, the Report is perhaps unsurprisingly silent on the likely impact of the proposed marina and canal development on water quality and fish stocks in the southern end of the Sound.

This is despite the likelihood that the proposed marina development will worsen water quality and threaten seagrass in the southern end of the Sound, thereby threatening fish stocks, bird life and marine life even further.

The report also says little about the long term impact of poor water quality on the viability of fish stocks in the Sound and proposes no remedial action to improve water quality to protect fish stocks in either the southern end of the Sound and/or the Sound as  a whole.

The report is also silent on the 'elephant in the room'- the extent to which thermal stress resulting from increased water temperature and oxygen stress caused by climate change and global warming is a factor in massive fish deaths like those that occurred in Cockburn Sound.

Ministers, politicians, authorities and government agencies seem unwilling to publicly acknowledge this issue and have avoided any use of the words 'climate change' in relation to the deaths.

But there is mounting evidence about the impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems and their vulnerable inhabitants and the role of climate change as a causative factor in mass die-offs of fish, marine life, whales, starfish, coral and marine invertebrates.

A 2015 study published in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists from Yale, UC Berkeley and University of San Diego concluded that mass die-offs of birds, fish and marine life have grown increasingly frequent and severe, hiking at a rate of 1 per year over the past ten years.

The researchers found that disease is responsible for 26 percent of  die-offs, making it the number one cause over the past 70 years. Direct human impact on the environment, including contamination is responsible for 19 percent.

On the effect of climate change, the report noted:

"... processes directly influenced by climate — including weather extremes, thermal stress, oxygen stress or starvation — collectively contributed to about 25 percent of mass mortality events."

According to the study, the mass kill events of the greatest magnitude "were those that resulted from multiple stressors, starvation, and disease."

Writing in Common Dreams, Deidre Fulton links animal die-offs across the globe to growing alarm about the deadly impact of climate change on the world's ecosystems and their vulnerable inhabitants.

Fulton lists examples of recent mass die-offs linked to the effects of climate change, including:

• 8000 black-and-white common seabirds (murres) were found dead on beaches in Alaska's Prince William Sound, joining thousands more that washed up on beaches from California to the Gulf of Alaska over the past year. One hypotheses is that the birds' usual food supply—the schools of herring and other small fish typically found near the coast—has been decimated by warming oceans or this year's extreme El Nino weather pattern.
• 45 pilot whales died in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, after more than 80 were stranded on the shore.
• a massive starfish stranding occurred on Moreton Island in Australia
• drought in the Western U.S. has transformed stretches of rivers into a mass graveyards for baby salmon 
• coral bleaching events around the globe are degrading and eroding the structure of living reefs
• the mysterious die-off of endangered antelopes last spring in Central Asia, which killed more than half of the entire species in less than a month. 

In the Washington Post, Sarah Kaplan writes that unexplained die-offs, abnormally large strandings  and worldwide coral bleaching are bigger than almost anything else on record:

"Incidents like these are often mysteries to be unraveled, with scientists sorting through various explanations—hunger, habitat loss, disease, disorientation—for the mass death. But in a swath of recent cases, many of the die-offs boil down to a common problem: the animals' environments are changing, and they’re struggling to keep up." 

Here in WA, the response of the Barnett Government to the Cockburn Sound environmental crisis has  been shambolic and inadequate.

The Environment Minister has been missing in action. At the height of the crisis the Minister claimed that water quality in the Sound was improving.

The Government claims that no change is needed in the monitoring of the Sound and has instigated bare-bones" environmental monitoring of water quality and only released a tender for that after the crisis. A former Manager of the Cockburn Sound Management Council (CSMC), claimed the tender was "bare-bones" environmental monitoring to allow the council to meet the requirements of the State Environmental Policy.

 

The failure of the Barnett Government and the responsible authorities to provide a convincing explanation of the underlying causes of the water quality issues that caused the mass fish die-offs in the Sound, combined with their unwillingness to publicly acknowledge that thermal stress resulting from increased water temperature and oxygen stress caused by climate change and global warming as a significant factor in the fish deaths, only leads to greater disbelief and cynicism among ordinary citizens concerned about the health of the Sound and the viability of fish and marine life stocks.

Environmental crisis and massive fish kill in Cockburn Sound

An environmental crisis is unfolding in Perth's Cockburn Sound and no one seems to know the cause.

A massive fish kill, or localized die off of fish populations is occurring.

 

Over recent weeks, more than 2000 fish, mainly pink snapper and blowfish, as well as  marine life up the food chain, including pelicans, seabirds and fairy penguins have been found dead in Cockburn Sound and along its beaches. (Although the Department of Fisheries disputed that penguins were dying as result of the kill and said that a dead penguin found had died of starvation).

 

There are also reports that people swimming in Cockburn Sound have had adverse reactions, including skin irritations and rashes and that the water was stinging.

 

Cockburn Sound is an open ocean inlet off the Perth coast that lies between Garden Island, Carnac Island and the Perth coastline and stretches from the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle, south to Cockburn, Kwinana and Rockingham. The Sound is a vital and fragile marine environment used for commercial and recreational fishing and is the breeding ground for pink snapper.

 

Cockburn Sound is WA's major industrial zone for heavy industry, petroleum and chemical industries and Garden Island is a major naval base. The Sound contains numerous popular beaches.

 

Cockburn Sound has been under severe pressure for some time. There has long been concern about environmental and water quality and the health of Cockburn Sound, due to the presence of heavy industry along the Kwinana Industrial Strip and the naval base at Garden Island. Large beachside residential developments along the coast have added to pressure on the Sound.

A 2014 Report on the State of Cockburn Sound found it was under severe environmental pressure, including ongoing concerns about the health of seagrass; signs of declining water quality, particularly in southern sections showing signs of nutrient enrichment and problems with dissolved oxygen concentration and poor water circulation; very poor water quality in some smaller areas and seafood was generally safe for consumption.

 

The WA Department of Fisheries has been unable to pinpoint the cause of the deaths and claims that microscopic examination of gill samples have shown the fish may have suffered respiratory stress, probably due to water quality. The Department said that respiratory stress can be caused by physical irritants or chemical contaminants.

Fish kills like this are the first visible sign of environmental stress. Many fish species have a low tolerance for variations in environmental conditions and mass deaths are often an indicator of problems in the environment that may affect other animals and plants and may have a direct impact on other uses of the water.

Reduced oxygen in the water is the most common cause of kills and this may be due to factors such as sustained increases in water temperature, drought, algal bloom, overpopulation, infectious disease and parasites  Toxicity is a real, but less common cause of fish kill.

 

The Department claims it has been testing for algal toxins, hydrocarbons, ammonia and pesticides. But the exact cause of the problem is still unknown. A Departmental spokesperson said:

 

"Test results received to date indicate no evidence of either natural algal or industrial toxin involvement and point towards an as yet unknown natural event as the cause of this incident."

In the WA Parliament, Minister Helen Morton said that a canola grain spill at the CBH Kwinana Grain Jetty  between November 18-22 may have resulted in some grain entering into the Sound. The Department of Environment Regulation is investigating the spill from the Kwinana grain jetty, as it matches the timeframe for the reports of dead fish.

 

But a Fisheries spokesman said the examination of the dead fish stomach contents found no evidence of canola or any other unnatural food source.

The Barnett Government and the  Fisheries Minister have come under severe criticism for their haphazard and shambolic handing of the crisis and their failure to act with a sense of urgency.

Recreational fishers are so outraged about the Government's response they crowd sourced and initiated their own investigation. In addition to an organised protest, they are urging fishers to take their boats out into Cockburn Sound to locate dead fish to understand more about the problem.

The WA Fisheries Minister Ken Bastian contradicted his own Department after saying he would  not recommend people eat fish from Cockburn Sound. His comments came after his Department had said  that fishing or swimming in the Sound were safe. The Minister was not aware that his own Department had issued an all clear for people to go fishing.

The ALP Opposition points to the abolition of the Cockburn Sound Management Authority, which existed to monitor water quality, as a contributing factor.

 

Many of the fish kills are in area known as Mangles Bay, which is the site for  a proposed Mangles Bay Inland Marina and private canal estate, a development opposed by many groups.

 

Green groups, environmental groups and local citizens oppose the development and a major development at Point Peron which they argue threaten the health of Cockburn Sound. They argue the Barnett Government's plans for major beachside marina, private canal estates and residential developments along pristine parts of the Sound are putting more pressure on an already fragile ecosystem.

 

Greens MP and spokeswoman Lynn MacLaren said fish kills in Cockburn Sound were further proof the Barnett Government should rethink proceeding with the Mangles Bay Inland Marina:

 

"The latest kills were near the Garden Island Causeway and Point Peron boat ramp, which is adjacent to Mangles Bay. Mangles Bay is known to be a thriving fish nursery of state importance and it also has the healthiest seagrass beds in the Sound. It is irrational to destroy the one area in the Sound that is in really good health while we are still struggling to manage overall water quality and health."

 

The looming privatisation and Serco-isation of the NDIS

Rick Morton has written an article in The Australian (sadly behind a pay wall) in response to plans by Serco, the British multinational services corporation, to identify business opportunities and develop a business case to enable Serco to make money out of  Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme. 

Rick is kind enough to quote me in the article.

Rick's article was a response to plans by Serco to employ an NDIS expert to “analyse the ­market and determine what opportuni­ties exist” for Serco.

Serco's plans provide further evidence of the looming privatisation and corporate takeover of the NDIS and the state based systems of disability care and support.

The amount of money (see the graph above) and opportunities available under the NDIS  are immensely attractive to for- profit corporations who see huge opportunities for profit taking.

The $22 billion NDIS has been designed along market lines and market based principles to directly fund eligible individuals who can choose how and when to spend their money on disability supports and services.

Federal and State Governments are keen to open up the disability sector to greater competition from corporate and business providers.

They are using the opportunity presented by the NDIS to privatise care and support for people with disabilities, extend corporate and for-profit delivery of programs and services into disability services and reduce the role of State Governments in providing for the care and wellbeing of people living with disabilities

 

The Federal Government is also moving to marginalise people living with disabilities from the governance and management of the scheme by replacing the Board of the NDIS with corporate and business leaders. The federal government has placed an advertisement in the Australian Financial Review  for new board members who must have "substantial board experience either in a large listed company or a significant government business enterprise".

Serco sights on NDIS billions

THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 24, 2015 12:00 AM

Rick Morton

Social Affairs Reporter

Sydney

Global services conglomerate Serco is eyeing the $22 billion ­national disability insurance scheme as a source of new profits and is hiring a “subject matter ­expert” to advance­ a business case.

The company — best known in Australia for running the governmen­t’s outsourced immig­­ration detention centres, including a facility on Christmas Island — wants its NDIS expert to “analyse the ­market and determine what opportuni­ties exist”.

It is the first sign the company aims to move into the disability sector. People who will use the NDIS said while the move was “not shocking, it is concerning”.

“We’ve known the NDIS would open up the marketplace for new providers — that’s not new — but it is worrying when we have the big players come knocking because you wonder how that will affect the mix,” one advocate said.

The scheme will grant almost all funding to individuals who qualify and they will choose how and when to spend their money on disability supports, such as new wheelchairs or therapy.

Serco is part of two parliamentary inquiries in Western Australia, into services at its largest­ hospital, the Fiona Stanley Hospital, and prisoner transport. It has con­tracts for non-clinical care at the hospital and for court security and prisoner transport in the state.

It was stripped of its respon­s­ib­ilities for sterilising hospital equipment after a breach last year and another this year in which tools were returned for surgeries with tissue and blood on them.

The Barnett government told parliament last month that it would not renew the Serco transport contract in June.

In Britain, the firm became ­notorious for charging the government to track prisoners it could not find and for misreporting statistics on a health contract. It has been slammed by rights groups for its refugee work. Serco Watch convener Colin Penter said it had a record of “incredibly dysfunctional and dystopian practice”.

“They just see this as a commercial transaction, the lived ­experience of people with di­s­abilities is peripheral,” he said.

Morton notes how Serco is currently facing a major cash flow and financial crises

Serco Global, the parent employ­ing 100,000 on 600 outsourcing contracts, has issued several profit warnings in the past two years. Last year’s accounts showed an operating loss of about $2.7bn.

The SME (subject matter expert) will act as a liaison point between key stakeholders and Serco working to identify and scope opport­unities to support the implementation and delivery of services within the NDIS market,” its job advertisement says.

“You will be responsible for devisi­ng business development strategies and plans for Serco Citizen­ Services that will achieve short, med­ium and long-term profitable growth targets.”

A Serco spokesman said the company always sought to “add value” to the delivery of public service­s. “We have been recognised through audits and awards for safe, effective and innovative ­delivery,” he said

'Nothing about us without us': The Barnett Government and social policy making that excludes end users

photo of Samantha Connor courtesy of ABC

My colleague and friend Samantha Connor is a renowned and fearsome Western Australian disability activist, advocate, writer and campaigner. (You can read about Samantha here and here). Her writings on disability issues on The Stringer are here.)

 

Today she has a letter in the West Australian newspaper in response to a recent story and statement by the Disability Minister Helen Morton who claimed the WA had the best disability system in Australia and that WA's system of providing support and services to people living with disabilities called My Way, was far better than the Federal Government's pilot NDIS system currently being trialled in WA. 

 

Samantha writes:

 

'"It’s unfortunate that Minister Helen Morton and the WA Government has decided that it’s to be ‘My Way or the Highway’ (WA’s own services best for disabled, 2.9.15). Announcing that WA has the best scheme might be in the best interests of both government and providers, but what about people with disability themselves?

 

The evaluation for the two disability schemes, the Commonwealth National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the State based My Way scheme, will not be completed for many months. Preliminary feedback indicates that the jury is still out, with many end users critical of aspects of the State based scheme and others finding the Commonwealth scheme difficult to engage with.

 WA has a regrettable track record of declaring ourselves ‘the best’ when it comes to disability care and support. That flies in the face of the commentary of many people with disability and their families who have found our State system not only lacking, but appalling.'

 

As a disability advocate, a person with a disability and a parent of children with a disability, I ask our State Government to think carefully about making decisions for us and speaking upon our behalf. We understand that this is about your carefully built State systems and your individual interests – but for we people with disability of Western Australia, this is about our lives."

 

As Samantha rightly notes, politicians and State Governments are using the roll out of the NDIS for their own political purposes, as much as they aspire to assist people with disabilities.

The WA Government's is actively using the NDIS to serve its own political and policy agenda. 

The Barnett government presents an idealised picture of a disability system that they claim effectively serves the needs of people living with disabilities, despite evidence to the contrary and is using the opportunities presented by the NDIS to extend its agenda of privatisation and outsourcing of government funded and provided health, social and community services.

 

The Minister has come to rely on West Australian parochialism, spin, overinflated political rhetoric and dismissal of her critics as a way to conceal major policy failures across a number of her portfolio responsibilities, including disability, child protection and children's services, mental health and suicide prevention.

 

The Disability Services Commission, who is fighting to protect and maintain its position of power and influence over WA's disability sector, has also shown itself willing to engage in political manoeuvrings in its support for the Barnett Government's agenda. It released this statement yesterday

 

" Getting additional resources is important, but what the WA State Government is focussed on, is making sure WA gets the best NDIS in the nation - a system that will provide the best supports and services to people with disability, their families and carers. The supports that people with disability need to live good lives in their local communities. The individual packages costs in the Lower South West may be lower than the national average, but this may not be the case when the Cockburn-Kwinana area rolls in.

 The learnings from the two trials of the NDIS in WA will help inform how the NDIS will operate in WA into the future. But, the State Government can’t wait until the trials are over to start the conversation with the Commonwealth about rolling out an NDIS for all people with disability in WA. The Minister for Disability Services wants to start the conversation now. She has been told by many people that WA NDIS My Way works – they like the support provided by My Way Coordinators who know them, their family and their community.

 The Minister wants to make sure we have an NDIS in WA that is local, builds on the best of our current system and includes the additional State and Commonwealth funding required to meet the needs of all people with disability. This is what is most important."

As Samantha rightly points out the people whose lives are directly affected by all this political posturing- people living with disabilities, their families and carers- are actively excluded from these debates and decisions.

Similar comments were made today by Women With Disabilities WA Inc (WWDWA), an organisation run by and for people with disabilities, who released the following statement:

The organisation believes that it is counter to the original principle of self management to have able-bodied professionals and politicians who don’t personally use the services under trial speaking on behalf of people with disabilities.

There is little evidence in any of the articles that promote the WA My Way scheme that the real experts were interviewed - people with disabilities who are actually using the My Way scheme.

Chair of WWDWA Inc, Ms Zeliha Iscel, said: “One of the central tenets of the disability rights movement is “nothing about us without us”. The current WA My Way and National NDIS schemes both fail to embody this principle and therefore are at risk of failing people with disabilities and our families.”

Ms Iscel stressed that the reality of the My Way and NDIS trials is a lot more complex than the current media reports and government spokespeople have made it out to be. She further emphasised, “It is far too early to be making definite statements about which trial is the best for Western Australia.”

Coordinator of WWDWA Inc, Ms Rayna Lamb says there is a risk of people with disabilities being steamrolled into the NDIS My Way scheme because of the WA government's insistence on WA exceptionalism, regardless of what is actually best for people with disabilities.

Women With Disabilities WA Inc strongly urges the media and government spokespeople to go directly to the people with disabilities and those who support us to get real experience and knowledge on how both trials are running so far. Ms Iscel said: “To do anything less is to treat people with disabilities as perpetual children who are not permitted a voice in our own lives. In 2015, this is unacceptable”.

WWDWA Inc is run by women with disabilities and provides systemic advocacy and peer support for women with disabilities. http://wwdwa.org.au/
 

Esperance WA: Sacrifice zone for the profits of the uranium industry?

A mining industry media outlet has reported that the uranium industry in WA is keen to establish Esperance on WA's southern coast, as a port export hub for radioactive uranium material mined in Western Australia.

 

The Canadian uranium miner Cameco, whose Yeeleerie uranium project is billed as the largest in WA, is located near Wiluna in WA's Northern Goldfields,  however, Wiluna is considerable distance from Port Adelaide and Darwin, the only two ports in Australia approved for shipping uranium. Esperance is the port closest to Wiluna.

 

The other uranium miner active in WA is Toro Energy who plan to ship product from its Wiluna mine through Port Adelaide, a 2700km journey by truck.

 

The Managing Director of Cameco Brian Reilly was quoted as saying:

 

“This is a region that needs the next wave of projects and the uranium sector can deliver four, five, six projects down the track and make a significant difference to WA. The product we ship is a high-value, low-volume product and as it sits today most uranium goes to the port of Adelaide. Why wouldn't we contemplate a WA port when we get a business case and a number of other projects up and running?"

 

A weekend article in the Kalgoorlie Miner describes the community's response to the disclosure and notes that the Esperance community is exceedingly vigilant about the environmental risks from products coming through Esperance, largely as a result of the Magellan Lead Scandal of 2005-2008.

 

This vigilance and likely public opposition from the people of Esperance is a consequence of  serious harm suffered by the people and environment of Esperance as a result of that earlier lead contamination scandal at the Port of Esperance.

 

Over 2 years (2005- 2007) Magellan Metals and the Esperance Port Authority allowed lethal lead dust to escape from storage facilities at the port and contaminate the town of Esperance and surrounds. Over 9500 birds died of lead poisoning and hundreds of children suffered lead poisoning from elevated lead levels.

A Western Australian Parliamentary Inquiry found that the Esperance Port Authority and Magellan Metals (and 2 other government agencies) were guilty of "critical failings" in their handling of toxic material in allowing lead carbonate particles to escape during Port operation.

 

The Inquiry concluded that the deaths of 9500 native birds in December 2006 and March 2007 resulted from lead poisoning from Magellan Metals lead carbonate concentrate which had been handled by the Esperance Port Authority from April 2005 until March 2007. A quarter of the children under 5 years of age who were tested showed a blood lead level over 5 µg/dL.

 

The Committee concluded that the exposure of the Esperance community to lead was a result of:

• the ongoing transport to, and inloading practices at, the Esperance Port which occurred almost every second day over some 23 months;
• the escape of lead dust during the usual out loading practices at the Esperance Port, which occurred on 22 occasions; and
• a number of key dust incidents occurring during ship-loading of the Magellan lead concentrate at the Esperance Port, which released significant lead pollution into the environment, and in the absence of any containment or clean up, caused on-going exposures to lead.”

The Report found that the Esperance community had been let down by the actions of the Esperance Port Authority, Magellan Metals and the WA Department of Environment (DEC).

The Esperance Port Authority was fined over half a million dollars after admitting responsibility for the lead poisoning. Magellan Metals escaped without any serious penalty after agreeing to a $9 million settlement to clean up the town. As part of the agreement the State Government agreed not to pursue any criminal or legal charges against the company.

 

A State Government report released  in 2010 claimed that three years after the crises the poisonous lead dust still present in the town  remained a major threat to bird life and animal life but claimed no "serious threat to human health". Locals were not convinced

 

Research in 2010 by the Conservation Council of WA showed that local insect eating birds have lead levels in their feathers about 8 times background lead levels. The birds are at threshold level for lead pollution in birds.
 

So why should the people of Esperance have any faith they will be protected this time around by those with responsibility to regulate mining companies and protect the community, when they failed so badly last time?

 

During the Esperance lead crises, Government agencies continually downplayed the seriousness of the problem and denied any serious risk to human health.

 

The inability of WA Government agencies to effectively regulate and monitor the operations and performance of multinational corporations whose rationale is profit maximization was confirmed in a recent WA Auditor General’s Report.

 

The Auditor General found that corporations were failing to meet their environmental and social obligations and Government agencies were unable to effectively regulate and enforce the social and environmental activities of private corporations.

A recent Corruption and Crime Commission Report identified that large government agencies  who oversee large contracts with corporations do not have the necessary skills controls and governance systems in place to manage these contractors and identified the risk of corruption.

It is patently clear that regulation and monitoring of corporations is largely ineffective and government agencies and statutory authorities responsible for monitoring them have not proved themselves up to the job

Like many other places in WA, Esperance has become  what US author Steve Lerner calls a "Sacrifice Zone"- communities forced to live with the harmful social and environmental impacts of poorly regulated mining and industrial activity.
 

Martin Bruckner's remarkable book Under Corporate Skies tells the shocking story of another Western Australian "Sacrifice Zone"- this time the struggle between the community of Wagerup and the multinational mining corporation Alcoa and its ally over three decades- the WA Government.

 

 Brueckner tells a story consigned to the dustbin of Western Australian history. His book describes the the same pattern of denial, protection of mining and industrial interests, collusion by State Government agencies and  dismissal and trivialization of community concerns that was evident in the Esperance scandal.
 

These "sacrifice zones" exist all over WA, in towns and communities where mining and industrial activity are dominant.  These are places and people sacrificed on the alter of corporate profit and economic growth. 

 

The harms caused by poorly regulated mining and industrial activity- ill health and death, scarred land, polluted, air and water, despoiled environment and human landscape and a fraying social fabric- are trivialized, and denied, and when proven, they are simply dismissed as a cost of economic prosperity or considered not serious enough to warrant attention. 

The power of the corporate (private) prison industry and why Australia has the highest proportion of private prisons in the world

"Research to date on private prisons has found that they perform no better than publicly operated facilities, are not guaranteed to reduce correctional costs, and provide an incentive for increasing correctional and detention populations. Despite these repeated failings, many countries, including those facing serious problems in the quality and capabilities of their correctional systems, have followed the United States in adopting a flawed and shortsighted scheme." 

from International Growth Trends in Prison Privatization.

A Report by the Sentencing Project titled International Growth Trends in Prison Privatization shows that Australia has the highest proportion of prisoners in private (corporate) run prisons in the world. 

The table shows that the percentage of prisoners held in private prisons in Australia is 19%, compared to 17% in Scotland, 14% in England and Wales and 11% in New Zealand. (Given that the data used in the report is from 2011 it is highly likely that the proportion of prisoners in private prisons in Australia would be higher now in 2014)

Some Australian states, like Victoria, have a higher proportion of prisoners in private prisons. In Victoria nearly one third of prisoners are held in private prisons, giving it the highest level of prison privatization of any jurisdiction in the world.

The US has the highest number of prisoners held in private/corporate run prisons, but the percentage of prisoners in private prisons is 8%.

The population of people held in private prisons in Australia has increased 95% in the past 15 years. In that same period, the number of prisoners in state-run jails grew by 50 per cent and the total prison population increased by 57 per cent.

 The rapid and consistent increase in the number of prisoners over the last two decades, coupled with a 106% prison occupancy rate, creates an opportunity for private prison corporations to thrive.

Another reason for the growth in the numbers of detainees in corporate run prisons in Australia has been the enormous growth in the number of asylum seekers detained in immigration detention prisons run by Serco (on shore and Christmas Island) and Transfield (Naura and Manus Island).

What is happening in Australia is consistent with international trends. The report International Growth Trends in Prison Privatization by the Sentencing Project found that:

• At least 11 countries, spread across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand are engaged in some level of prison privatization.
• The private prison market outside the US is dominated by 3 corporations- Serco, G4S and Geo Group.
• Immigration detention has become a rapid growth market for the private prison corporations.
• The profit motive of private prison corporations often leads to inadequate services and unsafe conditions.

The private run prisons  are immensely powerful and profitable, with the corporations involved in running private prisons making increased profits across all jurisdictions in which they operate.

"The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. “This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded cells in a large variety of colors.”

Even a pro-prison privatization advocate, such as Professor Richard Harding notes that the prison corporations such as GEO and Serco are more powerful than the governments they deal with. 

Private prison corporations have a vested interest in mass incarceration and policies that result in more people being imprisoned. As Paul Allizi writes:

The larger the prison population, the longer the sentences, the larger the payout under government contracts. The more prisoners, the more prisons, the more growth. Cheaper facilities and fewer services mean more profit. These inescapable relationships are the source of the potential conflicts of interest. The incentives of private prison companies can easily become opposed to the aims of the humane containment and rehabilitation of prisoners- the very purpose of corrective services".

In Australia three private corporations- Serco, G4S and Geo Group- run private prisons in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia. These three corporations are global giants, in a powerful billion dollar industry, and they also run prisons in the US, UK, Europe, Israel and South Africa.

Corporate run prisons in Australia are:

• Immigration Detention Centres, onshore and offshore (Serco and Transfield)
• Acacia Prison Western Australia (Serco)
• Wandoo Young Adult Facility, Western Australia (Serco)
• Junee Correctional Centre, NSW (Geo Group)
• Parklea Correctional Centre, NSW (Geo Group)
• Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, Queensland (Geo Group)
• Borallan Correctional Centre, Queensland (Serco)
• Southern Queensland Correctional Centre (Serco)
• Mt Gambier Prison, South Australia (G4S)
• Fulham Correctional Centre, Victoria (Geo Group)
• Port Phillip Prison, Victoria (G4S).

G4S and Serco also run prisoner transport services, including prisoner transport services in Victoria (G4S) and Western Australian prisoner transport and court security services in WA (Serco).

Even though Australia has the highest proportion of prisoners in private (corporate) run prisons in the world, State Governments plan to radically expand the number of private prisons, despite serious questions about the evidence upon which prison privatization is based. (see the paper Private Prisons in Australia: Our 20 year Trial in the online journal Right Now: Human Rights in Australia and the recent report The Cost of Private Prisons by the US based group In the Public Interest).

The report The Cost of Private Prisons concludes:

"The private prison industry claims that governments can save money by privatizing prisons, but what does the evidence actually indicate? To maximize returns for their investors, for-profit prison companies have perverse incentives to cut costs in vital areas such as security personnel, medical care, and programming, threatening the health and safety of prisoners and staff. Yet research and the recent experiences of states show that the promised cost savings often fail to materialize for government agencies that contract with for-profit prison companies. Furthermore, proponents of prison privatization may employ questionable methodology when calculating costs of private facilities. This includes finding ways to hide the costs of private prisons, ensuring that increased costs are not apparent until after the initial contract is signed, and using inflated public prison costs during comparisons.

In Australia, prison privatization has become a powerful ideological tool, used by State Governments to promote and advance their particular policy agendas. Prison privatization is also a controversial policy agenda, with the result that Governments impose it secretly, without serious public discussion and debate.

In Queensland, the Newman Government has established a secret Task Force to develop a plan to hand over all Queensland's prisons to the corporate sector. This would make Queensland the only jurisdiction in the world where all prisons are run by private corporations.

In NSW, the O'Farrell Government commissioned a secret report by the pro- privatization consulting form KPMG which recommended that 11 NSW prisons should be privatized.

In Western Australia, the Barnett Government and Joe Francis, the Minister responsible for Prisons have used  the privatization of more prisons, including juvenile prisons  in Western Australia  as a threat to impose their prison and corrective services reform agenda.