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So we're in for another wet spring and summer as La Nina returns for the third year in a row. After watching the northern hemisphere wilt and burn all winter, it sometimes seems we've swapped climates.
Browned grass crackling underfoot. Dwindling rivers and reservoirs. The worst drought on record. Crowds flocking to beaches to escape the punishing heat. Bushfires. It was as if the Australian summer had been transplanted in Europe.
While the prospect of another wet spring and summer might seem dismal, it does mean there is a reduced immediate risk of bushfire.
Unfortunately, especially for the east coast, the damp weather also means fewer opportunities to conduct hazard reduction burns. Many of the forests which burnt during the Black Summer bushfires are now thick with undergrowth, thanks to all that above average rain.
And while it might look lush and green now, for those of us who lived through that terrible summer, it also looks like a massive fuel load in the making, with very little being done about it. Once the normal hot and dry summer pattern returns we could be in for trouble.
As one old volunteer firefighter on the South Coast of NSW told me some months ago: "In a couple of years all that black wattle that's invaded the forests is going to be dead and on the ground just waiting to go up."
In western NSW, goats are being recruited to help with hazard reduction. A trial begun last spring was so encouraging it's being expanded this year to six more locations. The goat squad, according to the state government's website, is being used to cell-graze through at risk areas that are inaccessible by conventional vehicles.
The beauty with this form of hazard reduction is that it can go ahead rain, hail or shine. The goats get through about a quarter of a hectare of dense vegetation in about two weeks. The cell-grazing is conducted using portable fencing to prevent the four-legged firefighters escaping and creating a whole new problem. It also means fuel loads on road verges or near populated areas can be attacked without having to close the roads and blanket the place in smoke.
Goats are not the complete answer - they've been used in California, Spain and and Portugal which, as we saw this northern summer, still went up in flames - but anything which helps reduce the fuel load is welcome.
Giving the state of my block, which is persistently too sodden to run the John Deere over without churning up mud, I might have to resort to hiring a couple to keep the grass down. I'm not kidding.
HAVE YOUR SAY: With all the wet weather have we become complacent about the bushfire risk? Would goats be useful to reduce the fuel load where you live? Is this wet weather driving you in teensy bit bonkers? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The culture of the National Disability Insurance Agency and its ability to manage the scheme's massive growth will be put under the microscope as part of a new probe. Federal Parliament's NDIS committee has launched a wide-ranging inquiry into the agency, which has faced upheaval since Labor swept to power at the federal election in May.
- Nine has made a public apology for defaming former politician Andrew Laming by falsely claiming he took a lewd upskirt photograph. Dr Laming sued over the allegations in a 9News report on March 27, 2021 that he photographed landscaper Crystal White's buttocks. The broadcaster's apology was read by Dr Laming's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC during a brief Federal Court hearing in Sydney on Wednesday.
- Hundreds of dairy workers from the NSW Northern Rivers are poised to lose their jobs as employer Norco says a $35 million government grant isn't enough to keep the staff at its flood-damaged ice cream factory. The company said up to 240 workers would be laid off at its South Lismore facility on the banks of the Wilson River, which was inundated during catastrophic flooding earlier this year.
THEY SAID IT: "What is that mountain goat doing way up here in the clouds?" - Gary Larson
YOU SAID IT: The fuss over the fiver and whether cash is still king.
Vern backs cash: "With shops introducing surcharges for debit and credit card purchases (more for touch and go) there could easily be a return to cash, particularly when buying from sole traders who appear to be taking up this trend. Particularly amongst the pensioners who watch every cent they spend. I wonder if the charge outweighs the costs involved with banking cash."
Judy says: "Who cares who is on the fiver? Perhaps an Aussie First Nations person would be appropriate. Many of us still use cash mostly, and are involved in small activist groups. When we hold a function with a good speaker, entry is with a gold coin or fiver donation, and there is usually a small raffle. A good kitty is needed, as cashless individuals return from a machine with the inevitable $50 notes."
David has another issue: "Forget about the $5 note - put Uncle Jack Charles on it. More to the point, it's about time businesses realised 1c is no longer legal currency and stopped using .99c on their merchandise! Bloody annoying, as is the practice of pricing items at $199.99 instead of $200. Who do they think they are fooling?"
"Uncle Jack Charles should be on the fiver," says Meg.
David makes a good point: "A cashless transaction needs a power supply and a data connection. You might be surprised at how much of Australia one or both cannot be relied on. Cash, on the other hand, doesn't even need batteries. Then there are places such as Aldi that add a surcharge for cashless transactions."
Our very own Fiona chimes in: "Long live cash! While a cash-free society may seem desirable, it gives a HUGE amount of personal information - not only about what you buy but where you are when you buy it and when - to others. Banks and supermarkets sell your information to marketing companies (you think those frequent flyer points come from the goodness of their hearts?) and if, God forbid, there was ever an authoritarian government, it would be able to use your freely-given details for all sorts of surveillance. On top of all that, how do we give money to beggars and buskers without it? Long may it survive."
James can't break the cash habit: "I'm an oldie of 73 years and still like to have some dosh in my purse 'just in case' (of what, I'm not quite sure). As to whose face is on the notes, I couldn't care less. I've never taken in who the person is anyway. Maybe Uncle Jack Charles (not King Charles III) should be on the fiver. After all, the latter will be on our coins."
Ian says: "I still like to carry notes and coins as it gives me comfort that I would still be able to buy stuff if there was a power blackout or massive hack attack or glitch with the bank's software, and electronic banking wasn't working. That assumes a shop owner or merchant would accept cash in those circumstances. I also like to have something to give beggars at the local shops although they tend to grumble at coins these days, particularly silver. It all means the notes almost never get used (there's the old trope of a moth flying out when I unzip the note pocket), and mine will still have the Queen's face when we're up to King William or even King George, although I probably won't be around for the latter."
"I sell The Big Issue as a street magazine vendor," says Andrew. "I applaud giving customers the choice in payment methods. My card reader does play up on occasions, so I am pleased to offer PayID as well as the tap. Cash accepted, especially if with a tip. Card is fixed to exact price of magazine. The first day back after a three-month lockdown of sales, a customer presented me with washed notes. Well appreciated, but no longer a consideration in the fatalistic world of 'We'll all get it eventually!' Maybe the $5 should have a royal with a face mask, depicting how to live with pandemics."
Wombat asks if we even need to change the fiver: "Is it not fact that every other face on an Aussie bank note is that of a deceased Australian? The Queen isn't an Aussie but she does fit the bill of one being deceased so why take her mug off the 'fiver', as you referred to it? By law, does it have to be replaced by the ruling monarch as with our coins? If not then either leave alone or replace it with the recently departed indigenous actor Uncle Jack Charles." No, only the coins require the Royal effigy.
Paul says: "The Assistant Treasurer. Andrew Leigh, said recently that the Queen's picture on the $5 note was not due to her role as the monarch. If so, then there is no need to replace her picture by reason of her death alone. Regarding the cashless society - on the one hand this would force the crime gangs and GST avoiders to find another medium of exchange; on the other hand, it would make garage sales, local markets, busking, charity collections and teaching kids the value of money more difficult. Perhaps we could do away with the higher currency notes and convert the $5 note to a coin - and just have coins for these low-value transactions."