COLLIE RIVER VALLEY BULLETIN, FEBRUARY 16, 2023 3
Bailout figure revealed:
Griffin given $19.5 mil. THE lifeline given to Griffin Coal in December cost the WA Government $19.5 million. The grant was offered to the company’s receivers, Deloitte, who have been operating Griffin since October 2022. The funds were offered “to stabilise and provide certainty for the workforce and community”. Despite announcing the lifeline in December, the government has been tight lipped about the amount, claiming it was a “commercially confidential matter”. However, deputy premier Roger Cook revealed the figure in a ministerial statement on the first day of parliament for 2023, on Tuesday. Mr Cook said the funds have not yet been drawn down.
“While ideally the government would not have to intervene in this way, we will not put the stability of our energy system at risk,” he said. “It is intended that any funding provided by the government to stabilise Griffin Coal will be recovered from the operations revenue once commercial arrangements are resolved.” The Member for Collie-Preston, Jodie Hanns, welcomed the lifeline. “I welcome the support being provided to ensure the stability of the operation and for providing certainty for the Collie workforce and community,” she said. Mrs Hanns said the government expects Griffin and its receivers to make arrangements to ensure longer term
CAUTION: Dee Eddy, Hayley Eddy and Steve Mullins were concerned when they received suspicious letters last week.
stable operations. “We must do what we can to ensure the supply of coal and not put our energy system at risk,”said Mrs Hanns. She anticipated that the funding will be used for equipment repairs and contract costs to prepare for winter. Shadow energy minister Steve Thomas said the government’s inability to manage the state’s energy system was again on display. “The government has finally had to acknowledge the amount it was forced to make available to Griffin in a desperate measure to ensure the lights stay on,” he said. “We now know that $19.5 million has been set aside ‘to date’ for a foreign owned
company that has already had both receivers and liquidators appointed.” Mr Thomas said many questions remained on the use of the funding and the triggers for its draw down. “For a government that promised gold standard transparency, they have kept much of the conditions of this fund a secret,” he said. “They originally said they would recoup the money; the next day the Premier admitted that was all but impossible, yet the minister for state development has again said it will be recovered. “The Premier also indicated further bailouts would likely be required. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on.”
OWNERSHIP of the Collie River, and the question of who is responsible for its health were raised at a forum held at Roche Park Recreation Centre last Thursday. Concern was expressed that the burden of costs to maintain the health of the river was a state issue, and Collie ratepayers should have to shoulder it. The forum was arranged by GFC Consultants, who are in the process of updating a strategy for the Collie Shire Council, and was attended by council staff and invited stakeholders. The consultants had met with council staff before the forum, and had done a quick survey of the town. GFC prepared the 2018-2022 Collie River Revitalisation Strategy which was adopted by council. At the time it was adopted, that report raised a lack of quality control and monitoring of the river, especially with the
end of the mine dewatering program. It recommended that a monitoring program begin by March 2019 to record river levels, water flow, and the level of nitrogen, phosphorous and salinity at Lynn Street, Venn Street, Minningup Pool and Roberts Rock. Concerns raised at the forum included the poor state of the river through town, the environmental impact of drains including high nutrient levels, dead trees, silting and aquatic weed invasion. Suggestions that the Venn Street weir could have led to the apparent increase in the number of dead trees in the river were refuted, as was a suggestion that the river had low levels of oxygen. Consultants said the level of salinity was more of a cause for concern. The consultants said that they will return to Collie to undertake further research and to hold public meetings before submitting their final report to council.
Are you concerned about the health of the Collie River? YOU SAID: (some responses have been edited for readability) Brian Kippin: I'm no expert but the Collie River, or “Collie Canal”, needs to be returned to be more “river-like”, with rocks, more natural features that create eddies and changes of flow, to increase oxygenation and restore the composition of the water. I'm too young to know what a flood is like, and what prompted those
to carve out the canal all those years ago, but I believe there must surely be a compromise solution between flood mitigation and a more natural river. Janine Baker: The river in certain places along the Parkrun course smells terrible - definitely not a sign of a healthy river. You used to be able to kayak from Minningup through to past the high school, but the amount of weed in the river near the Preston Road bridge prevents that.
Who owns the Collie river?
Flurry of scam letters We asked for the community's opinion NUMEROUS locals received copies of the same fraudulent letters last week. Steve Mullins and Dee Eddy approached the Collie Police Station with concerns for their personal information. The letters were from the company WEX in Melbourne, and urged the recipients to arrange payment to avoid outstanding balances. Mr Mullins was the first to take his letter to the police station. He said he knew upon opening it that something was wrong. Police looked at the document and said it was a scam, he said. Dee Eddy became concerned when her daughter, Hayley, received the same letter. Mrs Eddy visited the website provided in the letter and said it confused her. “The website was all about travel payments, and I know Hayley hasn’t
travelled in a long time,” she said. The website looked legitimate, she said. She called them and was greeted by an automated message. “I was on hold and it said I was in a queue, which is something you hear from legit businesses like Telstra," she said. Mrs Eddy said she began to feel suspicious. “Something in my gut was saying ‘this is wrong’ so I hung up and called the police,” she said. Mrs Eddy said she is concerned other residents may receive similar letters and will not be so cautious. “There are people out there who will fall for it,” she said. Collie police acting senior sergeant Alan Dean said locals should remain vigilant. “Our advice is to simply ignore the letters and dispose of them,” he said.
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