Action Thread about HighBanking in NSW

brilliant :Y: :Y: :Y:

This issue reminds me of a similar issue here in QLD concerning 'free camping' where SOME councils and authorities tried to ban caravans and motor homes from accessing roadside camping spots and directed travelers to stay in caravan parks ( many of them owned and leased out by councils).

They argued there was environment impact from caravan waste and garbage and the van parks lessors lobbied government about loss of their income.

Long story short...one town in QLD reversed its approach to being anti Vans/Motorhomes when the campers kept receipts of money spent on fuel, food, supplies etc purchased in that town and showed the economic impact of loss of those travellors should they go elsewhere.

That town became 'RV friendly' and even invested money into RF friendly services like free (sewage) dump and water points.

In the same story..the Van and Motor home manufacturers made their Vans /RV more environmentally sound being 'self contained' for grey water and a leading Van and Motorhome association started a 'leave no trace' campaign adopted by vaners and RV'ers.

There is a learning in this.

For governments to change there must be a demonstrable impact that citizens offer that outweighs or negates their stupid laws.

In the case of fossicking and prospecting we need more than one argument and to me there are five:

• economic impact of our hobby by demonstrating revenue generated for regional towns and areas[/*]

• tourism impact from promoting prospecting/fossicking as a means to attract Australian and oveseas tourist to towns and regions[/*]

• economic return for government by users paying an additional and reasonable annual fee to use highbankers and other pump power devices like power sluices [/*]

• environment responsibility by highbank users agreeing to reasonable conditions about water use, river/stream impact, turbidity, etc[/*]

• environmental impact by prospectors/fossickers establishing and following a 'leave no trace' campaign even if this means taking away someone else's rubbish and filling holes[/*]

Finally the request to join NAPFA is understandable by why cant these state based groups get together and have a national organisation with state based chapters...which would be better for the propsectors/fossickers in the long run, even if a few people lost their state based 'power'.

Reason I suggest this...in QLD we tried to get a thousand signatures on a petition to QLD government to ask them to open up more areas for fossicking. The response was crap and people from other states weren't interested...we got to 600 signatures and are still chasing more after 2 years of effort. State based efforts are limited compared to a national organisation's efforts.

All above is a 'survey of one'. But as Jemba and others have stated...working alone on this NSW decision wont get too far.

Nucopia there is a Gold Festival coming up at Gulgong in October on the 14th I think.
https://gulgong.com.au/gulgong-gold-mining-festival-14th-october-2017/

mbasko said:

Nucopia there is a Gold Festival coming up at Gulgong in October on the 14th I think.
https://gulgong.com.au/gulgong-gold-mining-festival-14th-october-2017/

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That would be a good place to start mbesko.
My wife and I would be available might even take our 3 kids along aged 21,19 and 14.
What we need is the people at NAPFA to get involved as well to present an organized presences.

I'm rostered on that weekend but will try to get the Saturday off if we can get something organised - plenty of time to.
Be good to have a NAPFA presence & make it about educating people about hobby/recreational fossicking as much as highlighting what we're up against (ridiculous laws, land access, rogue fossickers etc.) + an opportunity to recruit more members.
Definitely would need to be an organised presence done in a way that would lend itself to gaining community support & acceptance for our hobby. I don't think protests etc. would go down well at all!
A display showing a highbanker in use with kids running it would be good

Edit: may also be able to get Central West Prospecting Supplies & other suppliers on board to help with demonstrations of various equipment like the highbanker, detectors, sluices etc. It's in their interest too. :Y:

Guys, I have been reading NAPFA's 2014 and 2016 reports ( with photographs and all ) that they have sent to the relevant authorities.
They are very articulate, informative, precise and an all round great piece of work . The 2016 report alone is 39 pages long .
NAPFA I believe never received a reply from the relevant authorities for their 2016 report as I believe it was so good for our cause that the relevant authorities couldn't reply. I could be wrong but I believe it was out of their league because they already had their agenda set.
That's how good the 2016 report is . NAPFA needs to be congratulated on these reports . Well done from me ! I do believe the relevant government minister probably doesn't know about what is going on BUT they are the boss so the buck stops with them ! The guys from NAPFA said on this forum that they are in contact with the relevant authorities ATM so hopefully they get the right decision.
Bloody hell, how can I have a new hobby for only 6 months ( which I have been having a ball with) become illegal ! As we know that it's no good for us to have another great pastime taken away . It's definitely no good for these great country towns that have been struggling to survive for many years. I can totally understand why so many people are angry and upset over this. The shock of this at first really gets people posting " I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that . I'M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE " Guilty as charged . I apologise if I have offended anyone. As my mates (whose hobby this is ) have said to me that's it's time we settle down and let NAPFA give us advice and let them do their work. What I have read, these guys know what they are doing and know what it's all about. I will be joining NAPFA soon . I believe NAPFA will achieve the outcome that we all want . Good luck guys.
PS If it doesn't work then the gloves are off ! LOL
Cheers

mbasko said:

I'm rostered on that weekend but will try to get the Saturday off if we can get something organised - plenty of time to.
Be good to have a NAPFA presence & make it about educating people about hobby/recreational fossicking as much as highlighting what we're up against (ridiculous laws, land access, rogue fossickers etc.) + an opportunity to recruit more members.
Definitely would need to be an organised presence done in a way that would lend itself to gaining community support & acceptance for our hobby. I don't think protests etc. would go down well at all!
A display showing a highbanker in use with kids running it would be good

Edit: may also be able to get Central West Prospecting Supplies & other suppliers on board to help with demonstrations of various equipment like the highbanker, detectors, sluices etc. It's in their interest too. :Y:

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Yep totally agree this is the way to start the ball rolling :Y:

when the NSW attacked the greyhound industry , they didn't care about the comet tail effect that follows an industry or a hobby, they may say, "You can go on fossicking, take your pan and shovel and go of it" but don't use your ingenuity and use other more effective methods, the mining act and regs where, as I believe , drawn up to address the big league, the ones that may , and do cause environmental damage as constantly reported in the Regulators monthly Business Activity Report, fossickers may be a backup to the statistics required to justify a departments existence , over the past 6 months , there has been little demonstrated by the regulators that the division is an effective regulator towards the top end of the mining industry, perhaps they need be persuaded by the Ministers to concentrate on those issues and let fossickers be , the receipt of thousands of letters from individuals and supported by associations might be an avenue to pursue, it was once said to me, a petition is a single document , doesn't matter how many signatures but 5000 individual letters piled up on a Ministers desk might be treated a little differently

I'm more than happy to contact my local member, but they don't want a long winded explanation of what's going on. They won't read it. And if it doesn't affect their electorate, then their motivation for action will be minimal. But they will become aware. I'd also write the relevant minister.

What would be great is a simplified letter template we can use. Something snappy that they can get their head around straight away. Individuals could then add their own perspective as they see fit.

I think this should be coordinated, so I'm happy to wait until NAPFA has their next meeting.

I'm a little hesitant to write something right now as I still don't completely understand what we can and can't do. It seems straightforward, no mechanical processing, with highbanking as an example. But there are still grey areas, in my head at least (sluice with a power head for example)

I think I've read somewhere that the smaller towns, like Tuena, have been engaged. I would hope larger places like crookwell, bathurst, lithgo, batemans bay etc are in the picture. (I think NAPFA is onto it). I know I spend locally when I'm going through those places, even if it's for a bacon and egg roll!

When NAPFA started the stick they wielded was only small but with each new member that stick gets a little longer and thicker. :Y: Guys we here in NSW still do need your help. Please consider joining NAPFA it will be very much welcomed. Thanks Jemba

Does anyone have names of the individuals who are directly responsible for this sh1t ?

Name the exact individuals .

Name their alleged job roles.

Name their department.

State the address from where they work.

If they want to make themselves an enemy then I want to understand who this enemy really is.

They want to create their own little rules , possibly due to lobbying from the minerals council , if they are doing anything illegal it needs to be sniffed out so they can be skewered with it and removed from a position of influence.

They are playing dirty with an agenda , if there is dirt to be found on them I don't see a problem with it being used to leverage their political legs from under them.

There is a lot I would really like to say myself but my standing prevents me from doing so.
Just have a little patience and kindly wait a bit longer.
Not much more. :Y: :Y:

HeadsUp said:

Does anyone have names of the individuals who are directly responsible for this sh1t ?

Name the exact individuals .

Name their alleged job roles.

Name their department.

State the address from where they work.

If they want to make themselves an enemy then I want to understand who this enemy really is.

They want to create their own little rules , possibly due to lobbying from the minerals council , if they are doing anything illegal it needs to be sniffed out so they can be skewered with it and removed from a position of influence.

They are playing dirty with an agenda , if there is dirt to be found on them I don't see a problem with it being used to leverage their political legs from under them.

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Spot on the money mate. :Y:

nucopia said:

We need to gather on mass in one place with our equipment and call in the media.
Defy the BS regulation and get attention and have the media report our position, on why this change of wording should be struck down.
We need to contact business like sluicey gold sluices , Central west Prospecting and any others that benefit from our patronage to get involved.

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Hello All,
Its been a while since I have been on the forum and man, things have changed.
Straight from the horses mouth, this little black duck will not cease to use highbankers at all and will dulely fight to keep them.
Who are these people to say we cant use them, just a person who has a title to which they can say you cant do this and cant do that.
Well enough is enough, long live the stockade.
Sounds like we are living in a police state or country where every day going ons will be scrutinised. there are bigger problems out there than people using Highbankers. They can Stick it up their Jatzy.
Problem is people will complain about it but wont get of their butts and do anything about it.
A protest and a big one will get things noticed, this is a way of life that is slowly being eroded away and a way to control the people.
But we gotta stick together and voice our disapproval, get the media involved also.
We don't do much damage to the environ except for a few fool hearty greedy people that rip the guts out of some of the gullies just to get a few grams, but these cowboys are everywhere.
The impact is small compared to serious 4WDing, Trail bikers, Land developers and big mining companies.
And not to mention day trippers disgarding dirty nappies along the river bank for all to enjoy.
We are Australian and we are proud of what we have, Grand dad fought for it and now it will be taken away.
These people have been brainwashed into thinking its the norm not to do this sort of activity. Never been out of the city or even camping.
I would rant more but I gotta go back to work, lunch is over.
Cheers
Brad

Nice to hear from you again Brad-there's a lot of cowboys out there.
Jaros ]

That's What I have been saying all along... Enough Meetings... Time for Action on the Streets .. That IS the Only way to be Noticed..

LW....

One thing they said as a description of a high banker was that it expedites the processing time, this to me is just crap if the rules are already written about the amount of material that can be processed in a given 48hr period... so what if you can do that in 10hrs. So long as you dont go above that cubic meter law. And guys you cant take away more than 50kg home to process either. Another law.
Go to google Earth, start zooming in on nsw, whats the first thing you can notice.... mining!
Zoom in in 10000% can you see my trace of high banking.... NO
Its a cop out of a government body trying to blame us for the dolphins or whale population.
Ban those two stroke lawn mowers! Punching a hole in the ozone!
Utter crap!
the government love to twist and throw blame anywhere except themselves, even pay grants to companies to prove a lie, and these companies know what answers they want to hear and have made public.
Shark kills on the rise.....
they want researchers to prove its warm water currents etc, and just kill the sharks! Get rid of the end results.
Could it be the sharks are are starving in their normal hunting grounds, and moving in closer for a feed?
If so, who regulates such fishing, yep the government.
Who sells off our fishing waters for cash? Yep the government.
Who dose the government blame when it's too late to pass the buck
YOU!

To true if there's no cash in it for the government then let's ban it maybe they can privately it it seems to work for gas and electricity dic?s

Its job creation for the goverment as they will need to hire more rangers and office people to police it

Its like fishing licenses pay for the paperwork and water rats to police it .

I will believe the nightmare when the NSW state government advertises the change relating to high bankers on national or state media announcement campaign, until then,,,, I know nothing , I hear nothing , what would be a prosecutors answer when asked , how were the changes to the legislation announced to the general public in NSW , the process of natural justice would require that the changes and or the opinion of the regulator be advertised, Your Worship, the changes were advertised by a the national media advertising programme via television and radio announcements, then your got an issue , but if they don't , then the law for ignorance may still apply, perhaps the magistrate might ask the question how do you expect the population at large to know about any changes if you don't advertise them, I am modifying my equipment to be able to have a disconnection from the pump hose if questioned on site, a pain in the neck , just adding a few more pvc pipes tp support the spray bar