Friday on My Mind Archives - Page 13 of 31

Queuing up for the Covid vaccination

Suddenly, getting your Covid vaccination is becoming a hot ticket item on social media. By that I mean ‘normal’ social media posts from people who actually believe in the science. I got my first shot last Thursday evening, 35 minutes later than the allotted time, but hey, I’m retired. I can watch Antique Roadshow later on catch-up.

I spent the time sitting in a packed waiting room with 50-60 other people in my age group (70+). I traded witticisms with a couple of people who seemed sceptical, but all the same sat and waited to be called.

Once I’d been injected (by my own doctor, no less), a nurse stuck a green sticker on my shirt and told me to ‘sit-stay’ for 15 minutes, to make sure I didn’t have any adverse reactions.

I came back out and sat next to a man who had previously been saying things about the government and their ‘jab campaign’.

“So is Bill Gates tracking us now?”

Apart from a slightly sore arm, it’s just another vaccination to add to the certificate from Medicare which lists them all from 2017. I didn’t even know they were doing that until I noticed an email when logged in to MyGov.

The Covid vaccination rollout may have been on the agenda for talks between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NZ’s PM, Jacinda Ardern, but the media focused on other issues.

Morrison, who in April claimed Australia was ahead of NZ, has come in for trenchant criticism over the government’s handling of the vaccination rollout. The debate continues about the government’s decision to restrict the Pfizer vaccine to people aged under 50. The reasoning behind this decision is that the AstraZenica vaccine (for the over-50s), which has been linked to a rare clotting disorder, is too risky for younger people.

The online news source ‘The Conversation’ sent out a well-researched piece this week asking was it possible to ‘mix and match’ vaccines.

The premise of research out of Germany is that allowing people to have, say AstraZenica for the first shot and another brand for the second is to speed up the vaccination programme when it stalls due to a vaccine stock shortage

It makes sense to allow the general population to have whatever vaccine is available at the time. But talk of risks and side effects may only serve to increase what is known as ‘vaccine hesitancy’.

The government’s chief medical adviser Brendan Murphy told a Four Corners investigation last week that vaccine hesitancy was having an impact.

“We would have expected at this stage to have had a greater uptake because we’ve now got 5,000 points of primary care presence and we are supplying excess vaccine and we have seen a slight flattening, when we expected growth.”

But Professor Murphy said much of the blame lay with the media.

“I think the biggest impact on hesitancy is, frankly, sensationalist media reporting.”

“We want to be transparent, but we want people to understand that the risk of this blood clot is really tiny, and if you’re a vulnerable person, the risk of severe COVID is high.”

Apropos of which, perhaps, a few weeks ago we started binge-watching Season 17 of the long-running medical soap. Grey’s Anatomy. Despite cries of derision from the gallery (it’s a textbook, isn’t it?), Grey’s is the 8^th longest-running primetime TV series. A long way behind The Simpsons (32) and Law & Order – Special Victlms’ Unit (22), but not bad for a series labelled – ‘opera, melodrama and medical procedures’.

I’d best not reveal too many spoilers for fans of Grey’s who have not yet discovered it on the Disney Channel. I had to register for adult content to watch this series, so careful is Disney about protecting kids from M or R-rated content. There’s not too much spicy action in sex scenes which are more about the before and after. But the well-researched scripts are full of what censors call ‘adult themes’ including sex trafficking, drug addiction, psychiatric disorders and patients presenting with the most complex (and gruesome) medical emergencies.

What is illuminating about Season 17 is the setting (Seattle 2020) with all episodes so far completely immersed in the emergence of Covid and its effect on frontline medical staff.

Executive producer and chief writer Shonda Rhimes has a lot to say through the characters about the disproportionate affect of Covid on black people (poor black people specifically), often living in overcrowded conditions.

It’s no accident Rhimes is known for a social conscience – in 2019 she was involved in a campaign with Michele Obama and others to encourage people to vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Rhimes and her Grey’s Anatomy star, Ellen Pompeo, have been with the show from the start. Pompeo, now 51, shares credits in Season 17 as a producer, as well as remaining as the main actor/narrator.

Pompeo is also one of America’s highest paid actors, earning $19 million a year from syndication rights and her $550,000 per episode salary.

You might recall Grey’s Anatomy (which, BTW, is a famous textbook on human anatomy first published in 1858), getting a panning in this blog. We focused on the now-infamous opera episode, where the story was told in song, over operating tables and in hot sweaty linen cupboard clinches.

This is called ‘jumping the shark’ in TV series’ parlance and usually points to writers and producers running out of ideas.

We let some seasons go by and tuned in again about series 15 when you could watch it on catch-up.

Our bizarre attachment to medical soaps aside, I feel some degree of social responsibility to warn that we have some way to go with the goal of vaccinating all Australians against Covid-19 by October (which October?). Not the least of it is the constant presence on social media of anti-vaxxer scare campaigns, most of them debunked long ago.

It’s not just Australians who are hesitant.

Nature Magazine published a survey of 13,426 people in October 2020 indicating that 71.2% of respondents were willing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 if it were proven safe and effective.

“The far-from-universal willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine is a cause for concern. Countries where acceptance exceeded 80% tended to be Asian nations with strong trust in central governments (China, South Korea and Singapore)”.

In April, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) published a survey of 1,090 people which found just 43% of Australians thought the rollout was being done efficiently (down from 63% in March). About 63% thought it was being done safely, down from 73%; and just over half (52%) were confident the vaccines will be effective at stopping COVID-19.

The slow rollout and changes to the plan also appear to have given rise to vaccine hesitancy. One in six people (16%) said they would never get vaccinated against COVID-19, up from 12% in March. It’s a small sample, but nonetheless a demonstration of how confidence in the administration has waned during the vaccine rollout.

Meanwhile the Covid vaccination tally is two for two in this household. Tip from a friend – ask for a lollypop afterwards!

Homeless or “Houseless”

homelessness-grey-nomads — Goondiwindi Showground at dusk, photo Bob Wilson

I felt obliged to write about the vexed topic of homelessness after witnessing people sleeping rough in Queensland’s small towns. It shouldn’t happen, but it does.

The stereotype of a homeless person is the hobo asleep in the doorway of a city store, worldly goods in two carrier bags as a pillow. The reality is closer to an unhappy teenager, couch surfing with friends, or an 60+ women in a van on her own. Or Mum and two kids living in their car in a small town where they are less likely to be hassled. She’s cooking stew on a two-ring propane stove at the local park while using a public power point to charge her mobile. The kids are running about, being kids.

As we all should know, the official data (at the last Census in 2016), confirmed there were 116,000 people in Australia who were defined as homeless. However, the Australian Homelessness Monitor 2020 estimated the numbers had climbed to 290,000 by the close of 2018-2019 – that’s one in 86 people.

Queensland has big challenges when it comes to helping the homeless. The state is so physically large (1.835 million square kilometres) that social workers can sometimes rack up a 1,300 km round trip just to see one client.

This FOMM started forming after we watched the Academy Award winning movie, Nomadland, on Sunday night.

Emerging into a chilly early evening I said, “Better get home and light a fire,” despite being well aware our cosy brick house doesn’t yet need much heating (Warwick recorded 1degree Celsius last night-Ed).

Nomadland, if you have not seen it, is a docu-drama focusing on a 61-year-old widow, Fern, who has joined the legions of people known in the US as van-dwellers. Fern has been hit by a quadruple whammy: husband dies, factory closes, job goes, town is abandoned.

Left with a house she cannot sell, Fern hits the road in a beat-up van she has modified for her own purposes.

In Australia she’d be known as a Grey Nomad, although as in the US there are two distinct classes of traveller. First there are the well-to-do nomads, able to afford a big road rig with all the trimmings. Most often they are self-funded retirees, letting their hair down after a lifetime working. In the US they’d probably be known as Snowbirds (wintering in Arizona).

The other type of nomad, perhaps like those portrayed in Nomadland, live permanently on the road, in whatever style of motor-home or caravan they can afford. Like Fern, these people do not regard themselves as homeless (so are therefore not a statistic).

They favour free camps, recreation reserves and roadside rest areas where local governments have sanctioned overnight stays.

Some just pull off into the bush, far enough away that they cannot be seen from the road. In Australia, free camps will usually have a toilet; some may have a shower and a few have electricity. Fees range from nothing to $10 or $15 a night, the latter usually only applying to camps that have power and showers.

So while we toured around playing at being nomads, in Nomadland, Fern lives permanently with these restrictions and more. In one scene she is tucked away in her camper van at night eating a pizza when a man creeps up and peers through the van window. Then he hammers on the door.

“You can’t park here!”

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

In Australia, our version of van-dwellers gather together in large numbers at the better known “free” camps. They also favour the physical space and lack of bureaucracy found at local showgrounds. These facilities are popular with big rigs (buses, motor homes and fifth-wheelers). If you own such a vehicle it is hard to find a caravan park which can accommodate an 8m-long van plus towing vehicle.

In Goondiwindi, I counted 50 rigs staying overnight at the showgrounds on the edge of town, close enough to the highway to hear the constant roar of heavy traffic. For $25 we got a powered site, TV reception and (as always out west), patchy mobile reception. There was a camp kitchen, toilets and showers and a separate toilet and shower with disabled access. Also the all-important dump point (for vans with chemical toilets).

Many small town showgrounds charge between $15 and $20 a night, less if not using power. It is often an honour system, with no way of knowing how many people came in after dark and left before dawn.

It’s probably impossible to establish how many Grey Nomads live permanently in their vans and own no real estate. They’re not homeless as long as the money holds out and the vehicle does not break down. As Fern explains to someone who is hiring casual staff – “No, I’m not homeless – I’m houseless.”

According to Tourism Research Australia, about 2.6 million Grey Nomad trips were taken by 55 to 70-year-old domestic travellers in 2019. This was up 12% on the previous year. As we found on our journey north in 2021, restrictions on international travel are accelerating this growth.

In a submission to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia, the Queensland Government stated that in 2018-19 , one in 116 people in the state received homelessness assistance.

“While this was much lower than the national rate of one in 86 people, it shows an increase from the previous year.”

The submission said that 55% of Housing Register applications had been identified as being at risk of homelessness.

Homelessness in Queensland is driven in part by housing affordability pressures, increased cost of living, stalling wages growth and welfare payments that don’t keep pace with the cost of living.

The majority of the 43,000 people seeking Special Homelessness Services (SHS) were spread among three cities (Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns) and seven regional centres.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders accounted for 33% (14,432) of all those seeking SHS (40% men and 60% women).

The largest cohorts seeking help were people fleeing domestic and family violence (31%), people with mental health issues (27%) and young people aged 15-24 (20%). My demographic accounted for just 6% (2,676), men and women (50/50) aged between 55 and 70.

I always had this somewhat romantic notion that being homeless and sleeping rough in tropical Queensland might not be a hardship. I said as much in the lyrics of Big Country Town: “We caught the ferry back to Main Street, there’s fellas sleeping in the park, beneath the blanket of the summer, they’re safe and warm there in the dark.”

Well, maybe in the height of summer, but on this caravan trip we shivered through a few single figure nights. As many Grey Nomads would know, sub-zero night temperatures are common in the interior of the country.

Meanwhile, as autumn turns to winter in Warwick, charities are doing their best to fill the gaps in services for those suffering hardship. Volunteers from the Seventh Day Adventist Church take their Community Van to Leslie Park every Sunday evening. The Salvation Army organises a ‘community gathering’ every Saturday, offering “a free meal, a positive and practical message and friendship.” These well attended free meal sessions attract more people than one might expect in a town of 15,000. Until you remember than one in 116 Queenslanders were homeless in 2018-2019, and that was before the pandemic.

More reading

https://bobwords.com.au/tales-of-quarantine-and-homelessness/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-17/queensland-homeless-crisis-rental-shelter/100074284

Footnote; The Conversation, which I often cite, is on a donation drive to ensure it can continue providing independent, academically sound, not-for-profit journalism. https://donate.theconversation.com/au

Watch out for wide loads

wide-loads-road-hazards — Photo by Laurel Wilson aka She Who Takes Photos Through The Car Window (SWTPTTCW)

When you’re caravanning in central Queensland, there are three main road hazards to watch for: road trains, road kill and wide loads. You won’t see the latter as often as kangaroos (dead or alive), wandering cattle or European tourists on bicycles. But when you do, there’s always plenty of warning. A pilot vehicle travelling well in front is the first clue. Or, if the load is wider than 5.5m, you will find police cars leading the convoy.

We encountered an 8-metre wide load when setting off from Clermont to Emerald on the Gregory highway.

The police pilot car stopped us and told us to move off the road.“It’s an 8-metre bucket and he’s not far behind me,” he warned.

Did I mention that in these parts the black soil plains turn to quicksand after rain? It was good that conditions were dry as we steered the car and van onto the grassy edges of the road.

Minutes later, the wide load roared past, followed by another escort vehicle and police car.

My view as a responsible road user is not unreasonable – we are entitled to our half of the road. The rules change when you are on outback roads traversed by road train, which often comprise a prime mover and two or even three trailers behind. When we are at truck stops, taking a breather, we usually check out the road trains that have stopped and sometimes ask the drivers where they are going. Last Sunday, we let a mine truck and its three trailers leave the rest stop first. The last thing caravanners averaging 85-90 kph want is one of those things on their hammer.

To that end, many grey nomads as they are known, employ UHF radio transmitters which they can use to tune into truckie transmissions.

It’s not exactly like the CW McCall country song “10-4 we got ourselves a convoy”, but is is useful for a van in front of a road train to be able to broadcast a message like: “We’ll pull over at the next truck stop, mate”.

I’m not sure about other grey nomads, but if you take the time to say G’day to truckies, it breaks down the “us and them” mindset.

I guess you’ve seen the movie, Duel?

At one rest stop I gave a young truck driver a hand to relocate a tyre which was in danger of falling out of his front trailer. He was towing two trailers full of car tyres. He hopped up on the drawbar and I held the tyre up until he could hoist it into the second trailer.

We had a chat about being on the road in a caravan and the etiquette of giving way to road trains. He assured me he would probably not catch up with us as his rig is limited to 90khm.

The wide load incident had me musing about the logistics involved in relocating the Peak Downs Homestead from its home of 118 years to Capella Pioneer Village. Pastoralist George Fairbairn had the homestead built for him in 1869. The builders used spotted gum timber and a system of mortise and tenon construction as nails were scarce and expensive to make in the mid-1800s.

We visited the village last Sunday and were impressed with the grand old homestead, considered to be one of the largest restored buildings of its type in Australia.

In 1987 the Capella Pioneer Village Committee negotiated for the purchase and removal of the homestead, which by that time had 40% white ant damage. Restoration work began 1989, again using local spotted gum timber and the system of mortise and tenon joints. Work was done in stages as funds were raised. The restoration, costing $125,000, included a new roof. The replacement value of the homestead today is more than $1 million. The committee member who welcomed visitors told me the homestead was moved from Peak Downs station in one piece in 1988.

This is not your typical pioneer cottage. The rooms are large with high ceilings, big fireplaces and all rooms open to a 25 metre long veranda. Try to imagine it traversing the plains on the back of a low loader (or two).

When you are towing a caravan or trailer, it is your responsibility to give way to road trains and wide loads. Bear in mind that vehicles of this type will be travelling at 80kmh with no way of braking or evading if you happen to be not paying attention.

Wide loads are one thing, but then there are the occasions when mining companies move a dragline from one mine to another. A dragline featured in that famous John Prine song, Paradise. “So the coal company came with the world’s biggest shovel, and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land”.

A dragline is a massive crane-like machine the size of an office building which operates on open cut coal mines. The sole task is to remove overburden with its 50 cubic metre capacity bucket to reveal the coal seams beneath.

In August 2017, BHP moved Dragline 27 from the Goonyella Riverside Mine to the South Walker Creek Mine. The Mackay Mercury reported that the 280km across country journey followed a route previously used to move another dragline in 2000. Highlights of the exercise included the 3,000 tonne, 45m tall Marion dragline crossing the Peak Downs Highway at Coppabella.

Draglines have 530 wheels and can ‘walk” across country at the rate of three or four kilometres per day. This exercise took 18 months to plan and four months to complete. Teams of contractors built a 35m wide corridor. Temporary road, rail and powerline crossings were built as late as possible and removed after the dragline had moved on.

While you’d have to be lucky to witness a dragline crossing, it is important motorists are aware of oversized load etiquette.

Graeme Ransley from the Road Accident Action Group told the Minerals and Energy Bulletin wide loads are getting wider, up to 10.5m. Police escorts are required when the load is wider than 5.5m. The RAAG began a campaign to educate motorists about wide loads after requests from pilot drivers and police

“Some of the concerns raised included a lack of motorist knowledge, and patience, with drivers not heeding lawful directions by escort pilots to slow down or stopping in a safe place,” he said.

“By 2013, there were up to 650 escorted wide loads per month in the Mackay region alone”.

Bearing those scary stats in mind, I spent a while this week looking at dash cam videos. This resulted in unpleasant dreams and a resolve to lift my driving attention levels. If you are planning a long trip with a caravan or camper trailer, ‘What truckies put up with every day” is a stark reminder to pay attention and drive to the conditions. Warning: not for the faint-hearted.

You will be happy to know I posted this after we’d arrived safely home, after covering 6,178 kms in five weeks. Next week’s list: washing, wheel alignment, car wash, dentist, Covid vaccination, get SWTPOTCW to write a guest blog; find another footie team to follow.

Going bananas over budgets

bananas-budgets-cyclones — North Queensland banana plantation. Photo Bob Wilson

After seeing a photo on a tourism brochure of a fruit cocktail with a banana posed like a dolphin with its mouth open, eating one will never be the same. I decided to write about bananas after spending two weeks in north Queensland, where 94% of the fruit is grown. I had also recently learned of the re-emergence of Panama disease, coined ‘Bananageddon’ by some droll headline writer.

The threat of disease not withstanding, Australian banana growers have to live through the annual cyclone season and its potential for destruction. In March, the north’s most visible politician, Bob Katter, was clamouring for Federal intervention to help bale out growers devastated by Cyclone Niran.

While North Queensland provided the best growing conditions for bananas, the tropical fruit is always under threat when cyclonic winds blow. The North Queensland Register’s Ben Harden reported up to 100% losses in the Boogan and Wangan districts near Innisfail. There were 20% to 100% losses along the Cassowary Coast, where most of Australia’s bananas are grown. Katter, the member for Kennedy, as usual got himself front and centre in a press photo taken on a farm wiped out by Niran’s wind gusts (between 205kmh and 265kmh).

Katter has pledged his support behind North Queensland farmers with crops worth $200m knocked out by Cyclone Niran. He said the government should look at crop and livestock insurance funded by a 1% levy on farmers.

“It would make the recovery from these events a lot easier, and we could rebound quicker.“

Some banana-growing areas were left untouched, as we discovered when visiting Lakeland south-west of Cooktown.

Lakeland’s rich volcanic soil and mild climate is ideal for growing bananas, plantations of which can be seen along both sides of the Kennedy Development Road between Lakeland and Laura.

We picked up a bird-watching map from Cooktown which identified Lakeland Honey Dam as a location to see water birds. We set off at sunset, only to find a gate with a banana farm sign forbidding entry due to biological risks. So we did not venture further; but if we had, we might have spotted corellas, egrets, herons, brolgas, sarus cranes, square-tailed kites and more.

Turns out the dam is on private property and banana farmers tend to be risk-averse about biological diseases and for good reason. Growers are twitchy about people bringing in banana plants or suckers from New South Wales in particular. In short, they do not want to add bunchy top to the list of issues that face banana growers. Trumping bunchy top though, is the re-emergence of Panama disease, which all but rendered the global banana industry extinct in the 1950s.

Stuart Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Plant Biochemistry, University of Westminster, wrote a lengthy article for The Conversation on this topic.He described the attempts to save the banana and the industry that produces the fruit. Scientists are now in a race to create a new plant resistant to Panama disease.

In the 1950s, a condition known as Fusarium wilt or Panama disease was wiping out whole plantations in the world’s major banana-producing countries of Latin America.

“It threatened an industry so important to this part of the world that some States had became known as Banana Republics because they were virtually governed by the corporations that produced the crop.”

Luckily, banana companies realised that another variety of banana, the Cavendish, was almost completely resistant to Panama disease. It rapidly replaced the Gros Michel (Big Mike) type which had prevailed until that time. The Cavendish rescued the industry and by the 21^st century, 99% of exported bananas and almost half of world production is of the Cavendish variety.

“But this strength has now become the banana industry’s greatest vulnerability. Panama disease has returned, and this time the Cavendish is not resistant,” Thompson wrote.

While the Federal Budget managed to find $371 million for ‘biosecurity measures’, they were more focused on prevention of African swine fever and foot and mouth disease. So it falls to State governments to address their own biosecurity challenges. The Queensland Government stumped up $10 million in 2015-2016 to investigate the re-emerging Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4). Biosecurity Queensland launched a surveillance programme to detect the presence of the soil-borne fungal disease after it was detected at north Queensland farms.

While that battle is being fought (and once again raising questions about the risks of monoculture), just how important is the banana to Australian consumers and the economy?

The Australian Banana Growers Council (ABGC) is a font of knowledge about all things banana, including the incredible statistic that we consume 16 kg per head per year.

I extrapolated that figure, assuming that the average (four person) household consumes over 1kg (seven bananas) per week.

If you prefer Lady Fingers, you are in a minority, as 97% of bananas grown in Australia are off the Cavendish variety. Growers sold 388,000 tonnes of bananas in 2017-2018 (valued at $587m). The ABGC estimates the industry contributes $1.3 billion to the economy.

For all that, there’s not much protection for growers whose crops are wiped out by cyclones or other weather events, not to mention the incursion of a disease like TR4, which cannot be eradicated.

Nonetheless, banana growers keep up the supply of this popular fruit, with harvesting activity occurring as we drove by. Despite Queensland’s dominant market position, the ABGC’s statistics note a growing contribution to the annual banana production from Western Australia (6,800 tonnes), most of the crops grown around Carnarvon and in the irrigated fields around Kununurra.

Some 15,000 tonnes were grown in New South Wales, around Coffs Harbour and northern NSW where rainfall is plentiful.

We used to grow bananas on our half acre at Maleny. They were tall trees which were quite often raided by Brush Turkeys. They’d clumsily fly to the tops of the trees and partially eat out the green bunches. Our yield was better once we planted dwarf bananas closer to the house. They key is to bag the bunches before they ripen. One you cut a bunch, hang it from a rafter with a bag around it to keep vermin out. Growing bananas in much of Queensland is not hard. There’s a bit of work involved, chipping weeds and thinning out the plantation until you have the desired groups of three at various stages of growth.

We travel a bit and unfortunately, bananas are not good travellers. We bought a half-green bunch on Monday and by Tuesday they were ripe enough to eat.

She Who Makes Banana Cake is in charge of Plan B!

FNQ Tourism Relying On Domestic Visitors

tourism-FNQ-covid — Sunset swimmers inside stinger net at Palm Cove. Photo by Bob Wilson

The old saying that you could fire a gun in the main street and not hit anybody certainly applied to Cairns on the May Day public holiday. We rolled into Cairns, far north Queensland’s biggest city, believing we would struggle to find a car park. Turning into Sheridan Street, we spotted an RV Parking sign. Once we’d picked a shady spot in the deserted car park (six cars and a motor home), we went to meet a friend for lunch in the CBD.

“They’re closed – c u at ‘Sauce’ down road” our friend texted.

We had just arrived at the first rendezvous to be told by a waitress the restaurant was closing (at noon!).

Just down the road, the boutique brewery and bar ‘Sauce’ was open and serving meals. Only a few customers there too, so before long we were tucking in to coral trout, chips and salad and other dishes.

It was hard to reconcile the deserted CBD with the image of Cairns as a magnet for international and domestic tourists. Trouble is, visitors from overseas have been absent since March 2020. Domestic travellers tend to arrive at the airport, hire a car and head for the Daintree, the Cape or the Atherton Tablelands. We’d just been staying on the Tablelands and found, on a Sunday walk around Lake Eacham, that half of Australia had decided to do the same thing. Travel stats for the May long weekend may take some time to surface, but it would be great if it emulated the region’s Easter experience. The ABC reported that more than 70,000 flew into Cairns and spread themselves around FNQ (Port Douglas resorts reported 90% occupancy).

After lunch in Cairns on May Day, we met up with the extended family at a resort in Palm Cove. My niece, a Cairns local, did not think it peculiar that the city would be deserted on a public holiday,

“We north Queenslanders take our public holidays seriously!”

Just for sport, I googled accommodation in Palm Cove for May 3 and found only three options – two of which were $900+ for an overnight stay in a three-bedroom apartment. Good thing SWPR booked our caravan spot months ago.

After checking in, I strolled along the beach, observing the swimmers taking advantage of the stinger net. Signs abound warning of marine stingers and crocodiles (which have been sighted swimming in the ocean). Our local source informed me the stinger ‘season’ now spans October to May, which probably explains why FNQ’s peak tourism season is June to September.

Marine stingers have been responsible for 63 deaths since records began in the 19^th century. In the most recent case, a teenager from Bamaga was killed by a box jellyfish. Hundreds of people get stung every year, so the warning signs that abound at FNQ beaches should not be taken lightly.

A quick stroll around the Cairns CBD reveals the damage inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. There are lots of empty shops with ‘for lease’ signs on the windows.

The story of how Covid-19 decimated Cairns’ tourism industry is partially revealed in passenger arrival data kept by Cairns Airport Pty Ltd. For example, only 300 international passengers arrived in Cairns in March 2021, compared with 22,619 in March 2020. Domestic visitor numbers held up, however, with 185,109 passengers in March 2021, compared with 181,307 in March 2020.

Cairns Council statistics show 799,000 international visitors visited the far north in 2019, as did 1.1 million domestic tourists. A report to Cairns Council showed how Covid travel restrictions affected Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s activities in 2020. More than $2.2 billion of visitor spending was lost – $1.6 billion of in domestic visitor expenditure and $650 million lost due to international border closures.The Federal government recently sought to help the tourism sector by introducing airfare subsidies. The Queensland government did its bit by offering $200 travel vouchers to encourage domestic tourism.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen told Brisbane Times that if FNQ could secure its share of the subsidised airfares, an extra 5,000 to 7,000 visitors could land each week and inject up to $1 million a day to the local economy.

On our slow road trip from southern Queensland to the tropical north, we have seen plenty of evidence to suggest Australians are replacing international travel with forays to the outback and the far north.

A recent survey by KPMG found that Australians had been saving hard during the pandemic and domestic travel was No. 1 on their bucket lists. Some 61% of respondents planned a trip between January and June 2021 and 72% planned a domestic holiday between July and December 2021. KPMG noted that people would have accrued leave during the lockdown periods. This meant they now have the time and the money for domestic travel. The challenge will be to convince those of us with the wanderlust to spend 70% of what we spent on international travel in 2019 (or whatever year we last went abroad) on domestic travel.

Tourism Australia leaves us in no doubt of the importance of tourism to our economy. The total spend by tourists in 2019 was $126.1 billion, $45.4 billion of which was attributed to international tourism, with 9.3 million people flying into Australia in 2018-2019. Almost half of the overnight spend (44%) was in regional Australia. In 2019 the industry employed 666,000 people. JobKeeper may well have salvaged some of those jobs, but where tourism goes from here is anybody’s guess.

Our family convoy has done its bit for the sector, paying for accommodation and meals in Palm Cove. Yesterday some paid $255 a head to go for a reef cruise while me and the Bro’ drove to the Daintree and spent about $50 a head.

This weekend we’re heading to Cooktown with a side tour to Laura to explore Indigenous art and culture. Then it’s a slow 10-day trip home via Canarvon Gorge. For all of the modelling in KPMG’s report, I doubt very much we would spend 70% of our budget for Canada and Europe where we travelled in 2010.

A few notes on last week’s commentary on Australia’s most dangerous critters. The photo was not a blue ringed octopus as we suspected, but it aptly illustrated the story. Also, while I did mention five deaths attributed to paralysis ticks, they were not included in the list and maybe they should be. This link is for Michael, who made the point, and anyone who might have missed this 2017 post.

People who have never heard of mammalian meat allergy think it must be fake news. It is not! We personally know three people who can no longer indulge in the Sunday roast lamb..

https://bobwords.com.au/scary-truth-paralysis-tick/

Dangerous Australia Revisited

This week’s essay is brought to you by the letter S – snakes, sharks, spiders, scorpions, stingrays, stonefish and sand flies. Some might dispute the description of the saltwater sand fly or midge as deadly. But itchy bites can sure take the edge off a beach holiday. The odds of being bitten by a sand fly in their territory (saltwater marshes) are probably 2-1, with longer odds for those experiencing extreme reactions (me and She).

Of course there are many other potentially deadly Australian critters, names starting with other letters – blue ringed octopus, crocodiles, dingoes, marine stingers, mosquitoes and so on.

At Cape Hillsborough, North of Mackay, sand flies dominated every casual conversation. The trick is to slather yourself with insect repellent before you go outdoors and avoid being out in the early morning and late afternoon. The other sensible tip (which few people heed when at the beach) is to cover as much skin as possible with long shirts, trousers and socks. Some swear by taking vitamin B or variants but this has not been clinically proven to make you less attractive to midges/sand flies.

When my nephew in New Zealand was first planning to bring his kids over for a tour of the Gold Coast theme parks, he had been watching a National Geographic TV series, Australia’s Deadliest. The weekly tales of snake bites, shark attacks and rogue crocodiles all but put him off. Yes, it is true we have some lethal critters, but the chances of becoming a victim are not high.

A study by the University of Melbourne concludes you are more likely to be killed by being trampled on or thrown from a horse.

While we would not want to diminish the horror of a shark attack, fatalities averaged two per year between 2000 and 2013. The number of crocodile fatalities was lower still – 19 deaths over 13 years. Having said that, if a shark or croc gets you, chances of survival are slim.

Near the end of an amphibious vessel tour at 1770, the skipper encouraged guests to enjoy their stay, but added a warning. Four people had recently been stung by stonefish in the shallows around this estuarine settlement. Stonefish, as the name implies, camouflage themselves in the sand, trying to look like the spiky rocks they so resemble. If you stand on a stonefish, it will inject a barb into your foot causing immediate and dire pain. Stonefish stings are not usually fatal, but the pain is such you may wish you were dead. First aid measures include putting the affected foot in a bucket of warm water, gradually adding hot water until it is as hot as you can stand. This is an interim pain relief measure while you wait for paramedics to arrive and administer heavy duty pain killers. You will probably be taken to hospital and, if necessary, have the barb surgically removed. Some intrepid reporter may well track you down and write a story.

Having taken this information on board, we were cautious when strolling on the Cape Hillsborough beach at low tide. My sister-in- law took pictures of sea creatures around exposed rocks, including today’s photo. We say it may or may not be a blue ringed octopus, as we have sent the photo in for ID and have not yet heard back.

Blue ringed octopus rarely bite people, but if they do, the venom can be fatal. They live in tidal pools, remaining out of sight during the day and hunting by night. As with all small marine critters, best left alone, eh. The more common venomous sea critters in North Queensland, which keep people from swimming between October and May, are marine stingers. All manner of jellyfish live in the warm tropical water, the most venomous being the Australian box jellyfish. If stung, the best medical advice is to pour vinegar on the stings and carefully remove tentacles (this will stop more stinging but not the pain). Call 000.

As for snakes, I can identify tree snakes, pythons and Red Belly Blacks. The latter are venomous but shy and will rapidly retreat if you leave them room. Not so the Eastern Brown, which will look for an excuse to attack. If you are out bush walking in Australia and spot a snake, stop, then quietly back up. We did this recently on a bush walk in Maleny, when spying two pythons who were either fighting or making baby snakes. Either way, we gave them a wide berth. The Royal Flying Doctor Service says 3,000 people were bitten by snakes in 2020. There were 550 hospitalisations and two people died.

Not to mention funnel web spiders

We were planting a tree down the bottom of our half acre block and I pulled out the remnants of a tree root. Up jumped this big black hairy spider which reared up on its back legs. (I went inside and made a nice cup of tea and googled funnel web spider). Some members of the funnel web family produce venom which is toxic to humans. There have been no reported deaths since development of antivenene. All the same, if you see a large black hairy spider which appears to be aggressive, move well away.

Snake, shark and croc attacks are page one fodder for media hyperbole, so here’s some perspective to balance the shock horror headlines. A study by Melbourne University found that In the period 2000-2013, 26 people were killed by sharks and 19 by crocodiles. In the same period, 74 Australians died after being thrown or trampled by a horse.

Dr Ronelle Welton, from the University’s Australian Venom Unit, looked at hospital admissions data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as well as Australian coronial records from 2000 to 2013.

During that period, snakebites killed 27 people, the same number as bee and wasp stings, she told the ABC. Hornets, bees and wasps accounted for 27 deaths, some of them people allergic to stings. I did note that five people died from tick bites, recalling my three-day stay in hospital in 2017 after suffering an allergic reaction.

Australia’s venomous and dangerous animals can and do harm humans, but let’s keep it in perspective; 1,217 Australians died in traffic accidents in the year to March.

Three of the six people in our family convoy experienced extreme reactions to sand fly/midge bites, Our resident nurse inspected our bites and asked if anyone was feeling unwell.

“Irritated, yes. Unwell, no.”

Today we’re arriving on the Atherton Tableland for a family gathering. I expect midge bites will be a topic of conversation:

“Check out Bobby’s welts – poor bastard!”*

*Aussie term of endearment

Book book, read it, read it

Two days into a five-week pilgrimage to far North Queensland and back, I ran out of suitable reading material. I’d rapidly consumed two of the three crime thrillers acquired for the journey and gave up on the Jonathan Kellerman when the body count reached four in the first dozen pages. She Who Reads Literature meanwhile snaffled the collection of short stories by Annie Proulx I borrowed from the library.

When I discover a new writer, I usually binge-read two or three, which in this case was John Sandford’s series about an unlikely detective, Virgil Flowers. I warmed to Flowers, as he is portrayed warts and all, which in his case is a serious viral outbreak. He lies, bullies suspects, intimidates witnesses, ignores his superiors and, as with all maverick cops, goes about his dodgy investigative business with seeming impunity.

He’s a lanky fellow with long hair and a habit of wearing surfer attire (jeans and rock music themed T-shirts). As with many private eye/rogue detective characters (created by male writers), Virgil thinks he is God’s gift to women. When you consider the outlandish plot of the first Flowers novel, Dark of the Moon, and an ever-rising body count, it’s a wonder Virgil can find time for a hamburger, never mind a woman. When he’s on the trail of drug dealers, psychos, murderers and dog nappers in the State of Minnesota, he sometimes goes days with little sleep. He is a dogged investigator with a dark sense of humour, but so often misses obvious clues you feel like yelling – “Nooo, Virgil – behind you!”

Crime thrillers and spy novels are my preferred genre, although I delve into literary fiction if I can find a writer who knows how to craft a narrative and invent believable dialogue.

I have read a few books by Annie Proulx, whose recent book Bark Skins has been turned into an online TV series. Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants, The Possibilities), was a revelation. SWRL and I both like Richard Flanagan (although agreeing that Gould’s Book of Fish was impenetrable).

I’ve read everything the superlative Canadian author Michael Crummey has written thus far. His historical fiction is usually set in Newfoundland, so to engage, one ought to have a passing familiarity with the Maritime Provinces. Crummey’s narrative flair, descriptive skills and occasional poetic flourishes keep the reader deeply engaged. Try River Thieves as an example of his fine writing.

In pursuit of a worthwhile holiday read (sans serial killers), I discovered a novel (long-listed for the Booker prize), by UK writer Max Porter, whose brilliant debut, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, won awards. The follow-up, Lanny, was available on Amazon for US$8.99. Armed with less than reliable WiFi in the coastal towns of Agnes Water/Seventeen Seventy, I managed to download it.

Now I can go from here to Cairns (probably via an inland detour), with an unorthodox book which is both intriguing and beautifully written.

SWRL sometimes asks why I read “violent, icky stuff”. I’m not alone. A survey commissioned by the Australia Council found that 49% of participants nominated crime novels as their favourite genre. Next came historical fiction (36%), contemporary literary fiction (33%) and science fiction/fantasy (32%).

The Australia Council partnered with Macquarie University on this three-year research project: ‘The Australian Book Industry: Authors, Publishers and Readers in a Time of Change’.

The survey revealed that Australians read more than three books per month and spend five hours reading books each week. Frequent readers report reading six books per month and almost eleven hours reading books, with 80% of their reading time devoted to reading for pleasure. Does this sound like you?Another key finding that concurs with my experience is that readers are mixing new digital options with conventional ways of reading.

Australians value locally written books and the Australian book industry. Considering that the dominant genre is crime and mystery fiction, Australian authors stand out in this department. The late Peter Temple turned out nine well plotted thrillers that deservedly won major awards.He is best known for inventing Jack Irish, an accidental investigator, well portrayed in the TV series by Guy Pierce.

Temple has a worthy successor as Australia’s No 1 crime writer in Mornington Peninsula-based author Garry Disher, who has also written non-crime fiction and books for young people. He has a strong view about the crime novel (he has written 20).

He told The Age he believes the reading public is embracing good crime novels because they feed a hunger for engagement with social issues not being met by literary fiction. “Many literary novels are inward-looking or backward-looking,” he says. “They don’t engage with Australia as it is now.”

Interesting that Disher said this in 2008, because in the interim, there’s been an upsurge of interest in Australian ‘noir’. Former journalist Jane Harper’s novel The Dry was a best-seller and has already been adapted for the big screen starring Eric Bana and a cast of familiar faces.

Since today’s missive introduces you to authors you may not know, 66% of readers discover a new book/author by word of mouth recommendations. Browsing in bookstores is still popular, with second-hand outlets the third most popular source. These three methods far outweigh sources of information one might assume to be ranked higher. For example, writers’ festivals (6%) and book clubs (5%) are well down the list.

I took heart from the survey’s finding that just as many people borrow books from a public library as those who buy them. I was forced to delve into the e-reader when public libraries closed in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. Now that the worst has passed (or has it?), let’s quote the epidemiologist who said there is a low risk of contracting Covid when borrowing a library book. By all means wipe the cover, he said, but the virus can only live for a few hours on such a surface. And don’t listen to those who recommend putting library books in the microwave. It will make the pages curl and your microwave will smell funny.

Civica’s 2020 Libraries Index (based on 38 million books borrowed from 90 Australian and New Zealand libraries), revealed that 12 of the top 20 borrowed books were by Australian authors. Lianne Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers was No 1. Two Jane Harper thrillers were in the top 20, as was Trent Dalton’s disarming Boy Swallows Universe.

Readers borrowed more audio books and e-books following forced closure of libraries. The lockdown also saw the advent of neighbourhood street libraries, just one of the ways in which Covid restrictions led to inclusive community activities.

The social etiquette for street libraries is the same as second-hand book exchanges in caravan parks – take a book and leave one in its place. The caravan park where we are staying for a few days before venturing a little further north has such a collection in the office (they are usually found in the laundry). It’s typical fare, including Janet Evanovich, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, four Jodi Picoult novels and (gasp) a hardback copy of Ian Molly A bio, ‘The never-ending story’.

Sigh, If only I’d had a book to swap.

Rainwater tanks save the day Part II

rainwater-tanks-flitration — Connolly Dam, Warwick’s town supply, spilling over for the first time since 2011.

I had so much correspondence on this topic last week I took up an offer from guest blogger and rainwater tank owner NEALE GENTNER. He writes about his water filtration adventures working in the PNG Highlands and the hard yakka maintaining concrete tanks and plumbing over a 30-year period.

I totally agree with Bob’s piece last week on water tanks…except for paying extra rates to council for maintenance “compliance”.

Theoretically, under various “Health Acts”, tank water cleanliness is currently enforceable. No one wants to do it because of voter backlash; they will act if disease breaks out.

Over time, when replacement of pumps, filters etc is included, the real costs to install, operate and maintain a good rainwater harvest system is currently more expensive than hooking to the grid and paying water rates. Some have no choice due to location.

In 1984-1985 when I worked in PNG, I gained a lot of experience with filtration of drinking water. We were wildcat oil drilling in the Southern Highlands at 2,000M elev. The nearest village/town was Tari, the only access by helicopter, or a trek through jungle.

Everything broke down into 1,000kg heli-loads, constant heli shuttle flights; mostly diesel fuel once everything was established.

Water supply was rain run-off into an earth “turkey-nest” dam a mile or two away and lower than rig. Yes, everything that lives in the woods also craps and eventually dies in the woods, so lots of opportunity for pathogens. We used a diesel pump and 50mm steel pipeline back up the hill to rig & camp.

All camp drinking water was filtered. We just used wound-string filter elements, in clear plastic housings, elements were white when new, changed when completely brown, Most of the brown was decayed leaves etc, I forget now how long the filters lasted, probably variable, monitored daily, changed as-required.

No chemical treatment, no bad outbreaks of “squirts”, and the few minor cases were likely guys being careless. (If I knew then what I now know about water-borne bacteria, I would have taken more care).

As a child, I lived through Redcliffe City Council’s ban and enforced destruction of household rainwater tanks. But we much preferred the taste of my grandparents’ tank water in Dalby. And even Redcliffe “town” water tasted better than Brisbane reticulated water.

Chrissie’s family have only ever had un-filtered tank water. At 93 years of age, her Mum still does! We have had two 45,000 litre (10,000 gallon) concrete tanks for almost 30 years.

We’ve never run out of water. The tank filling pipework comes from single storey roofs, goes underground, then back up to tops of tanks. Originally all the underground pipework was 90mm “rainwater” PVC. Subsequently, I have put in additional underground pipes and replaced most of the existing with 100mm “sewer” grade PVC, bedded in sand, because it is more resistant to plant root and reactive soil damage, plus it flows a lot more volume when it really rains.

About 15 years ago, I emptied, ventilated and got inside both tanks (one at a time), de-sludged, pressure blasted, wet-vacuumed, prepped and sealed cracks on the inside so water pressure helps ensure a good seal. I installed a string filter about 10 years ago. It is plumbed straight off the pressure pump, so all house water is filtered. From what I have learned subsequently about water-borne bacteria, I’m glad the entire house is filtered. Now it just needs an anti-bacterial filter element to take it to the next level. I also installed a “first flush” plumbing system to get rid of most dry weather accumulated crud (inc frogs) to stormwater street drain. I like frogs, just not in my drinking water.

Mozzie mesh-crud strainer baskets at tank top inlets have been replaced once, the filling inlets at tank top strainers have gravity actuated, one-way flaps to stop critters entering, but allow everything out of the pipe.

A Council inspector once insisted that I put mozzie mesh on our three sewer roof vents (septic tank). He said mozzies would fly through vent caps, down vent pipes and breed. Knowing it’s a losing battle arguing with those who flex authoritarian muscle, I bit my tongue. I could have instead asked about the statistics of mozzie breeding in Council-approved stagnant water, within the underground portions of my tank filling pipe-work (before first flush installed), and the number of breeding mosquitoes at the water filled settling ponds of town water treatment plant, not to mention the actual dams & reservoirs.

But I replied “Oh Gee, mate, never though of that. I’ll put some mesh on the roof vents straight away (and I did). The “expert” was happy, I just muttered and shook my head, it was the simplest resolution.

Then there was the “drought proofing” by the taxpayer funded pipelines and pumping stations, intended to shuffle water between municipalities. Apart from its questionable effectiveness, the environmental damage and costs to some land owners was enormous. The pipeline only required a 3M wide clearing to dig the trench and get it in the ground. But the pipelayers insisted on clearing a 10M wide swathe, simply so they could turn the lengths of oversize black poly pipe around, “if required”.

Even gazetted nature reserves suffered this fate. Our illustrious water resources authorities have been vested with the power to do almost anything, with complete impunity.Then the pipelayers carted away and sold off the mostly top quality top-soil removed from trench, before backfilling with carted in “fill”, some of which was building waste.

Creative uses for rainwater tanks

The best suburban use of water tanks I have ever seen was when neighbours replaced their side boundary fence with a string of narrow water tanks, originally intended for under eave use.

Both house roofs feed the huge volume “boundary-tank”, the final over-flow is right at front fence and goes under footpath to road gutter. They chose neutral colour, roto-moulded plastic tanks with integral see-through openings/reinforcements and even left a gap for a gate so neighbours can still be neighbourly. The interconnecting feed pipe is underground for gate and overflow connects above.

Each neighbour only “lost” a 300mm wide strip of yard and it keeps the dog in. Brilliant! Of course this requires that you get on well with your neighbour. Perhaps this is worthy of a simple Council mandate… all suburban side fences must be minimum of 600mm thick and hold rainwater. NG

Footnote by acreage dweller Joy Duck

The benefits of rainwater tanks aren’t limited to rural areas. People in the burbs used to have smallish (1000 litre) tanks to top up their pools and water their handkerchief lawns. Then the scaremongers went to work and they were removed in droves (sadly the tanks, not the scaremongers), with challenges of maintenance cited as the reason. I bought a second hand, 3000-litre tank for for the shed, from a developer who had dozens in a paddock. He had removed them (just a year after installation), from a complex he’d built.

There is already a dedicated 22,500 litre tank and fire pump connected to our house with a rooftop sprinkler system. Because it is a fire pump, if necessary, the brigade could connect their hoses to it and use for other purposes. It’s a key start petrol pump so if the fire takes out mains water and power you still have firefighting capability.

Having a stand-alone tank and pump dedicated for firefighting can be very reassuring, if you live on a heavily treed block where the wildlife successfully protests any attempts to clear vegetation!

Next week: On the road again!

Rainwater Tanks Save The Day

rainwater-tanks-dams — Leslie Dam (reservoir 1,260ha) at 28%. Photo by BW.

Yay – the dams are full, creeks and gullies are running; rainwater tanks are spilling over. Everyone’s happy.

Our three rainwater tanks are full, as you might expect of a region where two water-starved dams reached 100% capacity in just two days.

Not so long ago (2018-2019), things were dire on the Southern Downs, with Warwick’s Leslie Dam at 7.66% (it’s now 28%), and the Granite Belt’s Storm King Dam virtually empty (now 100%).

In January 2020, a national news story told of the local council carting water to Stanthorpe from Connolly Dam in Warwick. The cost, borne by the State Government, was $800,000 a month. Carting ended last week after the March rains brought Storm King Dam back to capacity.

As you might expect, the district deluge was met by the relaxation of severe water restrictions which have been in place now for several years. Southern Downs Council had lifted daily water restrictions from 80 litres to 120 litres in mid-2020. Last week the limit was raised to 200 litres per person per day. There are caveats on this, however, with permanent restrictions applying to the use of hand-held hoses to water gardens or wash cars.

How quickly our mindset changes. We’ve gone from leaving the toilet water to mellow for days and collecting shower water in buckets to using a hose (between 7am-9am and 4pm-7pm) to wash cars. Last time I washed our car I used tank water in buckets.

It’s not so long ago that academics were advocating the use of recycled water to drought-proof houses. Writing at a time when at least seven New South Wales regional towns were in danger of running out of water altogether, Professor Roberta Ryan of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) wrote that the only real obstacle to using recycled water for a range of purposes was community acceptance.

“Household waste water (which is what goes into the sewerage system from sinks, toilets, washing machines and so on), is a more consistent supply, with 80% or more of household water leaving as waste water.

“Furthermore, waste water goes to treatment plants already, so there is a system of pipes to transport it and places which already treat it, including advanced treatment plants that can treat the water to be clean enough for a range of purposes”.

You might recall that stories like this in 2019 and earlier were met with community opposition. In 2006, Toowoomba, Australia’s biggest inland city, voted against introducing recycled water.

Those advocating re-cycled water (extracted from treated sewage), suggest using it to operate washing machines and toilets in homes and to irrigate parks and sports grounds. Many Councils already use recycled water for those latter purposes.

As the Millenium Drought (1997-2009) worsened, State and local governments started creating rebate schemes to encourage households to buy and install rainwater tanks.

It’s been a hit and miss affair, with rebate schemes ending as quickly as eager queues started forming. Australia’s building code requires tanks to be installed and plumbed in to all new houses, although this differs from State to State. For example Queensland’s local governments can opt-in (or out).

In 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 2.3 million households (26%) used a rainwater tank as a source of water, an increase from 1.7 million (19%) in 2007. The ABS said the increase from 2007 to 2013 may be attributed to water restrictions, government rebate schemes, water regulations and water pricing.

South Australia had the highest proportion of households that used water from a rainwater tank (46%), followed by Queensland (34%).

In the absence of an update, extrapolating the annual rate of growth assumes Australia now has close to three million rainwater tanks. This estimate could be rubbery, however. The unknown factor is the numbers of tanks which are self-installed without going through Council.

Although authorities generally do not recommend that households drink harvested rainwater, the supply can be used for a range of purposes, including washing, bathing, laundry and gardening. In some parts of Australia, it may be the main source of household water, while in others, it can supplement existing mains or town water supplies.

Rainwater Harvesting Australia, a committee comprised of irrigation industry leaders, advocates use of rainwater tanks as part of a blueprint for urban water management. A strategy is suggested (for South East Queensland), to consider re-use of storm water to improve the diversity and resilience of water supply. The strategy also recommends rainwater tanks and a basic form of passive irrigation for street trees.

The main criticism of rainwater tanks is that they breed mosquitoes and testing has shown sufficient pathogens in the water to dissuade many Councils from recommending it be used for drinking.

Despite the development of waste water recycling and desalination plants, Australia is still highly dependent upon rainfall as its main source of town water.

A Productivity Commission draft report in 2020 found that direct rainfall (surface or bulk water) or indirect (groundwater) accounted for 89% of all urban water in 2017-2018. The balance was attributed to recycled water (6%) and desalinated sea water (5%).

The report argued for a (national) integrated approach to urban water management, citing seven impediments to such an approach. The key stumbling block is the management of storm water, much of which flows out to sea.

For purposes of this discussion, the report criticises State government policies for mandating recycling or rainwater tank installation without a full cost benefit analysis.

“Many governments, for example, set recycled water targets, mandate the installation of household rainwater tanks or specify that recycled water is to be used in particular applications (such as for flushing toilets).

“These policy decisions are often set without clear and transparent evidence and analysis. They have driven significant investment and have sometimes resulted in higher costs than alternatives and failed to deliver their expected benefits.”

The report cited Marsden Jacob Associates, which found that the costs outweighed the benefits by more than $2000 per tank in most cases. Harvesting rainwater tends to be more costly than supply from centralised supply systems. For example, research in south-east Queensland found that the average cost of tank water was $9.22 per kL, substantially higher than the $4.40 per kL for potable water at the time.

The intangible benefits associated with rainwater tanks include reduced town water and storm water infrastructure costs and environmental benefits (reducing local storm water flows).

They also allow households to have flourishing gardens when water restrictions are in place.

A recent study by the CSIRO (apparently a first), found that 96% of participants identified benefits with their rainwater tanks. The most prominent were: watering during restrictions (88%), reduction in water consumption (82%) and benefit to environment (71%).

Cost-benefit analysis aside, I’d advocate for an integrated approach to installing rainwater tanks in every home and business in Australia. Surely we can solve the apparent downsides (including mosquitoes, water-born disease and contaminants (ash and debris from bushfires).

The key may be for Councils to implement an annual maintenance inspection and issue show-cause notices to those whose systems need work. As the CSIRO study found, only 58% of respondents in an ABS survey claimed to undertake any kind of rainwater tank maintenance. At present, householders have no legal obligation to undertake maintenance other than to minimize public health risks.

The practical advantage of a good rainwater tank system is that it ensures your allotment will dry out quickly once the rain stops.

Meanwhile, we have 9,200 litres of water stored to irrigate gardens through the traditionally dry winter.

It can’t be a bad thing.

FOMM back pages

Proposed Sun Tax Riles Solar Users

solar-sun-tax — Caloundra Uniting Church – a subliminal message for today’s story about a proposed Sun Tax

If you are one of the prudent people who installed solar panels over the last decade, you may end up being penalised by new energy market rules. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has recommended that energy retailers be given the option to charge solar owners a fee to export surplus energy to the grid.

Lobby group Solar Citizens wasted no time dubbing the proposal a ‘Sun Tax’ and it’s hard to see it any other way.

Solar Citizens says the proposal is ‘iniquitous’, as big coal and gas producers do not have to pay to send electricity to the network.

According to the AEMC, the levy will not greatly reduce the credits solar users earn from the network. AEMC’s modelling showed that the proposal would reduce the annual benefits for a typical solar household (4 to 6 kilowatts) from $970 to $900.

Households without solar will be better off by about $15 a year as the fee/levy/tax adjusts inequities in the system.

Electricity producers and retailers are seeking a solution to the ‘traffic jams’ caused by a two-way energy flow.

The nature of the domestic solar network means that electricity suppliers often receive surplus power when it is not needed, leading to power surges and blackouts. In other words, the network providers are looking to develop more efficient ways of handling the extra power. Some electricity utilities have already blocked solar users from exporting to the grid, or are restricting them to a narrow time band.

One might ask how the network got into this state – it’s not like solar power was invented yesterday.

But the AEMC says doing nothing is not an option, given that solar users will be financially penalised by being blocked from the grid. For example, a solar user who is blocked 50% of the time would lose about $300 a year in benefits.

The AEMC compiled a report on this sensitive topic in 2017, concluding then that the sun tax proposal be abandoned.

“Further work is needed in order to understand whether distributed energy resources create benefits, or impose costs on the distribution network,” the report said.

It would now seem the AEMC has decided the latter applies. The AEMC’s chief executive Benn Barr said traffic jams and blackouts were occurring now and would get worse as more solar connects to the grid.

“The grid infrastructure was built when power only flowed one way. Within 10 years half of all energy users will be using home energy options like solar.”

“We want to reassure solar customers that we’re not proposing they should all start paying export charges,” he said in a statement. “We expect networks to deliver pricing proposals in close consultation with consumers, which may include options where they don’t have to pay for exports.”

Opponents of this proposal say it is coming at a time when feed-in tariffs (the price paid for surplus solar power), are dropping.

It seems improbable now to look back at our first home solar system (2004) when the feed-in tariff was 54c per kilowatt hour. This has now dropped to an average of 8c kWh. I always thought the dual purposes of a solar system was (a) to cut greenhouse emissions and (b) reduce power bills as close to zero as possible.

Choice Magazine investigated this topic when it sent 10,000 domestic power bills to be analysed by Solar Citizens. The conclusion was that retailers are paying many Aussie households below ‘spot market’ rates for their excess solar (the spot price being the wholesale market).

Choice being Choice, the article suggests monitoring prices paid for excess generation and be prepared to switch retailers when there is a better deal on offer.

Energy economist Bruce Mountain told Choice there is no obligation on electricity retailers to pay for the power that is fed in to their network.

“Some offer nothing while others offer very high rates because they want to attract customers with solar.”

On the most recent data (2018-2019), Australia has 2.6 million households with PV solar systems. FOMM would like to think the main reason people decided to install solar is to lower our collective greenhouse emissions. In truth, solar has become more affordable and the competition to strike a deal is red-hot. Also, solar converts no doubt assumed they will at least reduce the cost of power (by earning credits from surplus power fed to the grid) or even have a zero power bill and be ‘in credit’.

CanStar Blue’s survey of household power bills in 2020 highlighted the reason for increased demand for solar. The average annual power bill for a non-solar household is $1614. In our first year with a 6 kilowatt solar panel system, our power bills were less than 20% of that. Now, according to She Who Pays the Bills, we are in credit to the tune of $108.

“Can we cash that out?” I asked hopefully, heart set on a new set of Hohner harmonicas. (Wait til winter’s over.SWPB)

Energy Locals founder Adrian Merrick advised Choice readers to use all their solar energy generation before feeding in to the grid.

The best way for households to use as much of the energy they produce is to use energy-hungry appliances like washing machines and dryers during daylight hours.

Merrick also suggests investing in emerging technologies such as solar diverters and buying storage batteries as battery prices come down.

If you have been thinking this is much ado about nothing, consider how governments are continually working to increase tax revenue, openly or by stealth.

Who would have imagined the four-year punitive regime Spanish solar owners endured. In 2015, Spain’s conservative Popular Party introduced a new tax ‘Impuesto el sol’ which, as you’d guess, is a Sun Tax.

Spain’s Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) said in 2015 that self-consumers would pay double tolls for each kWh imported from the grid, compared to non-solar users.

“The new law makes it uneconomic for households and businesses to install PV with the latter endangered to lose in competitiveness too,” UNEF said.

The law also prohibited PV systems up to 100 kW from selling electricity. Owners were required to donate the extra electricity to the grid for free.

Fortunately, a new Spanish government scrapped the ‘Sun Tax’ in late 2018. In its place, as Forbes magazine reported, was a system to encourage ‘collective self-consumption’.

The new energy regulation brought Spain in line with its European neighbours and closer to achieving the EU’s energy targets for 2030.

It also encourages collaborative solar ventures between neighbouring buildings – easier to do in population-dense Europe.

We might be drawing a long bow citing Spain here, but consider this insight on the AEMC proposal from Victoria Energy Policy Centre economist Bruce Mountain.

“It is like arguing that bicycles should be charged for using the roads,” he told Renew Economy’s Giles Parkinson.

“The uptake of solar was the one big success we have had in the energy transition.”

The AEMC is seeking submissions on its proposal, with a May 13 deadline.

FOMM back pages: https://bobwords.com.au/solar-no-easy-energy-fix/

Further reading https://reneweconomy.com.au/solar-tax-networks-will-be-able-to-charge-households-to-export-solar-power-to-grid/