SA Farmers and Politicians Up In Arms Over Heavy Handed NRM Tactics

Liberal, Independent Family First MPs joined farmers who travelled to a FlagSa rally at Victor Harbor on Sunday to voice concern over the range of powers given to National Resource Management (NRM) Boards around the state. 

NRM employees enjoy greater powers than the South Australian Police Force (SAPOL).  They require no warrant issued by a judge to enter a property or to inspect any financial records relevant to farm operations. 

The NRM legislation also overturns the common law principal of innocent until proven guilty; if the NRM decide that a breach has been committed or a farmer is in any way non-compliant, the onus is on the accused to prove themselves innocent. 

Independent Legislative Council member John Darley said farmers from the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu, the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula and the West Coast have contacted his office concerned about the NRM powers.

Government and NRM representatives declined an invitation to attend the rally on the weekend.

Other concerns include unrealistic and proscriptive conditions imposed on farmers in managing their land.  Independent MLC Anne Bressington said that the current legislation had “little to do with the environment and was more about revenue raising” while Family First MP Rob Brokenshire commented that the SA Labor Government had a “city centric” approach and understood little of the problems faced by farmers in SA.

Mr Brokenshire is concerned that the State is losing the ability to produce food and suggested that the 2004 NRM act should be renamed The Sustainable Farming and Natural Resources Management Act to balance the needs of farmers with the need to protect the environment.

Mr Caica, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, said in an interview aired on the ABC on Sunday night said he had extended invitations to FagSA representatives on numerous occasions to meet and discuss issues.

FlagSa representative and Fluerieu Peninsula cattle breeder Mr Peter Manuel responded: “Mr Caica knows my phone number and the phone number of every member of the FlagSa committee.  We have not received any invitation from him”

Mr John Darley confirmed this in his closing remarks when he stated that his office was in constant communication with Mr Caica’s and that Mr Caica was well aware of the weekend’s meeting and had not extended any invitation to meet with FlagSa representatives.

Farmers and FlagSa will continue to lobby politicians to overturn many of the more onerous provisions of the current legislation.

The Point That Geoff Harvey Is Missing

Geoff Harvey and others are bemoaning the rise in online shopping citing it as one of the reasons sales are down in the retail sector.  He's missing the plot and so are many others.

Harvey Norman probably has one of the better customer service staff in the retail sector and he has started his own online site, but he's the poster child for  the Australian retail sector for bashing online shopping. 

On 30th August 2011, the Melbourne Age reported Harvey Norman results:  

"Net profit after tax increased to $252.26 million in the year to June 30, up from $231.41 million in the previous year.

Revenue was $2.70 billion, compared to $2.45 billion in full year 2010.

Outlook remains cautious"

There's no doubt that the GFC and ongoing instability in financial markets is hurting retail and impacting on consumer confidence but that's not all that's impacting on retail.  GST is currently levied on purchases made oveseas and imported into Australia when they exceed AUD$1,000.

I doubt that the additional 10% GST applied to overseas purchases under AUD$1,000 is the panacea for everything that ails the Australian retail sector.

Here's two classics that I found on the web on why the online industry is booming and retailers are hurting.

1.  Fitting fees when you try out potential purchases.

2.  How GASP , a high fashion retailer handles customer complaints.

I am an online shopper and have been for around 5 years, it all started because I could get better variety from shops in the US.  In some instances the price was near or marginally lower than the prices in Australia with the shipping added, so in my case it was about the experience not the price.

I still shop online using eBay, Amazon and AliBaba purchasing a wide range of good.  In a lot of cases I do save money but mainly it's still about the experience and the variety.

With Christmas coming up and retailers expecting a difficult trading period, perhaps improving customer service skills may have a greater impact than complaining about GST threshold for imported goods.

Treated Sewage, Would You Drink It? (Part 3)

In Part 1 we took a look at why we needed to look at drinking treated sewage and in Part 2 of this article looked at the reasons people wouldn't drink it and some of the places that it is being used today.  

In this final part, I'll share the results of the poll that I ran on LinkedIn.

Image via WikipediaThis is nowhere near as exhaustive as the polls undertaken by more sophisticated methods but it did sample a very wide ranging group of people.

There were responses from Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK, Australia and India as well as several others.  


Respondents were both male and female and came from a wide range of professions and industries.

The responses indicated that 72 percent were in one way or another willing to drink treated sewage, based mostly on the understanding that water is precious and needs to be used more intelligently.

LinkedIn Poll Results:

View the detailed results at LinkedIn

Results for the entire Poll are available on a separate page here.

Clearly, there is still a significant number of people who would not drink treated sewage, however, it seems that most people are pragmatists and believe that we need to seriously consider drinking this water.

Treated sewage needs to be considered as part of the overall strategy for ensuring the security of drinking water in Australia.  That there is still a significant percentage of people for whom "NO" is the only answer should not be overlooked, nor should their concerns be shoved aside in the haste to employ this technology.


That there are a number of operating plants around the world, regularly providing treated sewage for people to drink proves that this can be done in a safe and sustainable manner addressing many of the legitimate health concerns that people have.


Perhaps with a little more time for the operational plants to prove themselves and some education regarding these successful operations, even the most ardent opponents can be swayed.