Fears For Threatened Species Following Kooragang Fire

BY JARROD MELMETH

Fears are being held for a population of Bell Frogs, which are listed as endangered, following a blaze which burnt through 102 ha of wetlands at Kooragang Island over the weekend.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, the number of green and golden bell frogs are estimated to have declined by more than 30 per cent in the past 10 years.

University of Newcastle PhD candidate Chad Beranek is studying the restoration and ecology of the green and golden Bell Frog on Kooragang Island and said he fears a site inspection will uncover the charred corpses of the threatened species.

"There is only about 40 populations of them known across the entire coast of Australia, where they used to be found right up the coast from northern New South Wales right down to far-east Gippsland in Victoria.

"There are only a few pockets remaining and Koorangang Island is one of the more productive pockets for this frog species.

"Kooragang island is definitely known to attract the attention of interesting types of people since it is a publicly accessible island, even after hours. It is not uncommon to see burnt out cars and the like.

"However, in the last few months, the amount of deliberately lit fires has increased hugely. In my first season I saw two the entire six months, but in the last four months, I have counted eight.

"These persistent perpetrators need to be caught or at least educated. Please share this post so that we can build momentum and pressure to have this seriously investigated, as I don't want to spend any more of my PhD wandering wastelands looking for corpses of the animals I love and have studied days ago while they were alive," Mr Beranek said.

A Green Bell Frog. Photo: The Australian Reptile Park.

Wharf workers walk off the job over pay cuts

BY BROOKE HEINZ

Wharf workers at Qube Ports Newcastle have declared stop work action for 48 hours following the threat of a 10.5 per cent pay cut.

Footage below from Alexander Heinke of NBN News shows workers picketing outside Qube Ports Newcastle on Kooragang Island (WARNING: Explicit language).

#Qube wharfies start 48hr strike action. They say "savage" cuts will see some workers lose $10,000 off their pay @MaritimeUnionAU @nbnnews pic.twitter.com/ADjefJF1cd

— Alexander Heinke (@heinkealex) August 16, 2017

Maritime Union of Australia Newcastle Branch Secretary Glen Williams says the proposed cuts are an unnecessary punishment on undeserving workers.

"The company up there [Qube] has been severely mismanaged...and our members are being asked to pay the price for that," Williams said. "We're not prepared to do that."

"We have no confidence that a wage cut would make any difference to that company gaining any contracts in this port."

The action comes after negotiations broke down yesterday, with Williams saying talks with the company have been ongoing for years.

"We've been negotiating for two years, no family in Newcastle can afford a 10 and a half per cent pay cut," Williams said. "So we are asking the company to withdraw their claim, come back to the negotiation table, and get an agreement that is fair and equal to everybody."

If an agreement is not reached within the next 48 hours, Qube workers are planning to impose further work bans in the next two weeks, including no overtime and limited shift hours.

Tourle Street Bridge works

BY IAN CROUCH and JESSICA ROUSE

Motorists heading over the Tourle Street Bridge from Kooragang Island will be met with changed traffic conditions while work on the bridge duplication continues.

There are diversions in place with traffic heading along Cormorant Road from Egret Street being diverted onto a newly built section of road to allow work to be carried out on the existing road.

From Monday if you're travelling along Tourle Street you'll be diverted onto a new section of road as well.

The $103 million bridge and road duplication is due for completion by late 2018.

Orica's Kooragang Island facility cops fine

BY JESSICA ROUSE

It's thought a discharge of algae inside a pipe at Kooragang Island is what landed Orica Australia a $15,000 fine from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

The incident was reported to the EPA on 9th March this year, just one day after it occurred.

The EPA said it's likely sediments were also dislodged resulting in concentrations of suspended solids, zinc and arsenic in the effluent becoming higher than the levels permitted by Orica's environment protection license.  

It's not the first time Orica has been fined by the EPA, there was another incident in October 2013 where they were fined $1,500 for exceeding their effluent concentration limits - also attributed to algae build-up.

They were also most recently cautioned in December 2016.