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CEO's Report - ARTC Southern Darling Downs Community Consultative Committee
By Paul McDonald
I joined the Chairs of the Inner and Southern Darling Downs Community Consultative Committees, several fellow committee members, and Inland Rail staff and contractors on a two-day tour of the proposed route in Queensland and tour of the almost finished construction which has reached North Star as well as the now finished and in use section south of Moree.
As an aside, we were shocked at the very poor condition of the secondary roads and the obvious signs that the State maintained roads and highways were not coping well with the volume and nature of the freight loads they were carrying in New South Wales (and parts of Queensland). The effects of the recent wet period, along with the volume of produce which comes from the highly productive regions from Boggabilla, North Star, Croppa Creek, and across to Moree have left the local road network in a poor and in some cases, dangerous state.
The number of recently installed on-farm grain storage and handling facilities, all of which have been serviced by road freight since the closure of the NSW rail service in that region some years ago was notable. No doubt the new rail corridor will play a huge role in taking the burden off those roads which were never designed to perform the current tasks. The increased heavy vehicle traffic on these roads due to construction work will also be a factor to track in Queensland is New South Wales experience is repeated.
While it is not practical to report every detail of the discussions between CCC members and Inland Rail staff, the issues around impacts on individuals and communities are large in number. What became obvious was that those landholders that raised issues with the proponents had their concerns and impacts worked through with the result that some landholders were able to use the project to solve long term issues on their properties as well as mitigate the impacts.
Some of the impacts are serious and costly to deal with and in the instances discussed with us, they were addressed properly from what we saw. Members realised that we weren’t able to talk directly with those affected people and given the sensitive nature of those ongoing discussions, it would be highly improper for us to be involved at this stage. Importantly, we were assured that at the right time, we will have that opportunity, and it will be before construction comes to our communities.
Lastly, I have been personally concerned about several issues in representing our communities on the CCC. The major concerns lie around the construction of linear infrastructure on our Brigalow Belah ecosystems and soils. I am also concerned about the cumulative impacts of the infrastructure on our threatened ecological communities as well as the voracity of the flood modeling and practical outcomes.
What I observed and was told on the two-day trip has allayed many of my concerns; however, as always, these issues will need constant vigilance. Please contact either Andrew McCartney or myself if you wish to discuss community concerns about the project.
A summary of the trip on the 4th and 5th of February 2023 provided by our Chairs is:
Inland Rail Staff
All staff we encountered were professional and passionate about the project and were working hard to meet the needs of the project, affected landholders along the alignment and the various communities which will be affected during design, construction and operation.
They have an intimate knowledge of the alignment and the people and communities which are likely to be impacted.
We Visited:
- The proposed site for the Goondiwindi Workers’ Camp at the Goondiwindi Showgrounds – up to 650-person capacity
- Moree Workers camp – 350-person capacity
- Laydown areas including one on private property
- Active crossings
- Completed bridges and significant sections of large culverts and measures to manage water flows during flood events
- Quarry near completed sections of the line on the Narrabri to North Star (N2NS) Phase two section of the Inland Rail Program
- The proposed site for the Whetstone Material Distribution Centre
- The proposed site for the Moree Special Activation Precinct (SAP)
Observations
- Goondiwindi will have several legacy assets /outcomes including capacity for 72 passenger planes to land, showgrounds which will have upgrades of several services and infrastructures such as access roads, power and water.
2. Efforts made to reduce impact on landowners and communities include:
- Locations and design of rail crossings
- Pedestrian safety features near a school
- Land leased for a car park in Moree so local shops are not affected by vehicles using public car parks
- Completed works where there has been 1 in 200-year flooding with no major structural or water flow issues
- All Inland Rail and some contractor vehicles are monitored for compliance purposes and tracking
- All Inland Rail and contractor vehicles are branded. Not all sub-contractor vehicles are branded. Unfortunately, a number of branded Inland Rail vehicles have been stolen so some have had branding removed but magnetic signage is used when on-site
- One small township had a number of truck movements where it was not possible to deliver materials to site by rail. Inland Rail worked with the community and contractor(s) to ensure the safety of the community
- Contractual penalties may be applied if there is significant non-compliance with contractual or other requirements
- Most of the area we visited were brownfield sites, that is, existing track which is completely upgraded
- Working with local authorities on a range of issues so the best outcomes are achieved for Inland Rail, the local authority and the communities
- The processes for approval in New South Wales are different to Queensland however similar standards apply to the whole project
- Staff, contractors and property owners are updated on events which may impact them on any given day, for example, there was a serious accident which resulted in a road closure so a text was sent to all people who might be impacted
- The Community Engagement number is monitored 24/7 during construction.
- In one instance where a Landholder owned land on both sides of the corridor, he successfully requested the water flow across the corridor be altered from where it currently goes to lessen the impact on a sensitive cropping area, and increase the flooding in a less sensitive area
The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.
Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start
When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”
Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.
Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”
Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."
By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”
It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.
Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”
Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!