A Letter From the Editor /
Journalists know, if you're upsetting someone, you're probably doing your job well.
But it’s important to have contacts and collaborators - even nicer to have friends.
Today is a shout-out to the growing list of SPARK subscribers, website visitors and enthusiastic supporters - especially new contributors, Steve Prothero and Col Hesse.
Steve, retired from a long career in public administration, has taken up the challenge of being the SPARK civics correspondent, adding to his activity as administrator of a fast-growing new Facebook group, Eye on Shoalhaven Council.
Steve will keep SPARK readers up to date with Shoalhaven Council decisions, holding power to account, scrutinising and summarising the debate.
Col Hesse is an experienced broadcaster with a new Friday breakfast program on Triple U Community Radio. His interviews will now be re-cast on the SPARK Shoalhaven podcast, currently on Spotify and soon to appear on other podcast platforms.
Listen to Col's broad-ranging interview with Clr Jemma Tribe.
I tried, and failed, to have SPARK be an alternative to social media. But so many people rely on Meta and other platforms to get information fast, visually. Much SPARK traffic comes from Facebook shares and thanks to those who have linked stories.
SPARK is now populating it's own Instagram page and I'd love you to follow along - especially if you can recommend it to younger friends and family.
Three issues are on this week's Shoalhaven agenda that I urge you to explore.
- Tomorrow's (Nov 5) "extra ordinary" meeting of Council to discuss, among other financial topics, a rate increase. Oops, they did it again. They played with your heart when they said no rate gain. (Thanks, Britney 🎤)
- Public submissions are called for in deciding the fate of the 45 degree rule on tree removal in the Shoalhaven. I have heard from two professional arborists who want to comment but don't want to attract more political vitriol.
- Shoalhaven's Australia Day Awards nominations close on Novemeber 15, so don't forget to submit a nomination to thank some of the many tireless volunteers upon whom we all rely.
After months of experimenting, SPARK is now set up to publish a wider variety of content. As an ad-free, no-paywall, multi-media digital magazine for the Shoalhaven, it will thrive on your contributions of articles, podcasts, photo and video content.
SPARK certainly took off around the election coverage and local government remains a priority. But there is more to life!
I’d love to publish stories about Shoalhaven’s people and places, science and culture, nature and sport.
So, subscribe and get in touch. Don’t hold back on your ideas or stories from grassroots groups and volunteers, be they controversial or celebratory.
Let’s turn SPARK Shoalhaven into a virtual bonfire of news, views and solutions.
Maybe I just hadn't noticed before. But it feels like there is a groundswell of community groups in our region using their local knowledge, strength in numbers and Internet smarts to question, investigate and rally.
Take Jerrinja Local Aboriginal Land Council, for example.
A surprising and sudden speed limit reduction along Culburra Road left residents cranky or confused. Ex-councillor, Paul Ell even joined the voices of dissent by sharing a petition seeking to have the speed change reversed.
But Jerrinja enlightened us with some documents to put the spin from State and developer, Sealark, into perspective.
"In the version of reality presented as news on Sealark’s website, the change was instigated by Transport for NSW, at the request of local residents, due to safety concerns and TfNSW set the speed limit “due to the crash history and frequency of roadside hazards”.
Documents show that an alternative explanation for the speed limit reduction is that Sealark had to satisfy the Land and Environment Court's terms of development approval in West Culburra to support building a roundabout.
"We are yet to come across any local residents who requested this speed limit change or who are aware of a crash history from the corner of Coonemia Rd to the industrial estate." (Jerrinja FB)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/CHUQCbJrqMbkTF2Y/?mibextid=WC7FNe
So, why didn't Sealark and Transport NSW simply tell the truth? As Culburra Residents and Ratepayers Action group suggested, "Is this premature given that the developer has not met the appeal conditions for final approval of West Culburra?"
Interesting information. But I declare a personal interest in the efforts of Jerrinja to scrutinise the Halloran Trust and its development company, Sealark.
As many of you know, two years before I started SPARK, my husband, Rob Barrel, and I met local ecologists who found greater (and other) gliders living near where we live, in the Callala forest targeted for clearing to develop a Sealark subdivision.
The more we learned about that forest and the misleading spin from the developers, the more involved we became in blocking the destruction and saving the habitat.
I wrote content and was interviewed for news media and radio. I made deputations at council and spoke at a State Parliament event with representatives from other towns along the NSW coast.
Rob pursued crucial Freedom of Information investigations and founded Callala Matters - he is still the President of that growing group with a mission to "Protect Nature. Nurture Community."
But as SPARK took off around the election reporting, I pulled back from Callala Matters. Dancing awkwardly around being both a journalist and an environmentalist, I played neither role properly and copped some nasty shit flung around Facebook.
I avoided covering significant stories about planning and environment, especially in Callala and neighbouring communities in Culburra and Manyana.
That was frustrating and I’ve felt conflicted.
Then, last week, Rob got an email that clarified everything.
Callala Matters was preparing for a first meeting with Halloran/Sealark to discuss community concerns around their development goals. The opportunity to talk conservation with a wealthy, non-profit, landowner who claimed that environmental protection and sustainability underpinned their vision - well, it was too significant to miss! I agreed to attend the meeting.
But, Halloran Trust Director, Doug Marr and Sealark Managing Director, Matt Philpott had been reading SPARK and were unimpressed by my council coverage.
They informed Callala Matters that they were “no longer prepared to meet face to face with Cat Holloway or anyone else associated with Callala Matters”.
Not sure what makes me, a volunteer reporter, so threatening to the directors of a $100 million trust. More importantly, why shut out Callala Matters and all the good people who deserve community consultation due to them?
I’m curious to find out and excited to get back to Callala Matters and environment reporting. So thanks, Sealark, for that nudge.
In his famous Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of 1986, Elie Wiesel, a political activist and holocaust survivor, said:
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.”
That’s a tough pill for old-school journalists to swallow. But journalism is changing, responding to the overwhelming power of misinformation, producing constructive content while acknowledging bias.
Modern journalists are embracing new roles in their communities as team members developing solutions, not just providers of information.
As Wiesel also said in his speech:
“Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”
All of us are journalists nowadays. We all have the same access to information and countless ways to distribute our own interpretations of truth. So we all need to balance being provocative and honest with protecting ourselves and each other.
There is that Shakespeare wisdom about discretion being the better part of valour.
But among the recent stories that I chose not to publish (yet), is one about how frequently ordinary local people (not celebrities and billionaires) are threatened with defamation action.
Journalists usually bear the brunt of such legal attacks. But increasingly defamation is wielded as a tool to punish political opponents and control community discussion by frightening people into keeping their mouths shut.
As SPARK reported previously, Mayor Patricia White sent ex-Mayor Amanda Findley a defamation “concerns notice” over comments Findley made on Facebook just before the election.
SPARK has since learned of two other such cease and desist letters or messages sent to Shoalhaven Councillors over public statements or private conversation.
Most defamation threats are what’s known in legal circles as SLAPPs - Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.
Bomaderry High graduate and now world-renowned human rights lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, wrote in her recent book about how defamation action is a form of abuse of process designed to silence women.
Berry Chamber of Commerce President and WorkLife founder, Kate Dezarnaulds, says she’s a “frequent flyer" in the defamation world citing four threats of action against her in less than two years. She ignored them all and nothing came of them.
Dezarnaulds admitted ”it does hobble you” as sometimes stifling opinion served the relationships in an organisation. But she has also republished original offending material in the course of offering an apology.
“It’s easier after the first time, I’m definitely more outspoken now,” Dezarnaulds said
“I don't back away fearfully. Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
Given that confident advice, SPARK will keep shining a light and hope you will too.
