Brian

TSC October Monthly Meeting, agenda item: Roadside Plastic Litter Pick-Up Pre-Mowing: Admin Staff are Against [ !! ]

At the next Tweed Council Monthly public access meeting is a plastics issue, namely mowing it smaller vs picking it up first.

Plastic does not decompose, it may degrade into smaller pieces when exposed to sunlight or temperature change but it will always remain. We either pick it up or live with it as forever litter’. Should Council pick it up or leave it lying around forever?

If it’s on the roadside, is mowing it smaller and smaller the best solution? Council Administration Staff seem to think so.

Plastic is a forever molecule, the plastic today will still be here in 500 million years. Plastic does not decompose back to natural elements. It may degrade, if it is exposed to sunlight, temperature change, or abrasion, though that is it just getting smaller, it will NEVER go away, it will never decompose back to its natural elements. read more

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TSC Notice of Motion: Cr Firth – Accessing Soft Plastic Recycling

Councillor Nola Firth has submitted to Council the following Notice of Motion:

In Tweed shire we are currently collectively dumping 320 tons of soft plastic into landfill per year. There is considerable community concern on this issue. Single use soft plastic is recognised as a serious waste of our precious finite resources and as a killer of wildlife on land and in our rivers and seas. This is of particular concern in our biodiverse shire where we have the most threatened species in Australia.
Federal regulation is urgently needed to address this situation. The report (also on this agenda) on soft plastics recycling indicates the difficulty we as a regional council have in accessing soft plastics recycling. Even within cities it is not yet available for everyone. The primary cause is lack of created demand for recycled plastic despite its problematic plenitude and the willingness of community to recycle it. There is an urgent need for government action to achieve mandatory industry change, recycling support and community education.

Councillor Firth moves that Council write to the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, the Minister for the Environment (NSW), Minister for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (NSW), local state members, local federal member, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation and Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia: read more

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“This is a code red for environmental protection in NSW.”

NCC: “The NSW Government’s proposed changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act opens the way for reckless developments of all kinds. 

“This is a code red for environmental protection in NSW. If passed as is, the reforms on the table would have devastating consequences.”

“These extreme changes to our environmental protection laws would strip away environmental scrutiny, making it easier for damaging developments to slip through.

EDO

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TSC DCP Review, An Opportunity to Protect Non-Native Trees As Do Other Councils

The revised Development Control Plan(DCP), when it soon goes on exhibition for Public comment, will be an opportunity to support stronger protection of both native and non-native trees. 

Greens Councillor Nola Firth comments:

“Tweed Shire Council compared to other NSW Councils has had scant protection for non-native urban trees. 

“Non-natives here in the Tweed were only protected if they had a diameter of more than 80cm at breast height. To bring us into line with many other councils and to keep our precious trees intact, the diameter in the DCP is now 40 cm.’

So please have ‘Your Say’ on this change. It’s also an important opportunity to establish housing and landscaping controls that reduce emissions and urban heat, and protect biodiversity.” read more

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Have Your Say, TSC’s New Compensatory Planting Policy

“The many benefits of trees in urban areas are recognised through Council’s Cool Towns: Tweed Shire Urban Forest Program which aims to increase the average total canopy cover in urban areas from 26.8% to 35% by 2030 and then to 40% by 2040 [!].

“We’re [TSC] asking everyone to help restore our urban forest when trees are removed.

“We’ve drafted a new Compensatory Planting Policy to guide how important trees and vegetation are replaced when they’re approved for removal.

“Please read the New Compensatory Planting Policy draft before submitting your feedback so your input can be properly considered in the final recommendations. 

“Share your feedback by 4pm Wednesday 22 October 2025.” read more

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Looking Forward to the Kinship Festival

The Kinship Festival is on Saturday 20th of September.

Knox Park Murwillumbah.

10am – 4pm.

This post redirects to the Kinship Festival social media page.

Recommend.

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Great Koala National Park

ON 7 SEPTEMBER THE NSW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED THEY ARE GOING TO CREATE THE FULL GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK, AN HISTORIC CONSERVATION WIN AFTER A 10 YEAR CONCERTED COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN.

NEFA:

“This park will protect 12,000 Koalas and enable their populations to recover as their feed trees regrow. This is the sort of action we need if we want to double their population in NSW.

“This park will also protect the homes of 108 other threatened species from further degradation, most notably for the nationally Endangered Southern Greater Glider, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Hastings River Mouse, and Rufous Scrub Bird.”

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CEC CoOrdinator Rhonda James presenting at the NSW Weeds Conference

CEC Co-ordinator Rhonda James (pictured left) presented at the NSW Weeds Conference. Rhonda spoke on the keys to the successful 30 year bitou bush management program in The Tweed and Byron Shires.

Rhonda is notably also the Convenor of the Caldera Environment Centre.

“Weeds are one of the top three causes of species extinction (along with habitat loss and feral animals).”

Tweed Shire Councilor Cr. Nola Firth (pictured right) was later interviewed by Tweed Valley Weekly Editor Johnathon Howard on this issue, link to article here: https://calderaenvironmentcentre.org/thursday-coming-tweed-shire-council-monthly-meeting-a-trio-of-environmental-concerns/

Pic: Rhonda @CEC; TSC Councillor Nola Firth. read more

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Three-quarters of all listed weeds in Australia are escaped garden plants!

Petition from Invasive Species Council for Action on the sale of weeds from nurseries.

Australians know that weeds like lantana are choking our streams and bushland. 

An astounding three-quarters of all listed weeds in Australia are escaped garden plants, sold legally to unsuspecting shoppers in nurseries or online.

These weedy plants have already contributed to at least four extinctions.

The current system of self-regulation expects passionate home gardeners to have a botany degree or pay close attention to warnings in fine print to stop their garden plants from spreading into the surrounding landscape.

We need urgent action. And while there’s growing political momentum to act, it’s nowhere near fast enough to match the scale of the problem. read more

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Submission In Objection. The Caldera Environment Centre OBJECT in the strongest possible terms to Redbank power station being permitted to burn vegetation from land clearing and from native forest ecologies:

1. We object to the proposal on ecological grounds. 

Ecological systems are collapsing around the planet. We are living in the age of The Ecological Crisis, the collapse of the ecology, the collapse of the systems of interrelated and interdependent lifeforms on this planet. In that context we must rescue and protect ecologies, in this case forest ecologies.

Native vegetation ‘biofuel’ is literally the native forest ecologies, destroyed and pelletised to use as fuel for furnaces. Native Forest ‘biomass’ for furnace fuel for electricity destroys ecologies and IS Ecologically Unsustainable.

To clear land of native ecologies in this era is not a correct action and a Redbank approval will itself burn 850,000 tonnes of native vegetation each year, though worse yet it will also be a precedent for other power stations to do likewise, leading to even greater destruction of native ecologies. read more

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Tweed Shire Council August Monthly Meeting. “A Trio of Environmental Concerns”

The upcoming TSC monthly meeting is Thursday August 21st.

Note the following agenda items:

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‘Greenwashing’, Parliamentary Inquiry, “Submissions Welcome”

CEC: “Claims by government agencies that Native Forest Biomass Fuel, fuel for furnaces in the generation of electricity, is ‘Ecological Sustainable’ comes to mind as ‘greenwashing’. The Parliamentary Inquiry however is unlikely to look at the governments own inflated and misleading greenwashing claims, claims which are enabling and subsidising their policies of destruction of native forest ecologies.” And “We have lost faith in the institution of Government in its current composition to protect nature, because of their greenwashing gaslighting and deception, on, for example, the fraud of the ecological sustainability of native forest biomass furnace fuel for electricity generation.” read more

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STOP CLEARING AND BURNING FORESTS FOR ELECTRICITY, Don’t allow Redbank

NEFA: Please object to the Restart of Redbank Power Station by burning 850,000 tonnes of native forests each year, obtained from landclearing. SUBMISSIONS NEEDED BY 5:00pm on Monday 18 August 2025. MAKE YOURS NOW.

This month NSW’s Independent Planning Commission is deciding whether to approve a massive increase in landclearing in western NSW to burn 850,000 tonnes of ‘biomass’ each year into a disused coal powerplant at Redbank, near Singleton in the Hunter Valley.

This will be Australia’s first conversion of coal fired powerplant into a wood fired one.

The Independent Planning Commission is deciding Verdant Earth Technologies Limited’s proposal to restart the disused Redbank Power Station near Singleton by burning 850,000 tonnes of biomass from native forests each year. The original intent was to obtain the biomass from intensified logging operations, now they are saying it will mostly come from landclearing.  This will require significant increases in the rate of landclearing, at a time when we need to stop it. There is nothing ecologically sustainable about clearing tens of thousands of hectares of native vegetation inhabited by millions of native animals, and converting it into carbon dioxide to worsen climate heating. To make matters worse they are claiming the 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 released when the wood is burnt doesn’t really exist, claiming it is clean and green because there are no emissions what-so-ever.  read more

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The Tweed River District Official Tourist Guide, Murwillumbah – The Centre of Tourist’s Routes.

pdf – Scenic Beauties of the Tweed River District, Official Tourist Guide, Murwillumbah – The Centre of Tourist’s RoutesDownload

“The Upper Tweed affords scenes of beautiful fertile valleys, lofty mountains and hills, bold cliff and rugged bluff, all having rich and varied vegetation.

“… a great wealth of choicest timber trees, including Cedar (red and white), Teak, Beach, Baligum, Sasafras, Cudgera, Black and Redbean, Rosewood, Beefwood, a large variety of Fig trees, and numerous varieties of giant scrub trees, besides the various giant hardwoods in the forest areas.

“Of this wonderful scenic district, Murwillumbah, on the Tweed River, between a horseshoe range of mountain peaks and the sea, is an ideal centre for tourists.

“Destroyed by fire in 1907 it arose from its ashes, rebuilt in improved form – the centre of fertile converging valleys. read more

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NEFA LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR RICHMOND RIVER KOALA PARKS

NEFA have started a campaign for 56,200 hectares of public native forests in the southern Richmond River valley and on Richmond Range (south of the Bruxner Highway) to be created as the Richmond River Koala Reserves. This is largest stronghold of koalas in the Richmond catchment, a genetically different population from that found in the Great Koala National Park (see below). Protecting these forests will also help over 130 other threatened species and improve the health of the Richmond River.

It is proposed that 56,200 ha of State Forests in the southern catchment of the Richmond River valley and along the southern Richmond Range be created as the Richmond River Koala Parks. These parks will:

  • protect the largest area of Koala habitat in the Richmond catchment and habitat of 130 other threatened species,
  • help restore the health of the Richmond River by increasing stream flows in dry times and reducing flooding and sediment runoff in wet times, and
  • create a regionally important wildlife corridor along the Richmond Range from Bundjalung National Park to the Border Ranges National Park.

These parks encompass 40,000 ha (5.7%) of the Richmond River Catchment, including 37,800 ha (21%) of the Bungawalbin Creek sub-catchment. The proposed parks extend from the floodplain up into the headwaters on the Richmond Range. Forests are an important part of the water cycle, recycling rainfall back into the atmosphere (cooling the land in the process), storing water and releasing surplus water into streams. As the forests recover from past logging the maturing forests will moderate streamflows, increasing baseflows in dry periods and reducing peak flows and flooding in rainfall events. read more

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TSC: 1000 trees community tree planting for National Tree Day, Byangum, Sunday 27 July, and, Grants of up to $4,000 for Tweed farmers for sustainable land management.

TSC Tweed Link:

1000 trees community tree planting for National Tree Day! Col Wiley Park, Byangum,Sunday 27 July, from 9 am to 12 noon to help improve water quality, protect wildlife and reduce river erosion.

Also, grants of up to $4,000 for Tweed farmers for sustainable land management for projects that improve soil health, water management, biodiversity and more.

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NPWS: Border Ranges 360 degree experiences

“Discover some of the rare and remarkable animals, plants and habitats that make Border Ranges National Park special, with our [NPWS] interactive 360-degree images.

The Border Ranges is a special place where primitive plants and animals have evolved and landscapes have barely changed in millions of years. As a refuge for many threatened species, some areas in the park have been declared Assets of Intergenerational Significance, giving them extra protections. 

Swipe, zoom and click the popup pins to explore each 360 experience.

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Meeting with Premier and cabinet – July 30 Tweed Heads

TSC residents can attend a special local meeting with Premier and Cabinet on July 30 Twin Town Club 12 noon -1:15 to talk about Tweed issues.. (People have to register.)

It could be a chance to ask for koala protection across the whole state not just on the coast, permission for Council to have an environmental levy, or more funding for Devils Fig and not just for the top weeds, for changes to zombie developments that have environmental protections no longer allowed or whatever else residents want.

“Tweed Community Cabinet Community Cabinet will be held in Tweed Heads on Wednesday 30 July. The Tweed community is invited to attend a Community Forum at Twin Towns Clubs and Resorts, Tweed Heads, from 12:00pm-1:15pm. At this event, attendees will be provided the opportunity to take part in a Q&A session at which they may be able to ask the Premier and Cabinet Ministers questions about topics …” Community Cabinet | NSW Government read more

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NSW Parks: Sounds of nature: Border Ranges Gondwana Rainforest

“Listen to our (NPWS) Gondwana Rainforests soundscape on the NSW National Parks, to be transported to this incredible part of Australia.

Border Ranges National Park forms part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, which stretches past Newcastle to south-east Queensland. The Gondwana Rainforests are globally recognised as home to the most extensive areas of subtropical rainforest in the world, plus most of the world’s Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest. These extraordinary areas contain ancestors of ancient and primitive plants and animals.”

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Plastic Reinforced Paper Tea Bags: We are ingesting millions of nano particles of plastic per cup of tea

We are all becoming more aware of unwanted ingestion of plastic molecules and the retention of these molecules in our bodies.

The paper of many popular brand tea bags are strengthened with plastic because otherwise the paper tea bag would fall apart in the hot water.

When a plastic strengthened tea bag goes through the temperature change of being immersed the hot water when making a cup of tea, thousands of micro and millions of nano sized plastic molecules fracture and fragment away from the plastic of the plastic strengthened paper tea bag into your cup of tea. [Source: (link).]

The plastic nano molecules we ingest accumulate in our brains, we don’t know why, however plastic accumulates in our bodies mostly in our brain, Plastic accumulates in the brain at ~10 times higher levels than in the liver or kidneys (91% vs. 4% and 4% of total plastic mass in these organs), at a rate of millions of nano particles of plastic ingested per cup of tea. [Source: (link).] read more

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Caravan Park at Pottsville refused by NSW.gov, as per Community and TS Council Recommendation.

Tweed Link #1400 4 June 2025:

“The Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) recently announced their decision to refuse the application (DA 25/0011) at Pottsville. The Development Application for 1183 Cudgera Creek Road, Cudgera Creek included the building of a caravan park containing 267 long term sites and 12 short term sites, clubhouse, outbuildings and associated roads.

The NRPP was the deciding body for the application as it was valued at more than $30 million dollars, a higher amount than can be approved by Tweed Shire Council.

Ultimately their determination – which was unanimous – was based on the idea that a key part of the infrastructure (the effluent dispersal area) required for the caravan park was located on land that was not zoned for such a use. However, they also considered a wide range of concerns outlined by the Tweed Shire Council in their submission to the Panel. read more

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FoodAware Murwillumbah , this July’s Daring Dialogue at the Kambucha Cafe

“FoodAware Murwillumbah is a community project that has been set up to share with the community the knowledge needed to make informed food choices in the light of recent findings on the links between climate change, deforestation and animal farming, the leading driver of climate change, arguably of greenhouse gases as well, and to spell out the urgent need for a demand-driven transition to plant based agriculture.

“A FoodAware Murwillumbah community project team member is Gerard Wedderburn-Bishop,
A leading analyst of global warming causes, a former principle scientist with Queensland’s Natural resources Department,  Executive Director of the World Preservation Foundation and author of ‘Eating Our Way to Extinction’ on which the internationally premiered film of the same name is based. read more

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