New Rules coming from Biodiversity and Native Vegetation.

Hello Members, I have been asked to post this in the General Discussion Section.
It is also in the PMAV Section.

Well fellow Members, they are at it again. This time it is Biodiversity and Native Vegetation Victoria.

https://engage.vic.gov.au/native-vegetation-review

The above Department has released their proposed amendments to the current Government Biodiversity Regulations, with a clause added, asking you the stake holders, to make submissions on any proposed changes that directly affect you.

Note: Submissions close at 5:00pm AEST on 5th February 2017

The initial Web site, takes you to a paper that then directs you to a choice of 3 other related sites with-in the department. Each one of these sites has multiple off-shoot links, but eventually one will lead you to the Document Library where you will find a choice of 6 Downloads.
Some of these are multi page booklets up to 1.5 MB.

However, after browsing through the top 4, you find that only the last 2 Docs are relevant, that is to having an actual say in the process, or even thinking you can influence their outcome, ahem, all before these draft amendments are voted into law.

It would appear to me, the overall outcome of this process is already signed and sealed, there they are in all their glory, the new rules already typed up in fancy glossy booklets, and enough other associated paperwork to sink a ship. Surely this is just about keeping all those paper shufflers in city offices, from becoming bored and fabricating paper planes etc.

Here is something else to ponder on, if you are applying for a mining claim and in due process you have to advertise your intentions in the newspaper, as required by law. The Department clearly states that this Public Notification is NOT to be advertised over a Holiday period.

Now isn’t that strange that the Department of Biodiversity has done the exact opposite to this. Could this be to perhaps by-pass people spending time on their annual leave, that maybe their minds will be elsewhere, perchance thinking of Family, or away on Vacation, trips etc.

That leaves much less time to be tied down with this gobbledygook, and less chance of lots of submissions rolling in. Members should have a read of the ludicrous “proposals”

A mining friend has told me of a ruling he has received in regards to a lone gum tree on his proposed mining claim. He has been directed by Biodiversity, that no machinery is to driven within so many metres of its base, fair enough you may think?

But what if they direct you also as they have, to not even walk within this boundary, you cannot go up on foot and hug the tree, even kiss it, or anything else.

Members this is the sort of bl00dy mindedness we have to put up with, does this mean in the future, that anyone, (That means You), cannot walk, sit, or picnic under a tree?? Especially in a National Park ehh?

Detector operators, don’t think these new rules will not apply to us, look at the proposed Heritage Parks that are next on their agenda, they will include the Central Gold Fields.

Even our local Mayor here in Maryborough is setting up a Steering Committee with other Councillors from Bendigo and Ballarat.

It’s more than the thin end of the wedge, things are on the move!

Do you want to let these green zealots have their way, without so much as a whimper from the detectorist / miner?

Concerned Member. Ozgold.

Quote: Ozgold what do you know about this :- Even our local Mayor here in Maryborough is setting up a Steering Committee with other Councillors from Bendigo and Ballarat.
wombat.
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This is a reply I posted today, to Wombats question, I feel you may get something out of it also. cheers ozgold.

Hi Bill.

With your question about our local situation, there was a council report in our Maryborough Advertiser newspaper over the last few weeks.

There had been a motion put forward about this new parks push and our new Mayor was very enthusiastic to start up a Steering Committee, and of course the motion was carried.

How these representatives of the Central Goldfields Shire, delude themselves in their wishful thinking, that by the creation of these New Heritage Parks which are (covering the majority of old gold workings and surrounds), therefore the surrounding towns will prosper.

Hopefully or even thinking this will suddenly create thousands of tourists into visiting these areas and creating local jobs (Whereas it will no doubt be locked up to the mining and detecting public). We have many National Parks throughout the State already, do we see vast numbers of local and overseas tourists flocking there to walk in wonderment through them?? Some yes, great numbers NO.

How is this going to change visitor numbers in Central Victoria, when you think about it, we the detector and small mining community are the people who actually walk these forests on a regular basis. I would say we have a lot more regard for the biodiversity in our work place, than what some visitors to here might bother to care about, as they wander aimlessly along some bush walking track with a camera.

If Members are too busy to read or even care of the imminent proposed changes that will affect us all in the end. Don't say you weren't told about it, these matters need addressing now, so have a good think about your enjoyed pass-time, or perhaps even your profession and don't forget the gold that is still waiting out there, yet soon to be out of your reach.

WA will not allow all of the Eastern States to invade their Patch, this you can be sure of!!

Concerned Prospector. ozgold.

I do not live in Victoria and is a worry for other states as well.

WMG

I am going to try and get a meeting set up with our local Mayor here in Maryborough to discuss the issue about Parks and find out where the Maryborough Shire stands in regards to prospecting.
wombat

Wombat wrote:I am going to try and get a meeting set up with our local Mayor here in Maryborough to discuss the issue about Parks and find out where the Maryborough Shire stands in regards to prospecting.
wombat

good going wombat, cant wait to here their response
Steve.

Wombat wrote:I am going to try and get a meeting set up with our local Mayor here in Maryborough to discuss the issue about Parks and find out where the Maryborough Shire stands in regards to prospecting.
wombat

Hi Bill.

This is a clip I kept when our Mayor was in office last time. Do you think he may have changed??

Best Regards ozgold

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Goldfields Promotion Maryborough Advertiser 27 – 5 - 11

Councils join forces in heritage plan
Eleven Central Victorian councils have joined forces to promote the Victorian Goldfields in what has been described as an unprecedented move.

The councils want the Victorian Goldfields declared as the first National Heritage Region.
The project partners include Rural City of Ararat, Campaspe Shire, Central Goldfields Shire, City of Ballarat, City of Greater Bendigo, Golden Plains Shire, Hepburn Shire, Loddon Shire, Mount Alexander Shire, Northern Grampians Shire, Pyrenees Shire, Heritage Victoria, Parks Victoria, Regional Development Victoria and Tourism Victoria.

Central Goldfields shire mayor Chris Meadows-Taylor said the sole objective was to strengthen the position of the goldfields on a national and international level.

"We know there is a lot of work needed for infrastructure such as roads and signs," he said.
"There are a lot of gaps which we know we have to fill. We now need a strong business case to say this is what our priorities are. Major funding will bring it up to a international visitor standard.

This area has so much potential. The Central Goldfields has already been declared an area of disadvantage and this could create jobs. In the past there has been difficulty getting recognition but this has all three levels of government working together, not including the 11 municipalities. It's never been done so before."

Cr Meadows-Taylor said the group would seek funding in early 2012. "I think we have a great case," he said. "What we have in our favour is a big cross regional project."

On behalf of the PMAV Central Goldfield Branch and myself I would like to wish all our members, their families and friends a Happy and joyest of New Years. I hope you all have a healthy and safe 2017, and all your dreams come true.
I think in 2017 we will see many changes in our Mining laws, most of them not good. And we will have an up hill battle on our hands in all States to change what laws we have now for the good of prospecting. We the Prospector/Miner need to unite in all States as one to let the Governments know we will not except their mining laws and we want to maintain our Heritage Right to continue prospecting as our fore fathers did and not except the way Government is trying to lead us away from our hobby by new restrictive laws. Everyone NOW needs to join their State fighting force like the PMAV, NAPFA, or start one up in the States that don't have one. Or by 2020 we can say "Good Bye" to prospecting as we know it now. And the Greens would love to see.
Here in Victoria we are going to have a VERY BIG fight on our hand in 2017 in regards to these new perpetual State & National Park that are going to be set up around the Golden Triangle and on the Eastern side of our state by our State Government. If we loose this fight we could almost certainly say "Good Bye" to prospecting as we know it in VIc.
Please don't leave it up to the next guy to do your fighting for you. If we all thought like this we will all surely die a slow death and loose our Heritage Right for ever.
You can see what Ozgold has put up in regards to the Maryborough Council Submission in 2011. I don't know if this has changed or not. Or it was the seed that was planted then, is the seed now growing into these State & National Parks that we are going to fight in 2017.
wombat

Maybe another Eureka Stockade is needed. By the look of it the rules will go ahead no matter what. The Andrews government doesn't give a rats xxxx about anyone else other than himself and his ministers. Most previous governments in the last 30 odd years have all done the same, sold off and locked up PUBLIC owned land from the PUBLIC. I can certainly see millions of overseas visitors flocking to our goldfields to look at the feral animals and blackberries that will likely overrun these parks because they look so picturesque.

There is great difficulty in finding the documents and then you can't download them to look at them other than to print them.

Regards Axtyr.

If you want to have your own copy of the document then email it to yourself if you can.

I wonder if the government will buy back our detectors if they effectively ban detecting in Victoria?

Regards Axtyr.

I wonder if the government will buy back our detectors if they effectively ban detecting in Victoria?

Regards Axtyr.[/quote]

Mate you have got a better chance winning Tatslotto than the Government doing a buy back on detectors.
wombat

I've got a 10 year miners right and it is a license so the government will have to deal with that.

I don't like your chances Uncle Bob. They just cancelled all our shooters licences prior to the 1997 gun buy back.

If Dan wants my licence then he can buy it back pro rata for $100,000.00 per unused year. Then I'll be happy. The governments are hopeless, they don't see the people that use public land as the public. There's only one way to treat them, like the xxxx they are and vote them out of office.

Regards Axtyr.

Oh no, 2 more years to go before the next election. Untold damage can be done between now and then by Dodgy Dan.

Axtyr.

Well, it appears that a lot of Victorians have a short memory and vote labor in....no matter what!
How the ground has stayed open this long is a mystery to me.

Axtyr wrote:I don't like your chances Uncle Bob. They just cancelled all our shooters licences prior to the 1997 gun buy back.

If Dan wants my licence then he can buy it back pro rata for $100,000.00 per unused year. Then I'll be happy. The governments are hopeless, they don't see the people that use public land as the public. There's only one way to treat them, like the xxxx they are and vote them out of office.

Regards Axtyr.

Hey Axtyr.
The xxxxxxx get everything they ever need and the government has given them.
We,  the users of the natural world (crown land) should have more rights reserved and it doesn't cost a cent to do it, as it's already there, but they spend untold $$$$$$ on the xxxxxxx......
That just doesn't make any sense to me.  I'm gobsmacked.

It doesn't matter who you vote for (Liberal, Labour) etc.. One ***** out, one ***** in. Both parties are run by the bureaucrats and it's their agenda which governs this country. Freedom is just an illusion created by the government. Like america, their goal is to erode away our "freedoms" or lack of it, and destroy the middle class with financial burden like higher taxes and increased living costs. They want us dependant on them so they can control us. If enough people were awake to this then we could fight back.
It wont just stop with our hobby. We've seen more and more restrictions on fishing, camping ,shooting etc over the years, and unfortunately they're not going to stop.
By the way, happy new year.....

Liquid Gold wrote:It doesn't matter who you vote for (Liberal, Labour) etc.. One ***** out, one ***** in. Both parties are run by the bureaucrats and it's their agenda which governs this country. Freedom is just an illusion created by the government. Like america, their goal is to erode away our "freedoms" or lack of it, and destroy the middle class with financial burden like higher taxes and increased living costs. They want us dependant on them so they can control us. If enough people were awake to this then we could fight back.
It wont just stop with our hobby. We've seen more and more restrictions on fishing, camping ,shooting etc over the years, and unfortunately they're not going to stop.
By the way, happy new year.....

Look at most restrictions of freedoms and see that the greens behind them, look a little further and understand they are the other side of labor.
I agree both the main parties are sell outs, but labor/greens are when you lose on fishing, camping ,shooting, detecting/prospecting.

Wombat wrote:On behalf of the PMAV Central Goldfield Branch and myself I would like to wish all our members, their families and friends a Happy and joyest of New Years. I hope you all have a healthy and safe 2017, and all your dreams come true.
I think in 2017 we will see many changes in our Mining laws, most of them not good. And we will have an up hill battle on our hands in all States to change what laws we have now for the good of prospecting. We the Prospector/Miner need to unite in all States as one to let the Governments know we will not except their mining laws and we want to maintain our Heritage Right to continue prospecting as our fore fathers did and not except the way Government is trying to lead us away from our hobby by new restrictive laws. Everyone NOW needs to join their State fighting force like the PMAV, NAPFA, or start one up in the States that don't have one. Or by 2020 we can say "Good Bye" to prospecting as we know it now. And the Greens would love to see.
Here in Victoria we are going to have a VERY BIG fight on our hand in 2017 in regards to these new perpetual State & National Park that are going to be set up around the Golden Triangle and on the Eastern side of our state by our State Government. If we loose this fight we could almost certainly say "Good Bye" to prospecting as we know it in VIc.
Please don't leave it up to the next guy to do your fighting for you. If we all thought like this we will all surely die a slow death and loose our Heritage Right for ever.
You can see what Ozgold has put up in regards to the Maryborough Council Submission in 2011. I don't know if this has changed or not. Or it was the seed that was planted then, is the seed now growing into these State & National Parks that we are going to fight in 2017.  
wombat

Hi Bill.

My sentiments exactly Mate, We all need to stick together on this one.

Here below are other articles from the Maryborough Advertiser, that I have gleaned from their archives.

Cheers to all ozgold.

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A step closer to heritage region Maryborough Advertiser, Saturday, May 21st, 2011.

Becoming Australia’s first heritage region would be the best thing to happen to the goldfields since gold was first struck, Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor believes.

“You’d have to say the stars are all lined up on this one,” the Central Goldfields mayor said this week. He was speaking after a meeting at Maryborough’s Community Hub. At that meeting on Monday, four state government agencies and most of the 11 municipalities who have partnered up on the project were represented.

They were there to begin moving on the groundwork necessary to see the Victorian Goldfields declared the nation’s first National Heritage Region.

Achieving this would produce a domino effect of positives, believes Cr Meddows-Taylor who is convening the project control group overseeing the exercise.

The Central Goldfields, situated in the midst of the Goldfields that stretches from Ballarat to the Grampians to Rutherglen, could particularly expect to benefit.

“If we get the investment in additional tourism that will mean more jobs, enhancement of our heritage assets and improved liveability,” Cr Meddows-Taylor said.

The project partners have already secured $90,000 in state and federal funding to get the ball rolling. Over the next few months these dollars will go toward engaging consultants to complete a scoping study.

The study’s aim will be to identify what “gaps need to be closed” before the region is ready to take on the title and fulfil the tourism expectations of becoming the nation’s first National Heritage region.

By September the scoping study is expected to be ready for the partners to make a sufficiently strong business case to win the millions in federal Regional Development Australia Fund support needed for the vision to become reality.

The partners have identified securing World Heritage listing for the region as an important step in achieving their vision. “It’s really being driven by the municipalities, by the grassroots,” Cr Meddows-Taylor said.“The opportunity is clearly better than it has ever been before.

“We are now calling for expressions of interest to do a major scoping study to look at getting up to top international visitation standards.“There are a lot of gaps that have to be closed in terms of infrastructure, training access and packaging arrangements.”

Cr Meddows-Taylor identified the Chinese market as one holding particular promise for gold heritage tourism.

“I think it’s going to be one of the most exciting developments for the goldfields since the gold rush,” he said.

He said the region generally has low socio economic status and is in urgent need of developing “new economy” jobs and added liveability.

“Tourism is key to this,” he said.

I say, a load of BS.

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Council moves on plans to preserve goldfields heritage Angela Tucker, Friday, December 23rd, 2016.

Works to preserve the goldfields heritage have come a step closer with Central Goldfields Shire Councillors supporting plans for a Victorian Goldfields Heritage Development and Opportunity Summit.

At the ordinary council meeting earlier this week, Councillors endorsed a proposal to conduct a summit to champion and progress key priority initiatives which will enable goldfields heritage to create economic development, jobs and liveability attractions.

Councillor Chris Meddows-Taylor who prepared the majority of the report, moved the motion to establish a working group with key partners and conduct a Victorian Goldfields Heritage Development and Opportunity Summit.

“This is essentially and critically about economic development and job creation,” Cr Meddows-Taylor said.

“Often we talk about heritage with the view that we might preserve our heritage because it’s important to us.

This is talking about how we can use our wonderful goldfields heritage to create economic benefits, job creation and enhance liveability


For more on this story see Page 4 of The Advertiser, Friday, December 23. 2016.

In Dreams I walk with you! NOT.

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Can someone post up a list of all the contact details of the organisations we should support and join etc......State by State would be good.

Hi Harb
I hope this will help.
wombat

Hi everyone,

The Prospectors and Miners Association of Tasmania is now up and running.
Our website is: http://www.pmat.org.au
Our Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/prospectorsandminerstasmania

I would encourage anyone who enjoys fossicking and prospecting in Tasmania to join up. You can download a membership application from the website. Only standing "truly by each other" will we get a better deal for fossickers and prospectors in Tasmania than the current dog's breakfast of laws and regulations.

Cheers to everyone who contributed, and those who encouraged us to associate, particularly NAPFA and PMAV.

Miguel de Salas
President,
Prospectors and Miners Association of Tasmania

will help.

To help fight this proposal we need everyone that does not belong to the PMAV to join NOW.( If anyone needs joining forms just let me know.) If this get through we can say "GOOD BYE" to prospecting in the Golden Triangle. If it becomes a National Park under Heritage rules that's it, you might as well put your detector away in a cupboard and leave it there.
This will be a bigger fight than the Iron Bark forest fight back in the late 80's. I have been ringing around to let most of the PMAV executive members know of what is happening. But being holiday time, right now it is hard.
wombat

Gday. Regarding the post above. What is a PMAV executive member. Are there different membership levels. Are there extra benefits. Yes I paid my membership for five years but I Havnt heard about this executive membership before or is it a boys club.
Regards bigfella.

big fella wrote:Gday. Regarding the post above. What is a PMAV executive member. Are there different membership levels. Are there extra benefits. Yes I paid my membership for five years but I Havnt heard about this executive membership before or is it a boys club.
Regards bigfella.

Hi Tom
The Executive members that I mentioned is the head branch of the PMAV. These members are voted in by all members at the annual PMAV AGM in OCT each year. I sat on this board for two years. (I resigned last year so I can spend more time with my wife and do a bit of travelling, we hope) The excutive meetings are held in Melb each month. But I'm still the President of the Central Goldfield Branch of the PMAV. I can also a sure you it is not a special boy's club or a special membership. If you come to any of the AGM's you would know this.
Cheers Mate
wombat

Hello Members.

I would like to thank you for showing your concern over these important new proposed changes, about to be forced upon us by Government Departments with their consultants, and so called Stake Holders.   It is interesting to seek out as I have recently, who these appointed people and group representatives actually are.

These below are the members of the Reference group that have the vote on proposed rule changes, to our current laws that govern what we can and can’t do. in and on Our Public Land.

The Organization: - I am sure you would all like to see who is speaking and voting for our rights.

G ?  Chair – Joanne Duncan.

G.   Victorian National Parks Association.

G.   Urban Development Institute of Australia.

Us.  Minerals Council of Australia. (Victorian Division).  

G.  Trust for Nature.

G.   Environmental Farmers Network.

Us.   Victorian Farmers Federation.

G.   Environmental Justice Australia.

G.   Municipal Association of Victoria.

G.   City of Greater Bendigo.

G.   Hume City Council.

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Reference Group Make Up. There are 11, Voters. Green = 9 Votes.  Us = 2 Votes.

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As you can picture after reading who represents us on these matters, you notice it’s the same old story that the Governments have used for years.  Stack the committee with Green groups or like people that can out vote the opposition at every turn.

Don’t you think it is time we stood up to be counted on this, look what happened in America recently, the people are fed up to the back teeth with being sold up the river, and down the BL00DY thing as well.

Another happening I will point out is, that I and other friends have attended a number of so called consultation meetings or events with Govt. Departments over many years now, (So that we can have our say about their proposals). Haa, Haa.

The modus operandi goes like this, all the Green groups and their ilk are informed firstly about the up and coming event, then our groups are eventually invited along, but mind you, there are only limited places left to fill, as there is a great interest in the meeting.

So you turn up at the venue and it is overflowing with numbers, and as usual there may be 3 or 4 representing the detecting, prospectors and miners groups, the others being all Green minded and then also the local environmentalists, naturalists, etc.  
How can we win?? The likes of the detecting clubs and associations have to all stand up to be counted.

The PMAV Inc. Should inform all interest groups to join-in on this too. Thanks Bill can you get them on the go please.

What has happened to The Bush Users Group, the 4WD Clubs, The Shooters Association. The Honey Bee Boys, The Bush Campers & Caravan Groups, The Victorian Fishing Clubs and Associations, The Victorian Timber Industry. Note: Victorian Farmers are to be affected by the outcomes from these changes.

Read the green lobby Document I came across recently, they are going after everything, be warned.

Come on Men Sic em.  ozgold.

Hello Members.

More Reading for Gold finders and the concerned Farmers.

Don't forget, there is Gold on Private Land, and more of it.

Cheers ozgold.

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They are not stopping with our Forests, they want their say over Private land. Read below article.

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Reference (you can download the full article for free!)
Hardy MJ, Fitzsimons JA, Bekessy SA and A Gordon (2016). Exploring the permanence of conservation covenants. Conservation Letters DOI: 10.1111/conl.12243 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12243/abstract
This entry was posted in New paper and tagged Private land conservation on April 21, 2016 by matjhardy.
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Outline of Newspaper article

Conserving the important biodiversity that exists on private land is a growing part of international conservation efforts. In many countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States, conservation policies often support the implementation of conservation covenants and easements.                                                                                            

These are legally binding agreements with private landholders and are registered on the title of the property. These agreements are designed to last forever (‘in perpetuity’), and oblige current and future owners to protect the ecological values on their property.          

Key to these agreements is that the ecological values be permanent and secure, ensuring that they remain in place through time. For this reason such agreements are designed to be difficult to remove, in most cases requiring authority from multiple parties, including a government Minister.      

This degree of security is an important element in the formal recognition of conservation covenants and easements as Privately Protected Areas (PPAs) that are counted towards international conservation targets.

However, there are threats to these agreements that could affect their longevity and thus the security of the ecological values they protect.

Pressures from mining, changes of property ownership, changing economic conditions and alterations in government policy, raise questions about the permanence of conservation agreements on private land.

As a result, some conservation stakeholders view these private conservation areas as less secure than public conservation areas.
Collecting data from all 13 major covenanting programs across Australia, we set out to understand just how permanent these agreements actually are.

We looked at instances where covenants had been released (taken off title) or breached (where a landholder had not met their obligations to protect the ecological value, but where the covenant had stayed on title), and the reasons behind these.

We found that out of the 6,818 multi-party covenants (those that require authority from multiple parties for removal), only 8 had been removed from title. The data on breaches were less clear, mainly because breaches are very difficult for covenanting organisations to identify. However we did find 71 known cases across Australia where covenant obligations had not been met.

Our study suggests that covenants are an important and enduring mechanism for conserving biodiversity on private land. With a focus on private land conservation policy, we use the results from this case study to highlight the importance of monitoring and reporting on releases and breaches to understand why they are occurring and to ensure that PPAs remain effective in their contribution to international conservation efforts into the long-term.

We also provide recommendations for covenanting organisations on how to improve their monitoring programs.

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For more enlightenment hit this Link, then scroll down to the bottom right, (See More (Click On here)

https://engage.vic.gov.au/native-vegetation-review/review-project-history

Hello All.

Here is another little wrinkle I heard the other day. When at a recent meeting of the Dept. and small miners, it was pointed out to them that a new system was to come on line soon.

This is a new way to check, (spy) on any illegal mining happening through-out Victoria. It is a system of real time satellite imagery, connected to all mining applications applied for within the State.

The Sat images are automatically compared every day with the last existing satellite photos from the day before, and an alarm is raised if any new soil or vegetation disturbance is detected.

This means that the flying squad will be on you in no time, and you will be caught red handed in the act.

Ain’t this modern World marvelous?

The Miners were told that the small operators are leaving the forests in droves, mainly because of the excess rules, regulations, cost and paperwork, not to mention Native title that makes it all too hard to go on.

Those small miners are now moving to pegging claims over private land holdings, this is where the sh!t begins.

Even though it is on Private Land, similar rules apply, re, biodiversity assessment, council approval, water- catchment authority, land offsets, and on it goes.

Therefore the Department have suddenly found an ever increasing number of illegal mining breaches mainly on private land.

So now you know how they are going to police these infringements in the near future, it will not be local department staff snooping about anymore, they have actually been phased out. (More locals out of work).


Now Big brother will be watching down at an office in Melbourne, with his eye in the sky so to speak.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility either, for them to keep tabs on all private farm-land, re vegetation removal, including even any native grasses, and those plants that are really weeds like Chinese scrub, now that’s a no-no, definitely.

Please don’t get me started.

Cheers Ozgold.

Its all scare mongering.....

If google earth cant afford to keep their imagery even close to up to date, in most cases its years old.....the thought of a two bit operation in Australia doing it is ridiculous.

there are next to no organisations in the world other than the US military that could monitor anything of use to catch anyone illegally mining in Oz

This is just a plot to scare people into thinking they could get caught......

"Realtime" satillites are all but non existant, and the ones that are are not positioned over the southern hemisphere, and cost billions of dollars to run each year........like I said, its BS

ozgold 041 wrote:Hello All.

Here is another little wrinkle I heard the other day. When at a recent meeting of the Dept. and small miners, it was pointed out to them that a new system was to come on line soon.

This is a new way to check, (spy) on any illegal mining happening through-out Victoria. It is a system of real time satellite imagery, connected to all mining applications applied for within the State.

The Sat images are automatically compared every day with the last existing satellite photos from the day before, and an alarm is raised if any new soil or vegetation disturbance is detected.

This means that the flying squad will be on you in no time, and you will be caught red handed in the act.

Ain’t this modern World marvelous?

The Miners were told that the small operators are leaving the forests in droves, mainly because of the excess rules, regulations, cost and paperwork, not to mention Native title that makes it all too hard to go on.

Those small miners are now moving to pegging claims over private land holdings, this is where the sh!t begins.

Even though it is on Private Land, similar rules apply, re, biodiversity assessment, council approval, water- catchment authority, land offsets, and on it goes.

Therefore the Department have suddenly found an ever increasing number of illegal mining breaches mainly on private land.

So now you know how they are going to police these infringements in the near future, it will not be local department staff snooping about anymore, they have actually been phased out. (More locals out of work).


Now Big brother will be watching down at an office in Melbourne, with his eye in the sky so to speak.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility either, for them to keep tabs on all private farm-land, re vegetation removal, including even any native grasses, and those plants that are really weeds like Chinese scrub, now that’s a no-no, definitely.

Please don’t get me started.

Cheers Ozgold.

It doesn't surprise me that something like this is in the pipeline. Looking for daily changes on satellite imagery is not that difficult. It is spying and whats more disgusting is on your own property too. The government is making it clear that you own nothing, shut the hell up and do as we say. They wont stop until we say enough is enough! We are taking back what's ours.
There's going to come a breaking point where the little people fight back against the tyranny.

Harb wrote:Its all scare mongering.....

If google earth cant afford to keep their imagery even close to up to date, in most cases its years old.....the thought of a two bit operation in Australia doing it is ridiculous.

there are next to no organisations in the world other than the US military that could monitor anything of use to catch anyone illegally mining in Oz

This is just a plot to scare people into thinking they could get caught......

"Realtime" satillites are all but non existant, and the ones that are are not positioned over the southern hemisphere, and cost billions of dollars to run each year........like I said, its BS

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Hi Harb.

Times are moving on Mate, I realize what it used to be like with Sat imagery, have you not heard that even large Shire Councils are using this latest Sat gear, being to look for building breaches with-out a permit? All done from the chair in an office now a days.

The things that Government Departments can do now would amaze you, we the plebs are always kept in the dark. The public are treated like sheep as you would know.

Don't under-estimate BIG Brother these days.

Didn't someone post not long ago on our forum, Re, the Govt. Moto. Hello Darkness my old friend .

Cheers ozgold

Just to keep you all informed, the PMAV are setting up a meeting with the Maryborough Mayor for next week to discus about there plans of a National Heritage Park for the triangle region.
wombat