Where’s the Water?

[The Mechanic]

Cubbie Station has copped undeserved flack recently for water not making its way down the river system.

The real culprit is Norman Farming, LNP - Liberal National Party's David Littleproud and the Annastacia Palaszczuk led Queensland Labor government.

With a federal election coming up we must keep these facts in mind when casting our votes.

If the trial of the owner-operator of Norman Farming, and former cotton farmer of the year goes ahead, it is likely to draw attention to the links between the irrigator’s family and that of the federal minister for agriculture and water resources, David Littleproud.

If the charges are laid, they will also throw the spotlight on the Queensland government’s failure in administering a key plank of the $13bn Murray-Darling basin plan, how it withheld critical information about the alleged crimes, and how it raises queries as to whether it lied about its own investigation.

The investigation has focused on whether Norman Farming misused upwards of $25m in Murray-Darling basin infrastructure funds that were supposed to make the irrigator more efficient and deliver water back to the ailing river system downstream.
The plan for the basin is funded by the commonwealth and administered by state governments. But allegations that the $150m Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency projects in Queensland, part of the MDB plan, lacked any genuinely independent checks on projects, means it may have been left open to corruption.

“It’s been a loosey-goosey slush fund helping irrigators get richer,” according to Chris Lamey, a dry-land farmer who’s seeking compensation from Norman, his neighbour. “It’s achieved the opposite of what was intended. There’s a lot of water not getting into NSW now and it’s backed up in dams next door to me.”

Queensland’s department of natural resources and mines is believed to have received that evidence as early as April 2016, after a former senior employee of Norman Farming turned whistleblower. He handed over detailed accounting books that allegedly showed the systematic use of falsified Healthy Headwaters invoices.

The federal department of agriculture was kept in the dark for months. Local employees and contractors report being questioned by police by August 2016, but, according to Paul Morris, a senior official in the department of agriculture, Canberra only knew about the investigation in November 2016.

A month later, in response to questioning, the Queensland government wrote to the department saying there was “no evidence [John Norman] had misappropriated funds” or undertaken “non-compliant activities”.

For the rural town of Goondiwindi, the Healthy Headwaters grants, which began in 2012, were a windfall. Money flowed for at least eight separate multimillion-dollar government-approved and funded projects. “It’s given a lot of local contractors a load of work,” says Lamey, Norman’s neighbour. “Surveying, earthmoving, mechanics, fuel provision. Everyone’s been happy.”

But if the money didn’t pay for the intended water-efficiency projects, how was it spent?

Many people downstream want to know.

Over the past seven years Norman sought funding for 15 Healthy Headwaters projects and received approval for 10. He was awarded more commonwealth funds than any other Queensland irrigator, approximately a sixth of the program’s expenditure. Put up for sale a month before last year’s police raids, the his “$100m-plus” operation boasts that “no expense has been spared on development” in its marketing pitch.

Several of Norman’s direct neighbours say they’ve witnessed extraordinary activity from the time the grants began. A 75-year-old grazier, Richard Donovan, says Norman Farming had “three, four, five big scrapers and laser buckets, working continuously for months on end, making dams, building banks and changing whatever they wanted”.
“Now the water is not getting down the river system,” he says.

But it was another neighbour – Lamey – who sought answers. Since August 2016, he has been asking local, state and federal governments whether commonwealth money was being diverted by John Norman to build what he describes as “a system of earthworks – banks and roads – built all across the floodplain, directly across creeks, across waterways”.

When a 2016 flood that should have drained away banked up on his property for eight weeks, he hired a helicopter to see what was going on.

That’s when the penny dropped.

He realised his property, with its $1.5m in drowned crops, was part of a large water-catching operation.

“John Norman had turned my property into a dam – or a ‘surge’, as irrigators call it – taking the banked-up flood waters off slowly and channelling them to big dams on inland properties far from the McIntyre river.

It’s a lie that the projects have saved any water for the river system.”

Lamey says he contacted his then-newly elected federal member, David Littleproud, in 2017, urging him to stop the commonwealth grants to Norman Farming and find out how the money was being spent. He says he didn’t hear back from him.
Littleproud is now the minister for agriculture and water resources. His office says the grants were a state responsibility and Lamey needed to take it up with the Queensland department. And despite the fact that Littleproud’s wife, Sarah, is a cousin of both John Norman and his wife, Virginia, the minister dismisses any family connection.

Norman Farming earthworks are massive in scale – at least 52.3km in one application to the Goondiwindi regional council – but according to Norman, only 700 metres had been built since he took over the properties between 2006 and 2012. The council has already approved at least 5km of earthworks for one of them, which has been a hive of Healthy Headwaters activity, according to Lamey and other neighbours.

Initially the council was responsive to Lamey’s complaints. Its engineer wrote to him, saying Norman Farming had been given a deadline to remove “illegal” structures, which Norman appealed.

After the appeal from John Norman to the Goondiwindi mayor, Graeme Scheu, to change the word “illegal” to “unapproved”, the council obliged. It was of significant advantage to the irrigator, allowing the mayor to begin a process to “retrospectively approve all the unapproved” banks and levees built on Norman’s properties.

During 2017, some of the country’s highest political figures, including the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and Queensland’s Anthony Lynham, along with top federal and state bureaucrats, reassured Lamey that nothing was amiss with the Healthy Headwaters program.

Yet, behind the scenes, alarm was growing in Canberra, reaching as high as Joyce’s office when he was Deputy Prime Minister.
A senior adviser to Joyce, who was then minister for water, wrote to the department of agriculture in November 2016, saying: “I have copies of satellite maps which show extensive diversion of floodwaters … Could you please get in touch with Queensland’s department of natural resources, mines and energy (DNRME) and ask what investigations are underway? Do we have an audit process in place to ensure that this funding goes to the intended purpose? I think the allegation here is that funding has been used to direct more water onto the farm.”

Yet when the federal department of agriculture’s assistant secretary, Amy Fox, asked about John Norman’s use of grants, she appeared unaware of a police investigation. Queensland’s natural resources department avoided any mention when it wrote back in December 2016, saying: “There is no evidence the subject proponent has misappropriated funds nor are we aware of their undertaking non-compliant activities.”

The following year the Queensland government continued its deception, reassuring the department of agriculture about the integrity of the scheme’s administration. Lynham also falsely claimed the scheme had been externally audited, writing to Lamey to assure him the department “was serious about ensuring correct application of grant funds” and that a “recent external audit of the Healthy Headwaters payment claim procedures had found no material concerns”.

But the audit was not external. “Barr Group Consulting does not and never has undertaken [an] external public audit,” says Rex Klein, who runs a small Brisbane company hired by Lynham’s department in 2017 to undertake a limited review of procedures and decisions.

Barr Group isn’t a registered auditor or a member of a professional accounting body, according to Klein. Its consultant, employed for one week, didn’t set foot on a Norman Farming property to see first-hand how the money had been spent. Instead he looked at paperwork for three Healthy Headwater projects, including one early grant to Norman Farming worth nearly $4m.

“The word audit has been used very loosely,” according to Maryanne Slattery, a former financial auditor and former director in the Murray-Darling basin authority who is now the senior water researcher for the Australia Institute. She left her job at the authority in 2017 because of her concerns about the way the plan had been administered.

“There wasn’t a site visit. There was no interest in testing the allegations.”

Despite this, the “audit” concluded the state government had a “commendable” and “robust set of procedures” that had been “diligently applied over the course of the scheme”.

The Healthy Headwaters program has been “a sitting duck for corruption”, according to Slattery. She questions why the federal government allowed Queensland to outsource much of the administration of multimillion-dollar works. Irrigators can calculate for themselves the value of projects “assessed under self-assessable codes”, while other projects require only the signature of an independent expert, paid for by the irrigator, as verification of the works and water savings.

“This appears to be the wrong way to run a water-saving program. There’s no real checking of projects and no one seems willing or able to understand what the Healthy Headwater monies are spent on or how much water is actually being saved – if any.”

For the sake of one greedy crooked farmer, everyone downstream is paying the price.

The Murray Darling Basin Authority is in turmoil with cronyism, nepotism and corruption being the norm rather than the exception.

All the while the environment is suffering even worse than it should be in these years of drought with vital water being taken that would normally have flushed the river system out.

No amount of money will make a dry river flow. Real jail time for those vandals stealing precious natural resources needs to happen so next time it does rain the water flows to where it should.

Cubbie Station was vindicated of any blame after Malcolm Roberts - Pauline Hanson's One Nation took the time to find out what was happening.

I would not totally “Vindicate” Cubbie station either - we need a Royal Commission into this - and corrupt politician, farmers and others need to go to JAIL!!!

[sprintcyclist]

Two senior figures in Queensland cotton conglomerate Norman Farming have been arrested over an alleged $20 million fraud involving federal funds earmarked for Murray-Darling water savings.

Norman Farming CEO John Norman, 43, and his chief financial officer Steve Evans, 53, surrendered themselves at the Brisbane watch house Tuesday morning with their lawyers at their sides.

The men appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court Tuesday afternoon and were granted bail.

Norman Farming chief executive John Norman (L) and chief financial officer Steve Evans
PHOTO: Norman Farming CEO John Norman (L) and CFO Steve Evans leaving court in Brisbane. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Police are alleging the rural fraud operation involved the director of the company submitting fraudulent claims, including falsified invoices related to six water-efficiency projects on the southern border property near Goondiwindi, known as Healthy Headwater projects.

Mr Evans will face charges in relation to four of those projects.

Police said the sophisticated fraud spanned seven years.

It has taken the rural arm of the major and organised crime squad more than a year to conduct what Detective Inspector Mick Dowie called, "a very protracted, very complex investigation".

Inspector Dowie said they had to trawl through thousands of documents and call in forensics accountants because of the sheer scale of the activities.

"There has obviously been a significant amount of documentation that's had to be analysed, and the offences particularly relate to the modification of invoices from contractors or service providers to the farming community," he said.

"We'll allege the company contracted harvesters or machinery operators to prepare for farming.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/ ... g/10172736

[The Mechanic]

Two senior figures in Queensland cotton conglomerate Norman Farming have been arrested over an alleged $20 million fraud involving federal funds earmarked for Murray-Darling water savings.

Norman Farming CEO John Norman, 43, and his chief financial officer Steve Evans, 53, surrendered themselves at the Brisbane watch house Tuesday morning with their lawyers at their sides.

The men appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court Tuesday afternoon and were granted bail.

Norman Farming chief executive John Norman (L) and chief financial officer Steve Evans
PHOTO: Norman Farming CEO John Norman (L) and CFO Steve Evans leaving court in Brisbane. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Police are alleging the rural fraud operation involved the director of the company submitting fraudulent claims, including falsified invoices related to six water-efficiency projects on the southern border property near Goondiwindi, known as Healthy Headwater projects.

Mr Evans will face charges in relation to four of those projects.

Police said the sophisticated fraud spanned seven years.

It has taken the rural arm of the major and organised crime squad more than a year to conduct what Detective Inspector Mick Dowie called, "a very protracted, very complex investigation".

Inspector Dowie said they had to trawl through thousands of documents and call in forensics accountants because of the sheer scale of the activities.

"There has obviously been a significant amount of documentation that's had to be analysed, and the offences particularly relate to the modification of invoices from contractors or service providers to the farming community," he said.

"We'll allege the company contracted harvesters or machinery operators to prepare for farming.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/ ... g/10172736

Oh wow, looks like the lid is about to be blown off... we also need to round up corrupt politicians who are involved!

[brian ross]

Can't do that, Mechie, we don't have enough gaol cells to hold them all - particularly the Tories in the present Federal Government.

[sprintcyclist]

Two senior figures in Queensland cotton conglomerate Norman Farming have been arrested over an alleged $20 million fraud involving federal funds earmarked for Murray-Darling water savings.

Norman Farming CEO John Norman, 43, and his chief financial officer Steve Evans, 53, surrendered themselves at the Brisbane watch house Tuesday morning with their lawyers at their sides.

The men appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court Tuesday afternoon and were granted bail.

Norman Farming chief executive John Norman (L) and chief financial officer Steve Evans
PHOTO: Norman Farming CEO John Norman (L) and CFO Steve Evans leaving court in Brisbane. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Police are alleging the rural fraud operation involved the director of the company submitting fraudulent claims, including falsified invoices related to six water-efficiency projects on the southern border property near Goondiwindi, known as Healthy Headwater projects.

Mr Evans will face charges in relation to four of those projects.

Police said the sophisticated fraud spanned seven years.

It has taken the rural arm of the major and organised crime squad more than a year to conduct what Detective Inspector Mick Dowie called, "a very protracted, very complex investigation".

Inspector Dowie said they had to trawl through thousands of documents and call in forensics accountants because of the sheer scale of the activities.

"There has obviously been a significant amount of documentation that's had to be analysed, and the offences particularly relate to the modification of invoices from contractors or service providers to the farming community," he said.

"We'll allege the company contracted harvesters or machinery operators to prepare for farming.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/ ... g/10172736

Oh wow, looks like the lid is about to be blown off... we also need to round up corrupt politicians who are involved!

So we hope.

Can those who were denied water sue for damages?

[cods]

I remember a couple of years back arguing with aussie and js regarding water coming from Qld..

I thought back then it was just rain fall that made its way down to the MDB.. they laughed in my face
said I was mad I have long asked where does the rain Qld gets go if it doesnt flow into other states..

well now we know dont we....what a shame this isnt in ozpol... never mind at least it looks like someone will pay the price...

if i was a farmer whos land was starved of water because of pure greed I am not sure what I would do..

[Black Orchid]

Let's not forget the fish!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15850

[Valkie]

Can't do that, Mechie, we don't have enough gaol cells to hold them all - particularly the Tories in the present Federal Government.

All politicians, every single one, is corrupt.

They may start out with good intentions, some of them anyway.

But after a while of making concessions here and there to get things done

Eventually they just give in to the corrupt system and become as corrupt as the rest.

We seriously need a revolution.

[cods]

Let's not forget the fish!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15850

what are they doing about the FISH it seems to go out of the news...

it cant be ignored can it?.....maybe it does stem from the not so flowing river system and they dont wish to tell us..

we dont make enough noise about these issues do we???.....lets face it I am sure no MP is frightened of a small forum like this..

how can we protest and shame them into being up front..

[Serial Brain 9]

Let's not forget the fish!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15850

An estimated 10,000 were killed just weeks ago, and locals fear native stocks could be all but wiped out this time.

Hundreds of thousands of fish have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident which has led some experts to fear whole populations of local native fish have been wiped out.

Residents near the Menindee Lakes are reporting what is the second major fish kill along a 20km stretch of water near Weir 32.

An incident before Christmas saw an estimated 10,000 fish die.

Locals have been posting photos of dying fish washed up along the shores of the lakes which are about 100km east of Broken Hill.

And local fish experts are saying that it could all but wipe out the populations of Murray cod and other native fish, raising serious questions about the way WaterNSW is managing the lakes system.

Two years ago the lakes were almost full. But WaterNSW has been releasing water and allowing extraction upstream for irrigation at a rate that has left the lakes almost completely dry.

According to the WaterNSW website, there is just 2.5% of water remaining in the lakes.

Rod McKenzie, a fishing journalist and angler, who runs tours of the Murray-Darling, said he feared the kill would spell the end of a once great fishery.

“It’s an absolute tragedy. This is a world-scale fish kill, but the catastrophe has been so well orchestrated and there is so much money involved you won’t get to the bottom of it,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... g-incident

imagine if an oil tanker done as much environmental damage?

they'd be fined 10,s of millions of dollars and knowingly doing it would come with a hefty jail sentence