Those attending the self described ‘information session’ by Southern Launch at the Port Lincoln Hotel recently would have been disappointed by the light weight of the presentation.
No mention of testing weapons for multinational arms manufacturers, no mention of electronics warfare, defence involvement, or dumping toxic waste in our marine national parks and fishing grounds. No public consultation in an open forum.
The only new information provided was the intention to launch rockets by late 2025 or early 2026. Astounding!
At a stakeholder meeting by SA Water in Coffin Bay on December 3, 2024 it was stated publicly, more than once, by the SA Water official that there is no water for any new major development until the Billy Lights Desalination Plant comes onboard, at the time, estimated to be mid-2026. The current estimate is late 2026.
Southern Launch have never stated publicly where they intend acquiring water, up to 150,000 litres per launch for deluge.
People would be aware that Southern Launch have applied to the Native Vegetation Council (NVC) for a necessary variation to the Heritage Agreement (HA) covering Whalers Way.
This variation can only be applied for by the landowner, Theakstone Property Pty Ltd.
I can only conclude this occurred through complete ignorance, lack of respect for due process, or desperation.
The NVC’s Heritage Agreement Policy (February 2023) states – “A Heritage Agreement is a permanent and legally binding contract placed on the land’s title to protect an area of native vegetation”.
The policy also states that “in considering an application to vary an agreement, the NVC will assess if the variation will:
1. Have an impact on native vegetation, including impacts associated with the likely subsequent use of the land
2. Compromise the required outcomes of the HA
3. Substantively and negatively compromise the reputation or integrity of Heritage Agreements within the South Australian community.”
Then there is the issue of SEB’s (Significant Environmental Benefit). Essentially, like for like – create an ecosystem equal or greater to what they will destroy.
How is this achievable and where? Should not this be living and breathing before the bulldozers move in?
This would not be the only concern for the proponent.
Anyone who has bothered to read the provisional approvals by the State Planning Minister and Federal Environment Minister would feel the conditions are impossible to comply with.
Still, Southern Launch continue to advertise internationally the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex as a fully functional, operating facility.
This is a lie they have perpetuated for years now. Like the one that Whalers Way is the only place this can happen. It is not. It is their preferred location, based on economics.
The irony is much of it is our tax dollars – another $3 million last year by the state government.
Must be getting up to around $30m in government handouts by now.
And what do they have to show for this largesse? It’s time to realise the dream is over.
Get over it Southern Launch. Go and find some degraded farmland somewhere to play your war games.
Richard Lloyd, Port Lincoln
Dividends, not debt
Why not consider something different to a yearly national budget by replacing it with a yearly profit and loss account.
A National Profit and Loss Account was published for the year 2020 in a book ‘Where Money Comes From’, published by the Logos Writing Co.
This measured total consumer production as $1,082 billion and consumer incomes at $795b; a deficiency of $287b.
Looking at another way our profit of production above, its cost was $287b, or $34,560 for each citizen.
This profit should have been monetised in the form of a dividend to every man, woman and child, financed by new money, national credit, from the Reserve Bank.
Unless this is done the economy will limp along with much more debt.
It’s time for dividends not more debt.
Tom Dolling, Port Lincoln
Bloom meeting
The meeting held on Saturday evening in Port Lincoln was only government propaganda and ‘ticking the box of consultation’.
The presenters offered no new information, and it was clear they had no real understanding regarding the bloom’s source, its effects on future fish stocks, or the future of the wider marine environment.
If they did, they were not saying.
They all dismiss any suggestion of links to desalination discharge into the shallow gulfs of SA and the risks involved.
SA Water and the state government plough on regardless in their quest to impose a desal plant in shallow Boston Bay.
Any other industrial facility seeking to similarly pollute such a fragile marine environment, particularly one close to aquaculture and fishing, would surely not receive approval from the EPA or PIRSA.
As the years progress and those in government and the public service are gone or retired, we, the residents of Port Lincoln, will be left with the legacy of poor governance in their choice of desal at Billy Lights Point.
Glen Ingham, Port Lincoln
Residents deserve to know
In the science fiction classic ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, Arthur Dent is awakened by the sound of a bulldozer which has come to demolish his house.
The previous day, Dent had sought access to the council’s planning documents for a proposed bypass.
He was advised that the plans had been available for nine months.
It transpired that the relevant documents had been made available at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a darkened cellar.
The cabinet was located in a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the leopard.’
I was reminded of this story when I began the torturous task of accessing information about the new Port Lincoln Airport Management Authority being initiated by the Lower Eyre Council.
Apparently, there was a review of the airport’s operations but we are not allowed to see that. It’s classified as ‘Commercial in Confidence.’
While the actual model to be used by this new subsidiary of council has now been belatedly released on the council’s website, the council appears to have taken great pains to avoid consulting with its own rate payers, preferring to limit consultation to parties with a commercial interest.
I have been unable to access details of the participants in the consultation process.
Sadly and somewhat weirdly, the council does not consider the people who elect them and pay their allowances and salaries to be stakeholders.
Stakeholders are typically defined as people, businesses or other entities which can be directly or indirectly affected by the activities of an organisation.
The consultations thus far have not even included the residents of the airport zone who may be directly affected by some aircraft activities.
It was made quite clear to council when we had the flight training protests a few years ago that the local residents wished to be represented in consultations regarding the future of the airport.
Neglecting to do this will lead inevitably to anxiety and stress within the community.
It’s a major fail in leadership and management.
Having chosen not to manage this process in a respectful and inclusive manner, the Lower Eyre Council now has to find a way to convince cynical local residents that there is no hidden agenda behind this clumsy process. Good luck with that!
Joe Morrison, North Shields
Excellent hospital care
I recently had total knee replacement surgery at Port Lincoln Hospital. A big thank you to Dr Begg, his team and the theatre staff.
The nursing staff in recovery and on A Ward were very professional, caring and supportive in showing me compassion especially when the pain blockers wore off on day two.
The food was really good, and the kitchen staff really friendly.
I was admitted as a public patient and all of this was billed under Medicare.
We are so lucky in Australia to have this healthcare system, and in a regional hospital which serves a vast majority of Eyre Peninsula patients.
Compared to the horror stories you see and hear in the media of how much other countries have to pay for their medical care costs, as well as the aftercare, we are indeed a lucky country.
We really need to thank our hard working medical doctors and nurses that day after day come to work to look after us all.
Alan Harris, Port Lincoln
Meeting disappointment
The algal bloom fiasco started from the Port Stanvac Desalination Plant.
This was stated in the 2009 report on the Whyalla desalination plant site as being the reason BHP did not go ahead.
Desalination plants will cause algal blooms – heaven help the Proper Bay in Port Lincoln.
Well! Mr Premier, were you too ashamed to come to the meeting in Port Lincoln about your Algal bloom response?
The algal bloom did not start in the Murray – if this had done so there would have been a huge fish kill in the Coorong.
The bloom starting point on your maps was between Kangaroo Island and Port Stanvac – the Backstairs Passage.
I showed many of the so-called experts the 2009 report from the government outlining the reason why BHP could not go ahead with the desalination plant at Fitzgerald Bay or Point Lowly. No one had ever seen this report before.
I suppose the copy I gave them ended up in the bin.
I asked one of the gurus why the bloom had not been sprayed with copper ox-chlorate.
His answer was that they used this in the reservoirs when there was a bloom.
This reminds me of the major bushfires when people who knew what to do had been prevented from confining these three major fires and nine people died in one of these fires.
I left the meeting after hearing the lame excuses from evidently uninformed people. Ms Scriven’s responses did not impress me.
If anyone requires the 2009 report on the desal plant near Whyalla I have it on my PC – send me a request at jamescalderwood@bigpond.com.
I like researching and have been doing a lot for my new books that combines all of the stories from Daphne Freeman’s Going Back from the Port Lincoln Times 1981 to 1986 – 200 stories that won Daphne the prestigious Walkley Award for excellence in journalism.
The Trove copies I have permission to use are a huge problem deciphering the errors and block-outs.
There will be at least four books of over 300 pages.
Jim Calderwood, Port Lincoln
