Author: Neville

‘We wanted to make sure we got it right’: new rail line opens … three years late

Date January 21, 2013 – 1:35PM 120 reading now
Read later

Jacob Saulwick

Transport Reporter

View more articles from Jacob Saulwick

Follow Jacob on TwitterEmail Jacob

inShare.
Pin It
Email article
Print
Reprints & permissions

.

Anthony Albanese … “This is a pretty complex piece of work.” Photo: Sean Davey

The first train line in Sydney to be paid for and built under the Rudd and Gillard governments opened on Monday, $700 million over budget and three years after it was promised to be finished.

The 36km Southern Sydney Freight Line will allow extra freight trains to run between Macarthur and Chullora in the city’s south west and will increase rail freight capacity along the entire Australian east coast.

This is an investment that’s been got right. This isn’t a loss to taxpayers. This is an investment that produces a return on that investment by getting it right.

But the project ended up being vastly more expensive to build than when it was first promised by the federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, in 2009.

At a press conference in Birrong to mark the start of operations on the line, Mr Albanese and the chief executive of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which built the line, defended the blow-out.

Advertisement

The final cost was about $1 billion. When Mr Albanese announced the start of construction in February 2009, he put a figure of $309 million on the project and a completion date of early 2010.

“This is a pretty complex piece of work,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.

He attributed the delays and cost blow-outs to the necessity of moving utilities such as water and energy lines during construction.

Mr Albanese also said that the difficulty of operating on a live rail line – both freight trains and passenger trains on the adjoining East Hills line stayed running while the new line was being built – added to the challenge of the project.

“We wanted to make sure we got it right,” the Transport Minister said. “No corners have been cut. This has been got right.”

The Australian Rail Track Corporation is owned by the federal government. As with the NBN Co. it receives money from the federal government in the form of investments which do not come off the government’s budget bottom line.

Mr Albanese declined to criticise the ARTC for the more than three-fold increase in the cost of the project. According to figures provided to Senate Estimates, the ARTC spent almost $12 million in planning the line before construction even started in 2009.

“This is an investment,” he said. “This is an investment that’s been got right. This isn’t a loss to taxpayers. This is an investment that produces a return on that investment by getting it right.”

Mr Fullerton said the new train line, which will allow capacity for up to 48 freight trains a day to pass through the area and potentially to Port Botany, was the largest project the ARTC had undertaken.

“The original budget made some assumptions on how we could build a line over 36 kilometres adjacent to a metropolitan line but when we got into the project we realised that lot of the services covering off Sydney Water, a lot of the RailCorp services to do with signalling, electricity lines, all those sorts of things had to be relocated and that comes at a significant cost over 36 kilometres,” Mr Fullerton said.

The ARTC stopped work on the freight line in late 2009 and 2010. The benefit of the line is in allowing passenger trains and freight trains to run separately from each other.

This means that an existing eight-hour curfew on freight trains running during the morning and afternoon peak periods can now be lifted.

Mr Albanese defended the record of the federal Labor government in relation to transport in Sydney.

As transport minister, he has promised to build the Epping to Parramatta train line, though that pledge has been scuppered by the O’Farrell government which ranks it a lower priority. He has also agreed to fund a new freight terminal at Moorebank and another freight train line through Sydney’s northern suburbs, though both are still at the planning stage.

“What Sydney needs is a little bit of positive when it comes to infrastructure, because for too long its been just negative and what’s that led to is governments to not make decisions that should have been made a long time beforehand,” he said.

“This should have been a separate line, not years ago, not decades ago, but maybe a hundred years ago, in terms of the port having dedicated rail freight lines.”

The project also included a mix of new access lifts, pedestrian bridges and ramps to Leumeah, Minto, Cabramatta, Sefton, Warwick Farm and Casula stations.

Ads by Google

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/we-wanted-to-make-sure-we-got-it-right-new-rail-line-opens–three-years-late-20130121-2d279.html#ixzz2IaRDex9P

The great garden worm count finds our underground allies are thriving

An earthworm project has given an insight into the state of our lawns and hedges and mobilised more than 40,000 people
Share79

inShare.4
Email

Robin McKie, science editor

The Observer, Sunday 20 January 2013

Jump to comments (24)

Volunteers including schoolchildren were asked to dig a 10cm hole and see which of the 26 British worm species they found. Photograph: Alamy

Britain’s underground army is in top shape. A remarkable public survey of earthworms has revealed that they are thriving in the nation’s backyards and gardens.

The discovery was made thanks to a series of projects carried out by the Open Air Laboratories (Opal) project and has involved more than 40,000 teams of school pupils and homeowners digging up worms and counting them.

“We have found that private gardens are hotspots of biodiversity – when it comes to worms,” said Dr David Jones, who is directing the survey. “There are 26 species of earthworm in Britain, including the lob worm, blackheaded worm and the green worm, and each favours a slightly different habitat. Some like slightly acidic soil. Others prefer drier conditions. Many of them can be found in our gardens.”

The crucial feature about the average garden is that they often provide several different types of habitat in one small space, added Jones. Homeowners have lawns, flower beds and compost heaps close together. By contrast, agricultural land forms large areas of fairly uniform ground and its soil tends to be populated by a more restricted range of earthworms. “That is the picture our survey has revealed, though we are still analysing results,” said Jones.

The soil and earthworm survey was the first launched by Opal – which is funded by the Big Lottery – five years ago and was the first of several similar projects that have since been set up by the organisation. Groups and individuals across the country have been asked to survey air pollution, the state of the nation’s ponds – including levels of algal blooms and concentrations of trace metals – and the country’s hedges.

Results of the last of these projects has revealed that city hedges contain more beech, privet, laurel and yew, while rural hedges had more hawthorn, bramble, blackthorn and dog rose. Urban hedges also contained 50% more ants than rural hedges, while hedges everywhere have been shown to provide essential habitats for wildlife. In each survey, scientists from various institutions helped direct the project.

“Opal was set up to get more individuals involved in exploring the natural habitat and to encourage young people to become interested in wildlife issues,” said Linda Davies, Opal’s director. “Of those who have taken part, 10% have come from the nation’s most deprived areas and 10% have come from the most affluent – with a spread of socio-economic groups in between. In all, we have launched six surveys, starting with the earthworm project.”

Those volunteering for the worm survey were sent a kit that included a chart which they could use to identify different species. Each volunteer was asked to dig an area 20cm by 20cm and 10cm deep. Then they had to count the number of worms they had dug up. “Typically they would find three or four worms, though numbers could go up to around a dozen, depending on soil conditions,” said Jones, who is based at the Natural History Museum in London. “There is no need to dig much deeper. Worms tend to keep to the topsoil.”

Worms are crucial in maintaining the health of soil. They keep it aerated and well drained. “Earthworms do a great job and they are fantastic for getting school children interested in science,” added Jones. “They get a real buzz out of identifying the different species. And the project has also been great for scientists like myself. We get a chance to meet people and show them how important different types of wildlife, including earthworms, are to society. Without worms, our gardens and parks would be very drab indeed.”

More information from opalexplore nature.org. To get an earthworm survey pack, contact opalsoil@imperial.ac.uk

Article history

Environment
Wildlife

Culture
Natural History Museum

Life and style
Gardens

UK news

More news

Related

21 Jan 2013

An owl swoops down on wings that seem as broad as they are long

17 Jan 2013

Grass-feeding butterflies defy wet summers, survey shows

10 Jan 2013

Blackcaps: a new winter visitor to our gardens

10 Jan 2013

Northern fowl mite: don’t let it catch you out this winter

Share

inShare.

PM embarrassed by mine tax: Greens

AAPUpdated January 21, 2013, 10:24 am

tweet

Email
Print

AAP © Enlarge photo

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says Prime Minister Julia Gillard isn’t sticking to a promise of monthly updates on the mining tax because she’s embarrassed it hasn’t collected any revenue.

The minor party leader says Ms Gillard “hasn’t been as transparent as she promised she would be” in a letter promising monthly revenue updates, written to then-Green leader Bob Brown when the tax legislation was before parliament.

“I think what we’ve got here is an embarrassment by both the prime minister and the treasurer because all that they promised with the mineral resources rent tax hasn’t come to pass,” Senator Milne told ABC radio on Monday.

Last week the government said it reveals combined mineral and petroleum resource rent tax receipts in its monthly financial statements.

But it said Australian Tax Office advice was that being more specific about the MRRT would breach privacy provisions.

“I think it’s a convenient excuse in the context of an embarrassment whereby the MRRT has raised no money,” Senator Milne said on Monday.
“The government can get round any problem like that if it chooses to do so.”

Shell’s plans in Arctic at risk as Obama advisers call for halt to oil exploration

After several equipment failures and safety and environmental lapses, Shell’s drilling plans now under review
Share375

inShare.7
Email

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 January 2013 20.02 GMT

Jump to comments (26)

News that the Obama Administration launched a review of Shell’s drilling plans in the Arctic comes at a critical time for the company, which has already invested nearly $5bn in the project. Photograph: Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter/USCG

The entire future of Shell’s drilling plans in the Arctic was put in doubt on Friday after two of Barack Obama’s most trusted advisers called for a permanent halt to oil exploration.

In a piece for Bloomberg news, Carol Browner, who was Obama’s climate adviser during his first two years in office, and John Podesta, who headed his 2009 transition team, said they now believed there was no safe way to drill for oil in the Arctic.

Their opinions come at a critical time for Shell, which has invested six years and nearly $5bn trying to gain access to the vast undersea reserves of oil and natural gas in the Arctic ocean.

The Obama administration this month launched a high-level review of Shell’s plans for the Arctic, after a series of equipment failures and safety and environmental lapses.

The company is also struggling to repair or replace its Kulluk oil rig, which ran aground over the New Year, in order to return to the Arctic when the drilling season re-opens in July.

Now two of Obama’s advisers are suggesting Shell and other companies should not be operating in the Arctic at all.

“Developers and Barack Obama’s administration assured us these operations would be safe, thanks to strict oversight and new technology. Now it seems that optimism was misplaced,” Browner and Podesta write in a piece for Bloomberg View.

“Following a series of mishaps and errors, as well as overwhelming weather conditions, it has become clear that there is no safe and responsible way to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic ocean.”

Both writers are associated with the Center for American Progress, which operates as an incubator of liberal ideas and has been almost uniformly supportive of Obama’s policies.

Campaign groups saw the shift from Podesta and Browner as a sign that Obama, too, could be open to reversing his initial decision to open up the Arctic to offshore drilling.

“The messengers are what make this particular op-ed important,” said Michael LeVine, senior counsel for Oceana.

There was no immediate response from Shell.

But, as Browner and Podesta point out, there has been growing doubt about the entire idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic – from scientists, banks and insurers, and even rival oil companies, such as Total.

Those doubts escalated throughout Shell’s first season in the Arctic, which brought a series of near-disasters, including the grounding of its Kulluk rig on New Year’s Eve.

Last week, the departing interior secretary, Ken Salazar, admitted he had never “felt comfortable” with Shell’s preparations for drilling in the harsh environment of the Arctic.

“It may be that Shell isn’t even ready to move forward with drilling in 2013,” Salazar said.

Browner and Podesta went one further on Friday, arguing: “The Obama administration shouldn’t issue any new permits to Shell this year and should suspend all action on other companies’ applications to drill in this remote and unpredictable region.”

The two concluded: “It has become clear that the best Shell’s money can buy just isn’t good enough.”

Article history

Environment
Oil

World news
Arctic

Business
Royal Dutch Shell ·
Oil and gas companies

More news

Related

18 Jan 2013

Ecuadorian tribe gets reprieve from oil intrusion

18 Jan 2013

Illegal oil refineries in the Niger Delta – in pictures

17 Jan 2013

Peak oil theories ‘increasingly groundless’, says BP chief

15 Jan 2013

UK seeks to water down Arctic oil drilling proposals

Share

inShare.

Sydney residents fear Orica contamination

By Andrew Frampton, AAPUpdated January 20, 2013, 2:23 pm

tweet

Email
Print

Worried residents want the NSW government to test soil around a southern Sydney Orica chemical plant for mercury contamination, saying they don’t trust the company’s assurances the area is safe.

Concerns have been raised over whether Orica has properly investigated decades-old off-site contamination.

If the area is contaminated, thousands of residents living close to the plant could be at risk from toxic mercury, which damages nerves and is dangerous for children and pregnant women.

And despite repeated calls for the chemical company to conduct off-site testing, residents say Orica has refused.

Mother-of-two Chantal Snell says she is concerned for the health of her young family.

“We want reassurances from Orica to provide us with confirmation they’re not putting us at risk,” Ms Snell told reporters outside the Port Botany plant on Sunday.

Ms Snell said she had already taken some precautions, such as removing the family’s vegetable patch, even though she was yet to experience any negative health issues.

“Health risks emerge over time, so whilst they might not be immediately apparent, who’s to say children who are very susceptible might not suffer later on in life?” she said.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says there is no reason for alarm.

“We have no evidence to suggest that the contamination is more widely spread and there is no evidence to suggest that there is any off-site environmental or health risk,” EPA acting CEO Mark Gifford told Macquarie Radio.

However, Andrew Helps, who heads a mercury remediation company and is a member of the UN’s global mercury partnership, says tests should be conducted on the air and soil around houses and apartments in a 1.25 km radius.

“Orica has never investigated or quantified the mercury vapour and mercury absorbed on to particles that have travelled off-site into surrounding residential properties,” he told Fairfax.

Fairfax said its own investigations also showed high concentrations of mercury in sediment in a nearby estuary and at low levels along the shoreline near container facilities.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said if high levels of mercury contamination were found in the streets around the Port Botany plant it could be much more serious than the leak of toxic hexavalent chromium from the company’s Kooragang Island plant, which drifted over a Newcastle suburb in 2011.

She said if Orica would not undertake off-site testing, then NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker should intervene.

“What Orica needs to do as a very good corporate citizen is to test soil off-site, and go into homes and undertake independent testing,” Ms Faehrmann told reporters.

Orica has told Fairfax it isn’t opposed to further testing and would consider this if its stakeholders support the idea.
Last January and in September 2011 the company reported higher than permitted levels of mercury vapour emissions from Port Botany.

Predator priest returns to duty

Date January 20, 2013 153 reading now
Read later

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker

inShare.
Pin It
Email article
Print
Reprints & permissions

.

Father Knowles … returning to a priestly role after 16 months on administrative duties. Photo: Angela Wylie

A leading Australian priest who sexually preyed on a disabled and vulnerable woman on Sydney’s north shore for 14 years has been allowed to return to preaching and running community groups at one of the nation’s busiest churches.

The recent decision by the Catholic Church to allow Father Tom Knowles to return to full duties at St Francis’ in Melbourne’s central business district after about 16 months of “administrative leave” has outraged his victim and victims’ groups.

Father Knowles’s reinstatement comes after the church apologised to Jennifer Herrick, paid her $100,000 in compensation and acknowledged “the harm that can be caused to vulnerable people in such a case”.

Jennifer Herrick at 22, a couple of months after the first assault, with her parents. Photo: Nick McKenzie

Ms Herrick’s story highlights a rarely exposed facet of church abuse: vulnerable adult parishioners who are targeted by their priest for a sexual relationship.

Advertisement

While the case falls outside the royal commission on child sex abuse because she was 22 when the sexual relationship began, her lawyer, Peter Karp, said: “The adult victims [of clergy abuse] are voiceless victims.”

Psychologists say such relationships may be compared with those in which doctors have sex with vulnerable patients, while a professor of theology at the Australian Catholic University, Neil Ormerod, believes there may be hundreds of similar cases yet to emerge.

Ms Herrick was a shy 19-year-old with bilateral congenital hip dysplasia – a condition causing her to walk with a highly abnormal gait – when her family’s priest, Father Knowles, cultivated a relationship with her at his church, Our Lady of Dolours, in Chatswood. Ms Herrick’s later psychological reports say she was being groomed.

When Ms Herrick turned 22, Father Knowles, who was then 30, unexpectedly initiated intercourse with her, an act she describes as unpleasant and painful but one she felt powerless to stop because of his position. It was the first time Ms Herrick had had sex.

For the next 14 years, Father Knowles maintained a secret sexual relationship with Ms Herrick.

“I now understand that my very severe vulnerability allowed him to exploit me by abusing his priestly powerful position for nearly two decades for his sexual needs,” she said.

In 2011, after she lodged a formal complaint, a confidential church investigation found his conduct to be highly inappropriate.

Ms Herrick allowed Father Knowles – who as a Catholic priest is meant to be celibate – to have sex with her during a 14-year period and told no one about it. The sex was often hurried, aggressive and sometimes painful.

She withdrew from friends and family and grew increasingly anxious, ultimately having a breakdown and losing her promising career as a high school teacher.

“You feel you can’t say anything to anybody because he was a priest. When a young, disabled woman is caught up with a priest, you are trapped,” she said.

“I was denied an opportunity to develop normally as a young adult. I could never test out other relationships or have a family. It was a personal and pastoral betrayal.”

In a report, Ms Herrick’s psychologist, Ana Grant, said the priest’s conduct had caused Ms Herrick serious post traumatic stress disorder and fell “within the criteria for clergy perpetrated sexual abuse”.

In September 2011, Father Knowles’s superior, Father Graeme Duro, wrote to Ms Herrick acknowledging that she had “endured a great deal of emotional and psychological pain and suffering and that Fr Knowles’s inappropriate conduct was to your detriment”.

But last month, a senior NSW church official, Michael Salmon, advised Ms Herrick’s lawyer in writing that Father Knowles had “committed to a prolonged, regular and very intensive and personally confronting programme of therapy” and he would “return to full community life, and to public ministry”.

Ms Herrick described the decision as “extremely distressing”.

Father Knowles was photographed preaching to parishioners last week at St Francis’, which hosts 10,000 parishioners a week. In his career with the church, Father Knowles has been appointed as the head of an order and held other senior roles in NSW and Victoria.

Mr Karp has acted for many clergy sexual abuse victims.

“Vulnerable people in Jennifer’s position give their trust to a priest on the understanding that this trust will be returned,” he said. “In this instance, the victim is so aggrieved, you would think that justice would demand that he be stood down permanently.”

Father Duro said last week: ”We express our deep regret at the hurt suffered by the complainant and the harm Fr Knowles’s behaviour has caused his fellow religious and the church; we believe everything … to alleviate the complainant’s suffering and to address Fr Knowles’s responsibility for his actions has been done and it is appropriate for him to return to public ministry.”

Professor Ormerod, who has supported Ms Herrick, said that in reinstating Father Knowles the church sent a “signal to the victim that her situation wasn’t serious” when in fact the abuse of trust by the priest had been extensive.

Professor Ormerod said he suspected the number of adults abused or in inappropriate relationships with their priests might be greater than the child abuse scandal.

A victims’ advocate, Chris McIsaac of Broken Rights, said: ”A psychiatrist who targeted a patient sexually could face deregistration, so why not a clergyman?”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/predator-priest-returns-to-duty-20130119-2czy4.html#ixzz2ITUOPe6N