Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority board director accused of potential conflict of interest

A board director for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has been accused of a potential conflict of interest over public funding directed to companies working on crown-of-thorns starfish culling.

 Margie McKenzie said she had left the room during
any Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority discussions
 about crown-of-thorns starfish.

Margie McKenzie sits on the board of the authority and also owns a company called Gempearl with her husband, Col McKenzie.

More than $20m in taxpayer funds was spent by the reef authority on killing crown-of-thorns starfish, which preys on coral.

According to reports by the ABC, the money was directed to two not-for-profit companies that then subcontracted the culling work to Gempearl.

Col McKenzie is also linked to the two companies that subcontracted the work – the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, on which he serves as a board member, and the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, as its executive director and company secretary.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority board director accused of potential conflict of interest.”

Canberra opens public purse for private fast-rail project's plan

A consortium that said it would privately fund a fast rail line from Melbourne to Sydney will get a share of $20 million in public funding from the Turnbull government.

A 2016 image from Consolidated Land and Rail Australia (CLARA),
the company planning a fast rail link between Melbourne and
Sydney. It will be given millions of dollars in public money by t
he Turnbull government to write the business case for its
 first stage, to Shepparton.

Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, or CLARA, is a private company that claims it can build two inland cities in Victoria and a further six in New South Wales that are linked by high-speed rail lines between Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

Their rail line would, CLARA's plans say, be paid for by the company taking options to buy land in regional areas at a low price. The land would then be sold at a far higher price once a rail line was built nearby.

The “uplift” in land value would provide billions of dollars in profit, CLARA's directors say.

Read the story by Clay Lucas in The Sydney Morning Herald - “Canberra opens public purse for private fast-rail project's plan.”

(Many argue that projects such as this are only possible through Public Private Partnerships (PPP), but immediately private profit at public expense becomes integral to the equation, it is without fail the public who are sacrificed, especially when the profit margin is to be sustained/maintained.

The State Government doesn’t appear to be onboard with what is proposed, and as it is the final leg of the Shepparton to Melbourne trip - from Craigieburn to the city - that can be excruciatingly slow, it will not be until decisions are made about that last 30 or so kilometres, a decision that needs the stamp of the State Government, that we can seriously talk about creating any sort of fast train into the city - Robert McLean)

Adani's Carmichael coal rail line may not be eligible for government funding

Protesters rally in Melbourne on Monday after the
 federal government granted Indian company
Adani conditional approval of a $1bn loan
for a rail line between the Carmichael coalmine
and a port in north Queensland. 

Doubts have emerged over the eligibility of Adani’s rail link for public funding as the company pushes ahead with plans for the controversial Carmichael coal project with a promise of 600 jobs at a new operational headquarters in Townsville.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said “you can’t get the smile off my face” when commenting on the news of the potential in a television interview.

The Indian conglomerate’s announcement on Tuesday of new operational headquarters in Townsville comes days after it gained conditional approval of a $1bn federal loan for a coal rail line. It heralds new momentum for a project that has been fiercely resisted by environmental groups and traditional owners.

Read The Guardian story - “Adani's Carmichael coal rail line may not be eligible for government funding.”

Brown coal scheme designed to 'save' Latrobe Valley in disarray

The government is scrambling to develop a
 strategy to cope with the closure of Hazelwood.

A $90 million scheme to make Latrobe Valley brown coal cleaner and more profitable has all but failed, with two out of three projects shelved and tens of millions of dollars of public funding sitting idle.

Announced in August 2012, the flagship state-federal fund, known as the Advanced Lignite Demonstration Program, was touted as a saviour for the Latrobe Valley, opening up new markets for the state's vast brown coal reserves.

But more than four years later, two of the big projects awarded funding under the scheme have now collapsed. A third has been granted a six-month extension to allow it to meet key environmental and planning deadlines.

The scheme involved joint contributions of $45 million each from the Victorian and federal governments for carefully selected projects to transform the valley's plentiful but low-grade coal into higher-valued uses such as briquettes, fertiliser and liquid fuel.

Read the story in the Melbourne Age -“Brown coal scheme designed to 'save' Latrobe Valley in disarray.”