Updated June 19, 2018 18:11:39
Restraint techniques were used on a mentally ill woman in Alice Springs, which may have contributed to fatal deep-vein thrombosis because appropriate expertise and facilities were not available, the Northern Territory's coroner has found. Coroner Greg Cavanagh handed down his findings on Tuesday into the death of Naomi Smith, 26, after she was discharged from Alice Springs Hospital in June 2017. In the few weeks between leaving hospital and dying, Ms Smith doused herself with fuel at a petrol station and set herself alight before being extinguished by police, an inquest into her death heard in April. She then returned to the petrol station on the same day and attempted to set herself on fire again, before making a third attempt the following day. If you need to talk to someone, call: Ms Smith had developed post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and depression after suffering long-term sexual and physical abuse by her father and brothers as a child. The Townsville woman had arrived in Alice Springs several months before her death in July 2017, and had a long history of self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Services in Alice Springs could not treat her complex needs Mr Cavanagh said services in Alice Springs were unable to provide and sustain the level of support needed to treat Ms Smith's complex needs. "The complexity of her condition was a challenge to the limited resources available in Alice Springs [the hospital] did not have the facilities and resources to involuntarily admit Naomi without sedation," he found. "Without the expertise of the forensic mental health team, the Alice Springs Hospital struggled." Mr Cavanagh said the hospital attempted to deal with the issues by pushing Ms Smith onto other services, "first police and then corrections". "Neither police nor corrections could deal with the escalating behaviour and distress of Naomi and their only option was to continually return Naomi to the mental health team [in Alice Springs]," he said. "That exposed the inability of the various government services in Alice Springs to coordinate their services or form a joint plan." 26 hospital visits in six weeks before death In a six-week period before her death, Ms Smith presented to Alice Springs Hospital 26 times, including the mental health unit and the intensive care unit. She also had 22 interactions with Alice Springs Police in less than a month, relating to her self-harm attempts. While in hospital, prison and the police watch house, Ms Smith made numerous attempts to self-harm. While in all three facilities, she was put into a restraint chair multiple times after continuing to self-harm. "It was agreed prison was not a safe place for her, particularly as there was no medical team on site after 8:00pm," Mr Cavanagh said. He said it was eventually decided Ms Smith would be transported to Darwin to be treated by the forensic mental health team. She was sedated and intubated for the flight to Darwin on July 3, and died in the intensive care unit of Royal Darwin Hospital four days later, with blood clots in her lungs. Restraint chair may have contributed to deep-vein thrombosis The blood clots were caused by deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), which had developed days or weeks earlier, and Ms Smith's morbid obesity was a significant risk factor to developing the condition, the coroner found. "It is a tragic irony that the efforts to save Naomi from killing herself may have led to her death," counsel assisting the coroner Kelvin Currie told the inquest. "She remained in need of appropriate forensic mental health expertise and facilities," Mr Cavanagh said. "Because that was not made available to Naomi, the various agencies resorted to restraint techniques that, given the physical health issues suffered by Naomi, may have contributed to the formation of DVT in her legs." "No criticism can be made of those doing their best in Alice Springs. Indeed the police were particularly caring and supportive of Naomi." The coroner recommended that the Top End Health Service "do all things necessary" to ensure that the forensic mental health team provided appropriate service to Central Australia so as to enable early intervention for complex cases. He also recommended a "multi-agency forum" be set up, including the Department of Health, ambulance services and NT Police and Corrections to "enable a proactive and clear multi-agency response to complex cases". If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467. Topics:suicide,community-and-society,law-crime-and-justice,mental-health,health,alice-springs-0870,nt,darwin-0800 First posted June 19, 2018 17:16:07 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-19/restraint-chair-mentally-ill-woman-self-harm-contributed-death/9887106
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Updated June 18, 2018 16:43:35
Groups representing survivors of child sexual abuse say the Federal Government's redress scheme is fundamentally flawed and should be rejected by the Senate. Beyond Abuse, and Survivors and Friends, have written an open letter to senators, who will begin debating the bill this afternoon, urging them to reject it in its current form. All the states and territories, along with the Catholic Church, Scouts Australia, the Salvation Army, YMCA Australia and the Anglican Church, have committed to the redress scheme recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to compensate people who were sexually abused in state institutions. The royal commission's report was released late last year after a four-year inquiry, and found tens of thousands of children had been sexually abused. If you or anyone you know needs help: Steven Fisher from Beyond Abuse said the bill had "the potential to further traumatise survivors in its present form". "One survivor said to me 'OK so I've been screwed by a priest, I've been screwed by the Church and now I'm going to be screwed by the Government'." Mr Fisher said a major concern was the scheme's settlement matrix which gives points depending on the severity of abuse, the effect on a survivor's life and where the abuse took place. The total number of points determine the payment. "It is our understanding that if you were abused in a church or house a survivor may score fewer points [than if they were abused in an institution]," Mr Fisher said. "It is a well known fact that the severity of the abuse has no bearing on potential psychological damage." He said he personally knew a victim who was chased and tongue kissed by a priest, and the victim later took their own life. 'Secondary victims' ignored in scheme Richie Scutt from Survivors and Friends said it was unfair secondary victims were left out of the scheme. Mr Scutt said loved ones of those who had suicided or died prematurely because of abuse should be included. Mr Scutt said another major concern was the funding limit on counselling which is to be set at $5,000. He said that was not what was recommended by the royal commission. Mr Fisher said the indexation of payments was cruel and could see some survivors go through the application process and end up with nothing. "On the face of it this looks like an exercise in saving money," he said Both groups said none of this information was on the redress scheme's website. Mr Fisher said he only got the detail in a phone conversation on Friday and was told the information would not go onto the website until after the legislation had passed. He said the process lacked transparency and looked sneaky. Earlier this year Victorian senator Derryn Hinch promised to push the Federal Government to expand the national redress scheme to cover physical and psychological abuse suffered by children in institutions as well as sexual abuse. The Australian Greens have indicated they would support the Federal Government's redress scheme even though the legislation is flawed. Rachel Siewert, the Greens' spokesperson on Family and Community Services, said she shared the concerns raised by abuse survivors, but on balance the party had decided to vote for it. "It is not perfect, it is not the best it can be, but in the circumstances we had the very difficult choice to make and we have come down on the side of let's get the scheme up and running but commit to making sure there are some improvements in the scheme," she said. Social Services Minister Dan Tehan defended the scheme. "My number one priority has been to have the National Redress Scheme up and running by 1 July," he said. "Survivors have waited too long for this and the fact that we are so close is a testament to their passion. "We will have a National Redress Scheme that covers the overwhelming majority of survivors who will be able to get an apology, access to treatment and a monetary payment." External Link:Letter to senators about redress scheme Topics:child-abuse,sexual-offences,royal-commissions,courts-and-trials,federal-government,federal---state-issues,hobart-7000,launceston-7250,tas First posted June 18, 2018 13:13:18 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-18/institutional-abuse-redress-scheme-requires-overhaul-survivors/9879438 Posted June 18, 2018 18:00:42
![]() Thousands of people are holding a candlelit vigil at the Melbourne park where 22-year-old comedian Eurydice Dixon's body was found last week. People began arriving at Princes Park in Carlton North about 5:00pm with blankets, candles and floral tributes. The organisers of the event said they wanted to offer a chance to both grieve and demonstrate the community's desire to end violence against women. Events are also being held in the regional Victorian cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool and Geelong, as well as other cities across Australia. ![]() Melbourne's Town Hall was bathed in orange light as the vigil got underway. It's a colour used by the United Nations to represent the fight to end violence against women and girls. Police officers have also been stationed around the park to provide safety and support to people attending the vigil, Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said. "My instructions to our police is not to be too visible," he said. "To be visible as people approach the park so that they know that they're safe ... but we want to take a step back and I think it's important that we do that tonight." He said forensic detectives had joined an investigation into the vandalism of the small shrine set up at the oval for Ms Dixon, which was defaced early Monday morning. "It'll be my joy to see those people charged and put before the courts," he said. ![]() He also confirmed that police will support the community's use of the oval as a memorial site for as long as is required. "We're open to what it is, we've got a lot of resources available to us and we'll continue to make sure we've got police visible on the scene for some time." Prime Minister addresses 'heartbreaking tragedy' Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addressed Ms Dixon's death in Parliament, where he said the tragedy highlighted the need to better educate young men. Mr Turnbull spoke after a question from Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt, who said many people were in "mourning" and "angry" about Ms Dixon's death and asked whether the Prime Minister accepted more needs to be done. "This is a heartbreaking tragedy but what we must do as we grieve is ensure that we change the hearts of men to respect women," Mr Turnbull said. "We start with the youngest men little boys, our sons and grandsons we make sure that they respect their mothers and their sisters and all the women in their lives. "As grown men we must lead by example and treat women with respect and we must ensure our cities, our towns, our country, everywhere is safe for every Australian to walk and work, whether it's a park, whether it's a workplace, whether it is in their own home. "I believe, Mr Speaker, that I speak for every honourable member in saying we must never, ever, ever tolerate violence against women. "Eurydice Dixon, we mourn her loss, we grieve with her family, and we say 'never again'." Topics:sexual-offences,law-crime-and-justice,women,community-and-society,womens-status,human-rights,men,domestic-violence,murder-and-manslaughter,crime,carlton-north-3054,vic,melbourne-3000,ballarat-3350,bendigo-3550,wodonga-3690,hobart-7000,launceston-7250,geelong-3220 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-18/eurydice-dixon-vigil-parks-melbourne-crowds/9880894 Fake scotch and tequila are being sold in liquor stores, and you don't need to look far to find it6/18/2018 Updated June 18, 2018 17:42:27
![]() Australian bottle shops are doing a roaring trade in fake imported spirits, leaving consumers short-changed and, in some cases, potentially putting drinkers at risk. Key points: Fake scotch and tequila are being sold in some Australian liquor storesThe main brand under investigation failed chemical tests in international laboratoriesTheir labels claim the spirits are premium imports. The facts suggest otherwise An ABC investigation has uncovered a cocktail of counterfeits and questionable labelling. Dodgy drinks are being served as house spirits in bars and pubs, and sold in independent liquor stores in the country's biggest markets, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show one rogue operator targeted by authorities was creating spirits by mixing raw ethanol and flavourings. Separately, the ABC found evidence several Australian companies are selling fake scotch whisky and tequila for as little as $26.99 a bottle. Both types of spirit have strict geographical requirements, enforceable under Australian law. Scotch must originate in Scotland, and tequila can only be produced in certain regions of Mexico. The evidence has angered authorities in the United Kingdom and Mexico, where the iconic drinks drive an export market worth billions of dollars. Several brands being investigated for questionable origin are bottled in Orange, NSW, by D'Aquino Bros Pty Ltd. ![]() The label of D'Aquino's The Black Scot whisky claims it is a "Product of Scotland". But the ABC has seen test results from an international laboratory that show The Black Scot lacks the unique chemical compounds that identify a true scotch. The ABC understands D'Aquino Bros is also one of three companies facing possible legal action accused of production of fake tequila. D'Aquino Bros declined to answer specific questions, however company staff told the ABC the products were made locally. When asked if the company's scotch and tequila were imported, one employee said: "No, they make them here in Orange." Another employee confirmed the company's tequila was "mixed locally". Both spirits often appear alongside more expensive legitimate products in independent bottle shops. A bottle of D'Aquino's Reeba Reeba tequila costs just $28.99 in Brisbane, something a liquor distributor who wanted to remain anonymous said was "impossible" for an import. "You have to wonder how they could get it in the country for that price. It definitely warrants further investigation," he said. ![]() Scotch is big business for the UK, with exports worth 4 billion pounds ($7 billion) annually. The job of protecting it falls to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). SWA deputy director of legal affairs Lindesay Low said: "Australia is a popular market for scotch, we're always keeping an eye on it." "We found quite a few years ago that there were a number of fake Scotches on the market." Prosecuting the fake brands is complicated because each state has its own local authorities that are responsible for policing the liquor industry. ![]() Shutting down sophisticated national distribution networks requires significant cooperation and coordination. "We've done quite a lot of work in Australia in the past," Mr Low said. Fernbrew a D'Aquino Group company did plead guilty to producing fake Scotch in 2007, after litigation that ran for more than three years. In the decade since, Australia's taste for tequila has exploded. Legitimate imports have doubled to more than 1 million litres a year, spawning a number of local imitations in the process. The centuries-old tradition of harvesting agave cactus by hand and distilling it to create a unique spirit is fiercely protected by Mexico's Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT). The tequila regulator says at least three Australian brands are "not linked" to the industry: BrandCompanyCRT commentsBlue Cactus TequilaD'Aquino Bros Pty LtdTequila falsificationReeba ReebaFernbrew Pty LtdTequila falsificationLos CabosGJ WholesaleTequila falsificationBarcodes and missing numbers A bottle of Blue Cactus Tequila can be bought for as little as $32.50 and looks like the real deal. However, close inspection of the label, reveals several red flags. Each brand of tequila is given a unique serial number, but regulator CRT has no record of the one on Blue Cactus, which a company called Fernbrew Pty Ltd claims to import. Australia's Trademarks Act requires tequila bottles to include the name of its "authorised producer" in Mexico, yet the CRT has no record of the one named by Blue Cactus. Finally, the Blue Cactus barcode was traced by the ABC to a Canadian company which specialises in swimwear, not spirits. Blue Cactus importer Fernbrew and D'Aquino Bros share the same address in Orange. While tequila must originate in Mexico, the label on Los Cabos proclaims it is a "Product of Australia" and continues: "Supplied to and bottled in Australia for GJ Wholesale." ![]() Approached by the ABC, GJ Wholesale spokesman Vernon Jepson indicated he was not responsible for the product's origins: "I don't make it at all, I just buy it from a wholesaler." Mr Jepson added he does not "import anything". Mexico's ambassador to Australia, Eduardo Pena Haller, has confronted the issue of fakes overseas. "We feel betrayed, because tequila was created in the state of Jalisco, and when somebody is producing tequila in another country then, well, they are cheating people," he said. The ambassador said tequila was "a gift from Mexico to the world". "If you are buying tequila that does not follow that procedure, well then you're just buying chemical substance," he said. These are just cases of mislabelling, however, in other cases the products are actually harmful. Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws detail other cases where it is claimed raw ethanol and flavourings were mixed to create fake spirits. Documents show the actual amount of alcohol present in counterfeit spirits can vary from what is stated on the label, leaving consumers short-changed. If that leaves you a little queasy, what's the expert advice to drinkers? Always check a spirit's origin and label carefully before you buy. What appears to be bargain booze could end up leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. Tomorrow: Part two of the ABC investigation and the documents that reveal how a fake alcohol kingpin evaded Australian authorities. ![]() First posted June 18, 2018 05:55:36 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-18/fake-alcohol-brands-being-sold-in-australian-bottle-shops/9845350 Updated June 18, 2018 16:43:35
Groups representing survivors of child sexual abuse say the Federal Government's redress scheme is fundamentally flawed and should be rejected by the Senate. Beyond Abuse, and Survivors and Friends, have written an open letter to senators, who will begin debating the bill this afternoon, urging them to reject it in its current form. All the states and territories, along with the Catholic Church, Scouts Australia, the Salvation Army, YMCA Australia and the Anglican Church, have committed to the redress scheme recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to compensate people who were sexually abused in state institutions. The royal commission's report was released late last year after a four-year inquiry, and found tens of thousands of children had been sexually abused. If you or anyone you know needs help: Steven Fisher from Beyond Abuse said the bill had "the potential to further traumatise survivors in its present form". "One survivor said to me 'OK so I've been screwed by a priest, I've been screwed by the Church and now I'm going to be screwed by the Government'." Mr Fisher said a major concern was the scheme's settlement matrix which gives points depending on the severity of abuse, the effect on a survivor's life and where the abuse took place. The total number of points determine the payment. "It is our understanding that if you were abused in a church or house a survivor may score fewer points [than if they were abused in an institution]," Mr Fisher said. "It is a well known fact that the severity of the abuse has no bearing on potential psychological damage." He said he personally knew a victim who was chased and tongue kissed by a priest, and the victim later took their own life. 'Secondary victims' ignored in scheme Richie Scutt from Survivors and Friends said it was unfair secondary victims were left out of the scheme. Mr Scutt said loved ones of those who had suicided or died prematurely because of abuse should be included. Mr Scutt said another major concern was the funding limit on counselling which is to be set at $5,000. He said that was not what was recommended by the royal commission. Mr Fisher said the indexation of payments was cruel and could see some survivors go through the application process and end up with nothing. "On the face of it this looks like an exercise in saving money," he said Both groups said none of this information was on the redress scheme's website. Mr Fisher said he only got the detail in a phone conversation on Friday and was told the information would not go onto the website until after the legislation had passed. He said the process lacked transparency and looked sneaky. Earlier this year Victorian senator Derryn Hinch promised to push the Federal Government to expand the national redress scheme to cover physical and psychological abuse suffered by children in institutions as well as sexual abuse. The Australian Greens have indicated they would support the Federal Government's redress scheme even though the legislation is flawed. Rachel Siewert, the Greens' spokesperson on Family and Community Services, said she shared the concerns raised by abuse survivors, but on balance the party had decided to vote for it. "It is not perfect, it is not the best it can be, but in the circumstances we had the very difficult choice to make and we have come down on the side of let's get the scheme up and running but commit to making sure there are some improvements in the scheme," she said. Social Services Minister Dan Tehan defended the scheme. "My number one priority has been to have the National Redress Scheme up and running by 1 July," he said. "Survivors have waited too long for this and the fact that we are so close is a testament to their passion. "We will have a National Redress Scheme that covers the overwhelming majority of survivors who will be able to get an apology, access to treatment and a monetary payment." External Link:Letter to senators about redress scheme Topics:child-abuse,sexual-offences,royal-commissions,courts-and-trials,federal-government,federal---state-issues,hobart-7000,launceston-7250,tas First posted June 18, 2018 13:13:18 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-18/institutional-abuse-redress-scheme-requires-overhaul-survivors/9879438 Posted June 14, 2018 19:51:37
The paddlesteamer is one of few in the world that still rely on wood stacks to burn through after preparation. ABC Regional: Damien Peck Topics:regional,volunteers,people,rivers,mannum-5238,sa http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-14/back-roads-wood-stacks/9871222 Australia has a silent crisis on its hands and the threat is looming just beneath the ground of the country's most fertile food bowls.
Dryland salinity, which occurs when vast underground salt deposits rise to the surface with groundwater tables, could leave the productive farm lands that inhabit more than half of the country desolate and barren. Federal Government estimates from the turn of the century put a $130 million price tag on lost agricultural production due to dryland and irrigation salinity. Now the Western Australian Auditor-General's office says they're unable to put a value on the impact the problem has on Australia's annual $155 billion agriculture industry because the full scale of the spread is unknown. For farmers like Kallum Blake, who grows grain and raises sheep in the heart of WA's Wheatbelt, the threat has already been realised. "It is a difficult issue. It's probably even hard to explain to someone that is farming in an area where they don't have salt to just understand how quickly and how fast it is taking over the landscape," he said. ![]() With the WA Auditor-General warning farmers could lose 25 per cent of their land to salinity in the next century, farmers are looking for solutions. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett) ![]() With the WA Auditor-General warning farmers could lose 25 per cent of their land to salinity in the next century, farmers are looking for solutions. ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett At his Katanning property, Mr Blake said fields where crops and pastures used to flourish were now being replaced by empty salt-scorched landscapes. "[We've lost] about 200-plus hectares since we bought the place, which for a small farm like ours is a significant impost. It's a trebling of size of that salt affected land since we taken over the place," he said. "It creeps up on the house and key dams and the shearing shed so we've got to do something about it." Great salty land Lending to its semi-arid climate, salt is naturally widespread in the Australian landscape. Hydrologist Dr Richard George, WA's Department of Agriculture and Regional Development, said there was a reason why salination occurs in WA in particular. "We've had thousands of years of airborne salts coming in with the rainfall [and] they've accumulated in the soil," Dr George said. "After European settlement native vegetation was cleared at a rapid to rate to make way for crops and livestock which disrupted fragile groundwater tables. "[There was] original vegetation that was deep rooted, those roots prevented rainfall getting down to the big salt stores that sit at tens of thousands of tonnes [of salt] per hectare. "As the landscape was cleared from the turn of the century, slowly that water entered the ground, raised the water tables [and] let the salt come to the [surface]." ![]() Kallum Blake says he has lost a third of his productive farmland to salinity since his father Terry bought the farm in the 1980s. (Kit Mochan) ![]() Kallum Blake says he has lost a third of his productive farmland to salinity since his father Terry bought the farm in the 1980s. Kit Mochan As the impacts of widespread land clearing began to be felt, salinity emerged as a much talked about political issue, undermining the nation's food security and multi-billion-dollar agricultural sector. In 2000, then Prime Minister John Howard announced a landmark initiative aimed at curbing its spread throughout the countries land and freshwater sources. The National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality was the first targeted national strategy of its kind to combat the problem and included an unprecedented $1.4. billion joint funding package from the Commonwealth, States and Territories. The then newly-found group made the grave assessment that salt affected land in WA, the worst affected state in the country, was increasing at a rate of one football field per hour. Agencies need better information However despite the warnings, WA Assistant Auditor General Jason Beeley said over the past decade government initiatives had fallen by the wayside. "One of the things we've found in the report is that the impact of salinity on agriculture and other impacts isn't actually very well understood and a lot of the estimates of what the impact is [are] quite out of date," he said. "The estimates of sort of 10 per cent [of WA farmland] and a cost of around half a billion dollars a year are quite outdated. They're up to 20 years old. "After 2008 essentially what's happened is the funding has dried up and the agencies involved have started to focus on individual assets within their portfolio and not broad landscape scale activity to address salinity. "What we've recommended is firstly agencies need much better information." ![]() The loss of key fresh water sources for livestock, such as this dam at Kallum Blake's property, is of huge concern for livestock producers. (ABC Rural: Kit Mochan) ![]() The loss of key fresh water sources for livestock, such as this dam at Kallum Blake's property, is of huge concern for livestock producers. ABC Rural: Kit Mochan The new report, tabled in WA Parliament in May, warned that without proper intervention the agriculture-reliant state could lose a quarter of its farmland to salt in under a century. WA's Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan said she was regretful over the previous Liberal-WA National government's handling of the issue. "I think it's pretty shocking that over the last eight years that this has been left unattended," she said. "But we now have to play catch-up and that catch-up in the first instance is understanding what happened." The McGowan Labor Government has resurrected the state's defunct Soil and Land Conservation Council that drives land regeneration projects in the state. The Minister said a geoscientific study of the landscape would begin later this month to assess the problem. "We really want to be looking at their new satellite imagery technology that is going to enable us to really much more closely chart what has been happening with salinity over the last couple of decades," she said. Economic solution for an ecological problem But for farmers like Mr Blake and his neighbour David Thompson, who are already dealing with the issue on the ground, practical solutions are needed now. "The government is never going to be able to put enough money in to solve the problem," Mr Blake said. "I mean it's a huge problem, but if they can find out where we as farmers can better invest our time and money, that's where I'd like to see a start. "They always talk about being short of water, well we're not actually short of water we've got lots of it. It's just too salty to do anything with. And if we can find a way to value-add salt water that's what I want to see." Mr Thompson, who has lost close to a third of his 2,600-hectare farm to dryland salinity, looks at the parched landscapes that surround his Badgebup farm through a different lens to most in the district. ![]() Would you eat pigface? The native succulent tastes like a "salty grape" and has won foodies over. (Kit Mochan) ![]() Would you eat pigface? The native succulent tastes like a "salty grape" and has won foodies over. Kit Mochan "I used to look across at salt flats and see nothing but bare salt, but now I look at it through different eyes for sure, and see what's actually growing there and I think we can actually get things to grow in it, things that are already there," he said. The farmer, who runs a traditional sheep and cropping enterprise, has planted more than 25,000 native saltbush shrubs which, unlike cereal crops, thrive in salty water. The replanting of native deep-rooted perennials, such as saltbush, is one of the most commonly touted salinity reduction strategies as they restore the groundwater table to its natural state. But for Mr Thompson, who has been selling the bush and other native plants like the succulent pigface into high end restaurants as a bushfood for three years, the benefits for farmers could be two-fold. "I did do a lot of walking, and talking to the chefs and they wanted to know what else we had. I'd just walk and taste things," he said. ![]() WA farmer David Thompson says if the planting of salt bush was commercially profitable for farmers, Australian farmers would jump at the opportunity. (ABC Rural: Kit Mochan) ![]() WA farmer David Thompson says if the planting of salt bush was commercially profitable for farmers, Australian farmers would jump at the opportunity. ABC Rural: Kit Mochan "Our neighbours around here I've talked to them and they're all pretty keen to be involved and I've asked them all if we can come and pick their salt bush or can we plant salt bush on their farms on their degraded country and they've all been very supportive. "I think the way of the future will be to get a co-operative of growers together and plant these things and actually make some money. "I think if you want to have a good ecological solution you need economic benefit, you won't get it otherwise I don't think." Farmers are up to the challenge When asked what he would do if the bush food trend ended as a short-lived fad, Mr Thompson said the plants were of still of great benefit to the environment and doubled as a sheep feed. "They're pumps. They will pump water. Living plants will pump water so that's how we have to get the saline country. "I'd like to see three or four billion plants in the Wheatbelt actually growing, pumping water out and sort of saving the land that we have left. "You can't just meander along and buy land that doesn't have salt on it. We've got to deal with the problem we've got. Otherwise future generations will say 'well what have you done'?" ![]() David Thompson says the government has to back new and innovative ways to fix salt-degraded land. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett) ![]() David Thompson says the government has to back new and innovative ways to fix salt-degraded land. ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett The Auditor-General estimates that 80 per cent of the Wheatbelt would have to be revegetated to remove salinity from the landscape, which would spell the end for meat and grain production in the state. "That really isn't practical," Mr Beeley said. "[What] we're recommending [is that government] agencies essentially need to play their part in helping communities live with salinity [so they can] adapt and mitigate it." Mr Blake said, whether it was a new crop or industry, Australian farmers were up to the challenge. "Farmers are pretty quick to adapt, especially in WA. We're the technology leaders in the world for seeding systems and livestock production, so I think if there was technology there that was going to work for farmers we'd take it," he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-06-02/salinity-crisis-for-australias-farmland-but-farmers-fight-back/9826834 |
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