1. law, govt and politics
2. government

ANNUAL REPORT 2009/10
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Contents
CONVENOR’S & DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE2
TOP TEN OUTCOMES AT A GLANCE5
ABOUT US 7
OUR SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS
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THE YEAR IN REVIEW
10
THE YEAR AHEAD
25
STRATEGIC PLAN
25
SUBMISSIONS AND REFERRALS26
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP27
PUBLIC EVENTS
27
OUR PEOPLE
27
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT29
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
FINANCES
Daly River, Image: Stuart Blanch
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Convenor’s & Director’s message
The Environment Centre NT represented the
concerns and hopes of our members and
supporters throughout 2009/10 as the Northern
Territory’s peak community sector environment
organisation. We grew our impact on decisions
made by government, industry and landholders
through our many campaigns, policy analysis
and projects. Our staff and volunteers took on
the hard issues with passion and determination,
from oil spills to land clearing, and from solar
power to sustainable living. And through many
partnerships we worked with a wide range of
organisations and interests to leverage broad
support to help us achieve our mission.
The end of the first decade of the twenty first
century witnessed progress on many fronts
towards a healthier environment and more
sustainable societies, but also ample displays
of the dismal disregard by governments and
industries for ecosystems and our climate.
Our Board and staff watched in dismay, along
with billions of concerned citizens worldwide, as
the Copenhagen Climate Conference collapsed
without a global treaty whilst extreme weather
events signaled shifting climate patterns. Oil spills
in the Gulf of Mexico and Timor Sea illustrated
the consequences of feeding our addiction to
fossil fuel by drilling in deeper and more remote
seas. In the Territory, the mounting evidence of
the alarming extinction crisis sweeping through
mammal populations became incontrovertible.
And the assault on our harbours from pollution
from sewage and ports, and poor catchment
management, outraged Territorians.
was strong support for strengthening the role of
the EPA and preservation of native vegetation
from land clearing.
Our Top Ten outcomes for the year are shown
on page 5, as well as outlined below. For a full
description, please read The Year in Review on
pages 10-24.
In a first for the Territory, both major political
parties committed to cut carbon pollution. Whilst
both Labor and the Country Liberals have only
committed to a long term cut of 60% by 2050,
this represents a milestone in our campaign for a
safe climate future and reflects substantial effort
publicly and behind the scenes to convince our
political leaders greenhouse emissions must fall.
Our work for a safe climate also saw us
champion solar power, through COOLmob’s
highly successful bulk buy program that helped
kick-start the grid connect rooftop solar power
industry in the Top End and our advocacy for
construction of utility scale baseload solar
power plants to feed into the Darwin-toKatherine electricity grid. COOLmob’s energy
efficiency work saw 388 homes audited in
greater Darwin and Katherine, plus a number of
Public Benevolent Institutions. Three new grant
programs were undertaken and practical advice
was given to hundreds of Territorians to live
more sustainably and save carbon emissions
and power and water bills.
Following the establishment of minority
government in August 2009, our members
and many in the community expressed serious
concerns regarding the potential for heavy
industry to be located at Glyde Point north of
Darwin, urban sprawl to continue to spread
around Darwin Harbour’s fragile shores with the
announcement of the construction of Weddell
City, and a renewed focus on agriculture to drive
regional development. On the plus side, there
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A major success for the year was the significant
cut in land clearing in the Territory, with
Environment Minister Karl Hampton committing
to introduce caps on clearing and a Native
Vegetation Management Act in 2011, which
was reinforced in the Territory Government’s
Climate Change Policy to restrict land clearing
to manage our land as a carbon bank. These
are very welcome. Pollution of the sea and
our harbours was an alarming focus for the
year. We highlighted the risk to marine wildlife
and habitats from the rapid expansion in oil
production in the Arafura and Timor Seas after
the Montara oil spill, and called for a large
network of marine sanctuaries where oil and gas
production is excluded.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
This lax oversight of offshore oil production by
Territory and Australian Government regulators,
plus an industry culture of cutting corners and
downplaying risk, was clearly shown to extend to
management of ship loaders in ports in Darwin
and Gove. The Environment Centre NT worked
very hard to hold the polluters to account,
including Territory Government’s Darwin Port
Corporation and Rio Tinto Alcan Gove.
Our staff also strongly campaigned for an end
to dumping 11 billion litres of partly treated
sewage in Darwin Harbour each year. With
city beaches closed during the dry season
due to bacterial contamination, we called on
Power and Water Corporation to be forced
– and funded by the Australian and Territory
Governments – to upgrade its outdated sewage
plants to at least tertiary treatment standards,
institute major reuse and recycling, and to
cease dumping sewage in Buffalo and Ludmilla
Creeks. But the likely causes of bacterial
contamination of Darwin Harbour are complex
and poorly understood. They probably include
poor catchment management and stormwater
pollution of creeks that flow into our harbour
beaches, a lack of adequate sewage pump out
facilities for yachts in Fannie Bay, leaking septic
toilets at East Point, and a late wet season.
The long-stalled marine parks program of the
Territory Government was a source of much
frustration. A draft strategy was prepared then
dropped in favour of guidelines, but which we hope
will nevertheless ensure the marine parks network
meets international standards, while slow progress
on mapping marine habitats and wildlife hotspots
has hampered progress on declaring individual
marine sanctuaries. On a brighter note, the federal
Northern Marine Bioregion Plan fared better, with
the release of maps showing areas to be assessed
for their potential for declaration as marine parks in
the Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria. Along with
our partners the Australian Marine Conservation
Society and The Wilderness Society, we have called
for a large network of marine sanctuaries with
science-based areas selected where fishing and
oil & gas production are banned and which assist
Indigenous Traditional Owners to manage sea
country and strengthen the conservation economy.
Northern Quoll, Image: Ian Morris
In addition to these campaigns and projects, we
also commenced two campaigns that go to the
heart of keeping the Territory’s landscapes healthy
and full of precious wildlife. In response to the
alarming evidence of an extinction crisis sweeping
mammal populations in Northern Australia we
launched the Save Our Mammals campaign to
raise awareness that the land is losing these
amazing and beautiful creatures including golden
bandicoots, brush-tailed phascogale, northern
quoll and burrowing bettong.
We also started the Territory Icons campaign
to advocate for a major expansion in protected
areas. To illustrate the many benefits these
refuges bring, our team is filming and
photographing the landscapes, wildlife, people
and businesses that rely on our National Parks,
Indigenous Protected Areas and private wildlife
sanctuaries in the Top End and Central Australia.
The Management Committee, staff and
committed volunteers of the Environment
Centre NT are proud of our work conserving
the amazing and threatened ecosystems of
the Territory, supporting sustainable living and
development, and helping create a safe climate.
Our successes are an affirmation of the quality of
our staff, volunteers, members and supporters and the support of our funding partners.
Di Koser
Convenor
And with the ongoing support of our members,
supporters and funding partners, we look
forward to making even more of a difference
in 2010/11 and beyond.
Dr Stuart Blanch
Director
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Top ten outcomes at a glance
Environmental Law Seminar Series, Image: Melanie Bradley
1 Territory Labor and the
Country Liberals released their
first Climate Change policies
after significant advocacy by
our staff and volunteers, with
both reflecting input from
our staff on respective drafts.
Cuts to carbon pollution in the
Territory of 60% by 2050 are
now bipartisan policy.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
2 After many years of
advocacy by the Environment
Centre NT and others,
the Territory Government
committed to pass a
new Native Vegetation
Management Act, cap land
clearing to maintain the
Territory as a low land clearing
jurisdiction, and manage native
vegetation as a carbon bank.
3 We hosted the successful
Top End Sustainable Living
Festival that, together with the
Tropical Garden Spectacular,
attracted 80 exhibitors and
6000+ people.
4 COOLmob co-hosted a
highly successful rooftop solar
panel bulk buy program to
help hundreds of householders
gain a discount on generating
renewable energy at home.
5 COOLmob staff and
volunteers answered over 800
enquiries from Territorians
about sustainable living, and
conducted almost 400 home
sustainability assessments.
6 Together with our partners,
we helped generate 1600
submissions from concerned
Australians calling for strong
legal protection for the
Territory’s amazing free-flowing
rivers, in response to the
Territory Government’s Living
Rivers Strategy discussion
paper.
7 Our Coordinator helped
debunk the myth of the north
as the ‘foodbowl of Asia’
as a member of the federal
government’s Northern
Australia Land and Water
Taskforce.
8 Exposed poor water
management at Ranger
Uranium Mine inside the World
Heritage listed Kakadu National
Park, and supported Traditional
Owners from Muckaty Lands
Trust to oppose a nuclear
waste dump proposed for their
land.
9 Called for, and gained
commitments for, the Territory
Government to strengthen
pollution and environmental
assessment laws, tighten
sewage discharge licensing,
and bolster the EPA’s powers
following port pollution
scandals at Darwin’s East
Arm Wharf and at Gove, and
ongoing dumping of parttreated sewage into Darwin
Harbour by Power and Water
Corporation.
10 Released a highly popular
Top End Gardening Guide
with lots of good advice
and tips about organic and
permaculture gardening,
and launched a regular
Environmental Practice, Policy
and Law Seminar Series in
Darwin, in partnership with a
broad range of organisations.
About Us
Who we are
The Environment Centre NT is the peak
community environment sector organisation
in the Northern Territory, Australia. The
Environment Centre NT has been working to
protect the environment since 1983.
Our mission
The Environment Centre NT works to:
• protect and restore biodiversity, ecosystems and ecological processes,
• foster sustainable living and development; and,
• cut greenhouse gas emissions and build renewable energy capacity.
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governments, Indigenous organisations,
community groups, businesses, and landholders;
raising community, government, business and industry awareness about environmental issues and assisting people to reduce their environmental impact;
supporting community members to participate in decision making processes and action;
recognising the rights, aspirations,
responsibilities and knowledge of the Territory’s Indigenous peoples; and,
acknowledging that environmental issues have a social dimension.
Our values
The Environment Centre NT achieves its mission
through our:
• commitment to protecting nature, living sustainably and creating a safe climate;
• passion and determination;
• support for the power of communities and individuals to drive change;
• independence from governments, political parties, business & industry, and donors;
• support for the rights and aspirations of the Territory’s Indigenous peoples to sustainable development;
• compassion and respect in dealing with others; and,
• professional advocacy and projects informed by science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
How we work
The Environment Centre NT works by:
• advocating for the improvement of environmental policies and performance of governments, landholders, business and industry;
• campaigning for pro-environment policy and funding commitments from all parties and candidates during election campaigns,
• partnering on projects and campaigns with conservation and climate organisations, 6
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About us
Where we work
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
The Environment Centre NT works on campaigns
and projects across varying geographic scales
depending upon our capacity, opportunities for
partnerships with other organisations, threats,
and the presence of other community sector
environment organisations with the capacity to
address threats. In broad terms, we address the
following issues at these scales:
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Global – global threats such as climate
change, by urging community members to take action to pressure global leaders to take strong action.
Australia – national issues, such as reforming
and implementing federal laws and programs,
initiatives progressed by the Council of
Australian Governments and Ministerial Councils.
Northern Australia – on threats and opportunities which are best addressed
through pan-northern processes and
partnerships, often by collaborating with environment organisations based in
Queensland or Western Australia, or national or international NGOs focussing on the north.
Northern Territory – legislative reforms, policies and programs relevant to the whole
of the Territory, often in partnership with the
Arid Lands Environment Centre in Alice Springs.
Top End – many of our campaigns and projects focus on the Top End, including land
clearing, water management, and protected areas. COOLmob provides advice for tropical
living in northern Australia and is actively engaged in Darwin and Katherine.
Greater Darwin – some campaigns and
projects largely focus on this area due to the
presence of the vast majority of the
Territory’s population in the DarwinPalmerston-Rural Area region, threats posed
by urbanisation and industrial development,
and opportunities presented by changing the
behaviour of many householders. This region
is the focus of the COOLmob project,
campaigns to protect Darwin Harbour, renewable energy production and
emissions abatement.
Mangroves, West Alligator Head. Image: Dieter Berghmans.
Our Supporters and Partners
We thank the following for their financial
support:
Northern Territory Government (Department of
the Chief Minister; Department of Environment,
Natural Resources, The Arts and Sport; and
Community Benefit Fund)
Power and Water Corporation 1
Australian Government (Department of
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts)
Donors
Members
Monthly givers
Mullum Trust
Purves Environmental Trust
DK Marketing 2
We thank the following organisations for
partnering with us on a broad range of projects
and events:
Arid Lands Environment Centre
Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Marine Conservation Society
Australian Nuclear Free Alliance
Chamber of Commerce NT
Charles Darwin University
Climate Action Darwin
Colemans Printing
Conservation Councils of Australia
Darwin City Council
Deckchair Cinema Darwin
Department of Chief Minister, Northern Territory
Government
Department of Environment, Natural Resources,
The Arts and Sport, Northern Territory
Government
Dolphin Software
Eco-Kinetics
Environment Protection Authority
Environmental Defenders Office
Figleaf Pools
In-Scape-Out
McMahon Shoal Bay Mulch
Minerals Council of Australia (NT Division)
1 Financial support from Power and Water Corporation
supported the COOLmob Sustainable Living Program.
2 Financial support from DK Marketing Funding supported
the Top End Sustainable Living Festival.
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Our Supporters and Partners
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Natural Resource Management Board (NT)
NT Solar Solutions
Pew Environment Group – Wild Australia
Program
Australian Wildlife Conservancy
Plan NT
Power and Water Corporation
Southern Cross Television
Indigenous Territorian fishing, Timeless: Steve Trudgeon.
The Nature Conservancy
The Plantsmith
The Wilderness Society Inc
Top End Transition Towns
Value-e-bikes
Warddeken Land Management
WWF – Australia
The Year in Review
Stopping major land clearing and
Protecting the Daly River
A highlight was a very welcome commitment from
the Territory Government to introduce a new
stand alone Native Vegetation Management Act
into Parliament by early 2011. Minister for the
Environment and Natural Resources Karl Hampton
has shown a strong commitment to seeing through
the Henderson Government’s land clearing
reforms, particularly to protect the Daly River.
We produced and distributed hard hitting
campaign postcards calling on Chief Minister
Paul Henderson to stop major land clearing.
We will continue to call for the new land clearing
law to enshrine a Territory-wide cap on land
clearing at approximately 2,000 hectares each
year – a significant reduction from 4,666 in 2009
and an average of 9000 ha from 2003-09 3 – and
science-based caps for individual catchments
to be set within vegetation plans. We continue
to urge a switch from major land clearing for
expanding pastoral production using introduced
pasture grasses to small scale clearing, within
the context of scientifically based catchment
vegetation plans. This change in approach should
enable sustainable development on Aboriginal
lands and diversification on pastoral properties
to facilitate the conservation economy and
build more resilient
rural and remote
communities.
Opportunities
include high value
horticulture subject
to best practice
management and
regulation of water
and agricultural
chemicals, ecotourism, protected
area management,
and potentially
carbon storage.
land clearing campaign postcard
We strongly represented our members views
on the Territory Government’s Daly River
Management Advisory Committee, including
opposing applications to clear large areas of
tropical savanna woodland, urging clearing
be focused upon previously bulldozed areas,
urging all clearing applications greater than
200 hectares be required to be subject to a full
environmental impact statement, and calling
for tens of thousands of hectares of vegetation
regrowth to be protected to soak up carbon
pollution and provide new habitat for wildlife
in the years ahead.
3 Land clearing s tatistics provided by the NT Department of
Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport. Data
is for approvals rather than actual clearing, and relates only
to approvals issued for pastoral lands and rural freehold
lands. Excludes clearing approved under the Mining Act,
lands zoned for urban or industrial development under the
Planning Act, and clearing for the Acacia mangium
agrofores try project on Melville Island which was
approved only under federal environment laws.
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The Year in Review
Daly River, NT Australia. Image: Julian Murphy
Protecting Top End Sea Life through a
large network of marine sanctuaries
Coastal dolphins would benefit from marine sanctuaries.
Image: Stuart Blanch
In what was a disappointing year for marine
conservation in near-shore waters, the Territory
Government failed to release its Marine Parks
Strategy, which Territory Labor first promised
in 2001 just prior to being elected to form
government. Then Environment Minister Marion
Scrymgour heralded the start of the marine park
planning process in 2007 with the creation of the
NT Marine Protected Areas Advisory Committee.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Yet our partnership with The Australian Marine
Conservation Society and The Wilderness Society
through the joint Top End Sea Life campaign
resulted in Marine Parks Campaigner Prue
Barnard building community support, lobbying
Members of the Legislative Assembly, plus
running TV commercials and radio advertisements
for a large networks of marine sanctuaries.
In Commonwealth waters, the federal North
Marine Bioregional Planning process identified
areas for further assessment as candidate sites for
new marine sanctuaries covering approximately
half of the Arafura and Timor Seas, and Gulf
of Carpentaria. The Top End Sea Life campaign
worked with key national and international
environment organisations commissioned
expert computer modeling to identify key
areas for protection and provided these to
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.
Conserving Living Rivers
Early in the year our staff worked with a
freelance filmmaker to produce a four minute
YouTube video clip calling for strong legal
protection for the Territory’s amazing freeflowing rivers through a new Living Rivers Act.
The clip provided a compelling and passionate
plea to safeguard our rivers from dams,
pollution and large-scale agriculture.
We then provided a detailed submission to the
Territory Government’s Living Rivers Strategy
discussion paper, and collaborated with various
environment organisations to generate over
1600 e-submissions to the strategy to reinforce
our campaign. The government heard loud and
clear community demands for them to honour
their commitment in 2005 for new legislation
to protect iconic rivers such as the Daly.
Unfortunately all we’ve heard from government
since then on Living Rivers is silence, though
progress on legislative reforms and capping
water use and land clearing through the year
have been central to keeping our rivers living.
The Year in Review
Parks & Wildlife Service, plus various ecological
consultants and private donors.
We’ve set ourselves the challenging but
scientifically valid goal of expanding the National
Reserve System to provide effective on-ground
protection across half the Territory by 2030,
up from the grossly inadequate 10% now. With
overwhelming evidence from conservation
scientists and Indigenous communities of an
extinction crisis causing the loss of small and
medium sized mammals across the Territory
and the need to maintain and restore landscape
scale connectivity to build resilience to climate
change, this will be a key campaign for the next
two decades.
Expanding the Protected Areas estate
We’ve started a long term campaign for a
major expansion in protected areas across the
Territory’s 1.4 million square kilometres of
land area by investing in a major community
awareness raising project. In a first for the
Environment Centre NT, the project has been
filming and photographing protected areas
from Central Australia to the tip of Arnhem
Land including National Parks, Indigenous
Protected Areas and private wildlife sanctuaries.
The communications project shows just how
important these natural infrastructure assets
are for providing secure homes for our unique
and threatened wildlife, storing carbon, enabling
Indigenous traditional owners to work as Rangers
on their Country, and underpinning tourism
and other components of the conservation and
cultural economy.
The Territory Eco-link announced by the Territory
Government as a visionary landscape scale
conservation initiative is worthy of support, further
refinement and meaningful levels of funding.
We engaged with the Environment and Natural
Resources Department to support the broad goals
of the initiative, urge the adoption of measurable
and ambitious objectives,
establish
a fund to enable strategic
purchases of pastoral
properties and contract
landholders to
deliver on-ground
environmental
outcomes.
Living Rivers
Sticker, Revised
by Hannah
Seward
We’ve received support and involvement from
a range of organisations: project partners the
Arid Lands Environment Centre, WWF, Australian
Wildlife Conservancy, Warddeken Land
Management, Kakadu National Park, Territory
Tourists visiting Ubirr, Kakadu National Park. Image: Tida Nou
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The Year in Review
Tiwi agroforestry plantation
A decade after the highly controversial Acacia
mangium agroforestry plantation commenced
on Melville Island north of Darwin, the
plantation went into receivership after the
banks abandoned it, forestry company and
operator Great Southern went bust, the
receivers stated it was ‘commercially unviable’,
vegetation scientists ranked the species as a
high risk weed, and a Senate Inquiry questioned
its convoluted commercial arrangements and
economic viability.
Peter Garrett and the Tiwi land Council.
We provided a detailed submission to the
Senate Inquiry in partnership with The
Wilderness Society, and gave evidence to
Senators about the plantation’s problems and
our proposed solutions.
The Environment Centre NT has long borne
witness to the unsustainable project and
repeatedly exposed breaches of federal
environment laws, supported the concerns of
Tiwi whose calls for land clearing to be stopped
were ignored by the Tiwi land Council, and
urged Territory and Federal Governments to
intervene to help Tiwi to develop a sensible and
realistic economic development strategy that
conserves rather than destroys its natural and
cultural heritage.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Our staff met twice with federal environment
regulators to push for full implementation by
forest managers of the remediation agreement
struck between federal Environment Minister
Tiwi Forests cleared. Image - Charles Roche
The Year in Review
Girls ‘putting their hands up for Darwin Harbour’.
Image: Prue Barnard
Children enjoying the Festival
Image: Stuart Blanch
Top End Sustainable Living Festival
What brings together a snake handler, a car
dealer selling fuel efficient Mazdas, high school
students debating nuclear power versus
renewable energy, men selling biodiesel made
from used fryer oil, an echidna on a monocycle,
boys from Katherine who made a video about
cane toads, and companies selling solar panels?
The first ever Top End Sustainable Living Festival!
Hosted by the Environment Centre NT and held
over the weekend of World Environment Day
on 5 and 6 June at the George Brown Darwin
Botanic Gardens, the festival was held in
association with the Tropical Garden Spectacular
and attracted 6000 participants, 80 stalls,
challenging speakers, and panels confronting
scenarios about sustainable living in the Top
End in the Twenty First Century.
Our staff were exceedingly busy over the
weekend and during the weeks leading up to
the festival, culminating in gaining hand print
signatures on our ‘Hands up for Darwin Harbour’.
The festival was guided by a Committee with
enthusiastic representatives from Top End
Transition Towns, EPA, Chamber of Commerce,
Climate Action Darwin, and Natural Resources &
Environment Department.
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The Year in Review
In the 2009/10 financial year, COOLmob
continued educating the community about
climate change, empowering and informing
hundreds of individuals and households about
how they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Alawa PS Kitchen Garden Stall, Environment Centre NT
Image: Stuart Blanch
Through a successful partnership with the
Nursery & Garden Industry NT, the two events
brought together people with interests in
gardening, nature, sustainability, plants and
green technology.
Thanks to major sponsor the Territory NT
Government and strong interest from Chief Minister
Paul Henderson, plus Power and Water Corporation,
Darwin City Council, DK Marketing and Purves
Environmental Fund. Our Festival Manager Lesley
Major was supported by an EnvironmeNT Grant
from Environment Minster Karl Hampton.
COOLmob’s Sustainable Living program
It was another extremely busy year for COOLmob
with the management of three EnvironmeNT
Grants that were for the analysis of our audit
work, the writing of tropical design guidelines
and the establishment of a solar hot water
bulk buy program. We also established a bulk
buy program for an energy efficient pool
pump updated and reprinted our Greenhouse
Friendly Habits booklet. All these projects were
assisted by the valuable work of the COOLmob
community volunteers.
COOLmob operates as the One Stop Shop for
information on all subjects relating to sustainable
living and answered over 800 public enquiries
this year. COOLmob has continued to reach out
to the community through its stalls, bimonthly
newsletters and its radio and TV advertising.
Campaigns, participation in public events and
media opportunites occur on a regular basis.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
In June 2010, COOLmob nominated valuable
volunteer, auditor, and consultant, Steve Beagley,
for the Power and Water Corporation Meleluca
Award for the Individual Category, which he
won against a large number of competitors.
Congratulations to Steve Beagley and thank you
from COOLmob and all the people you have
helped over the years.
Creating a safe climate
COOLmob’s Steve Beagely after winning a prestigious
Melaleuca Award in the Individual Category.
Image: Robin Knox.
Coordinator Stuart Blanch played a key role in
pushing the Territory Government to commit to
significant initiatives and targets in its Northern
Territory Climate Change policy, released in
December. The Environment Centre NT helped
convince the Henderson Government to commit
to an aspirational target of a 60% cut in carbon
pollution below 2007 levels by 2050. With the
Country Liberals committing to a similar long
The Year in Review
term cut the week before, also with input by our
staff, the Territory now has bipartisan political
support for the first time to cut carbon pollution.
That is very welcome. Commitments and
programs put forward by both parties echoes
aspects of our work to cut carbon pollution, such
as COOLmob’s initiatives on energy efficiency
and renewable energy and our campaign to
manage the savannas as a carbon store.
However, with the Territory’s carbon pollution
set to increase by over half during the next
decade due to emissions from the INPEX gas
plant and other heavy industry, just when
climate scientists say global carbon pollution
must fall rapidly, the policies are silent on the key
task – short term emissions cuts in the order of
25 to 50% by 2020.
We commenced our Safe Climate campaign
to gain commitments from Labor and the
Country Liberals, and support from progressive
businesses and industry, for cuts to carbon
pollution in the Territory from the current 17
million tons per annum (approx) to around eight
million tons per annum by 2020, representing a
cut of 25% below 1990 levels.
This is achievable with a mix of ambitious
policies and programs to drive improved energy
efficiency, renewable energy production,
managing the landscape as a carbon bank, and
major carbon offsets by miners, gas producers
and other major polluters.
And we continued to hold the Territory
Government to account to ensure funding and
actions reflect the intent of policy statements.
For example, the Territory is the only Australian
jurisdiction not to have adopted Building Code
minimum energy efficiency requirements
for commercial buildings, which is highly
inconsistent with their policy and COAG
commitments.
Fire management is a key tool for increasing carbon sequestration
in Top End tropical savannas. Image: Julian Murphy
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The Year in Review
Solar power towers, Spain. Image: Google Images
Driving a revolution in
renewable energy
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Coordinator Stuart Blanch was appointed to
the Northern Territory Green Energy Taskforce
which was established to advise government on
how to speed up the replacement of polluting
diesel powered electricity generation in remote
communities with solar power, and to meet the
federal Renewable Energy Target of producing 20%
of electricity in the Darwin-to-Katherine electricity
grid from renewable energy sources by 2020.
We researched the potential for utility scale
solar thermal power plants to be built to
supply reliable base-load power to the grid.
Based on experiences in the southwest United
States and Spain where solar power plants are
operating and being built, similar plants could be
constructed near Katherine, where cyclone risk
and cloud cover is much less than in Darwin, and
send power northwards. A key lesson from these
existing plants is that energy companies and
financial institutions will only invest in
multi-hundred million dollar plants if governments
and power utilities provide major incentives to
level the playing field with electricity generated
from burning fossil fuels, such as gas. For
example, support can be provided by subsidising
construction costs, granting tax breaks, signing
long term contracts to buy electricity that cost
more than equivalent contracts for fossil fuel
power, and putting a price on carbon.
Our campaign generated significant media
interest, including a story on ABC Stateline,
about why the Territory Government and Power
and Water Corporation must start very soon
on building its own solar power plants, or sign
contracts with power companies to purchase
the renewable energy they will produce, if the
Territory is to have any hope of achieving the
20% renewable energy target. Of course, the real
goal is to progress rapidly towards the true goal
of 100% renewable energy generation.
The Year in Review
Walk Against Warming
The annual Walk Against Warming is Australia’s
largest community day of action on climate
change. Walks are hosted by Conservation
Councils in every state and territory held
on the same day in capital cities, as well as
many regional cities, around the nation. The
Environment Centre NT hosted the Walk in
Darwin on Saturday 12 December in partnership
with Darwin University Environment Collective
and supported by various environment, climate
and sustainable living groups, unions, social
service organisations and businesses.
Despite the severe storm that formed north
of Darwin on the day, which necessitated the
event being officially cancelled, around 150 souls
braved rain and strong winds to let their legs do
the talking. So as world leaders and thousands of
lobbyists from dirty polluting industries met at the
UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen,
Territorians walked along the Nightcliff Foreshore
to call for a safe climate future. There were
families with kids on tag-along bikes, students
holding banners, young professionals, the
elderly, scientists and public servants. As they
walked side by side, they shared their hope for
deep cuts to global carbon pollution, a price on
carbon, and massive investment in renewable
energy and clean technology.
PV Solar Panel display at the Top End Sustainable Living
Festival. Image: Robin Knox
Territorians braving a severe storm in the Darwin Walk Against
Warming. Image: Regi Varghese.
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The Year in Review
Protecting Darwin Harbour
At eight times the size of Sydney Harbour and
undoubtedly the most ecologically healthy
harbour of any Australian capital city, Darwin
Harbour is a jewel the Environment Centre NT
has fought for decades to save.
But the year revealed how little protected
Darwin Harbour really has in the face of
pollution, shonky port infrastructure, outdated
sewage plants, destruction of mangroves
and a urban sprawl continuing around the
southeastern shores of the harbour catchment.
In April 2010 Darwin Port Corporation was
exposed by the media allowing copper
concentrate and other minerals to be
dropped, blown and washed into the
harbour at East Arm Wharf.
On the day the pollution grabbed media
attention, we formally wrote to the EPA
referring the matter to them for investigation.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
We called for Darwin Port Corporation staff
responsible for the spill, or for failing to report
it, to be sacked. The following day Resources
Minister Kon Vatskalis said ‘heads would roll’
if anyone was found to have broken the law.
We then called for an independent Board of
Inquiry to be set up, but Chief Minister Paul
Henderson instead tasked the Environment
Department to conduct an internal investigation
and the EPA to also investigate. Whilst we don’t
doubt the good intentions of the EPA, they
have a very small staff and their bolstered legal
powers do not apply retrospectively to the
copper concentrate pollution.
From June beaches in the inner and northern
suburbs were frequently closed to swimming due
to an outbreak of bacteria, widely thought to be
due in part to Power and Water Corporation’s
discharge of 11 billion litres of part-treated
sewage into the harbour each year. The Territory
Government later denied the link, saying the
cause was probably due to a combination of
catchment runoff from degraded creeks, septic
overflows from council toilets on East Point,
and other factors.
We remain convinced that the massive
sewage pollution caused by Power and Water
Corporation must be having an effect as well,
and called for regular water quality monitoring
in Ludmilla Creek.
We launched our Living Harbour campaign
in response to these pollution events, and in
preparation for the release of INPEX’s draft
environmental impact statement for its
proposed gas plant on Middle Arm.
We met regularly with federal environment
regulators to raise community concerns about
The Year in Review
group of pastoral, environment, farming,
Indigenous, mining and tourism experts, and
based on extensive reports produced by CSIRO
and scores of experts on the potential for future
development across the tropics.
And the Taskforce report made it clear that
the north will never replace food production
in the Murray Darling Basin’s. Surprisingly, The
Australian newspaper’s front page article on 8
February 2010 perhaps stated it best, ‘Top End
food bowl ruled out’.
The report set out clear principles for
sustainable development, and highlighted the
growing role the conservation economy plays
in remote and regional areas, based on a wide
range of environment-friendly businesses,
including protected areas, carbon abatement,
invasive species control, low-impact fishing
and eco-tourism.
Beach at East Point closed due to bacteria, June 2010.
Image: Stuart Blanch
inadequate Territory environmental assessment
laws and pro-industry development processes for
gas and heavy industry around the harbour, and
to seek strong application of federal environment
law to safeguard the harbour.
The Australian, page 1, 8 February 2010.
Conserving and sustainably
developing Northern Australia
At the Environment Centre NT we don’t just
work on protecting and sustainably developing
the Territory. Coordinator Stuart Blanch was
appointed to the Australian Government’s
Northern Australia Land & Water Taskforce,
which released its report in January after a year
of consultation, field trips and negotiations.
The report, ‘Sustainable development of
northern Australia’, was written by a diverse
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The Year in Review
Low impact mining
Ranger Uranium Mine inside the World Heritage listed Kakadu
National Park. Image: Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.
Our staff and volunteers continued to hold
miners to account for poor practices, spills and
leaks, pollution and lack of transparency.
to resource extraction. Out staff received a tip off
from workers at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Gove Harbour
in April that a supervisor had ordered workers to
dump as much as 120 tons of alumina oxide off
the conveyor belt and into the harbour at about
3am the week before, after the load became damp
and could not be loaded onto the next ship. The
loader is so dodgy that the conveyor belt has no
reverse button. Also, workers told us that around
5% of every alumina shipment had been lost for
decades due to poor infrastructure, lax regulation
and greed. Rio subsequently denied any serious
pollution had occurred or laws been broken.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
We provided submissions and comments to
regulators, miners and concerned members of the
public regarding various proposed and existing
mines, such as Redbank Copper Mine, Wonorah
Phosphate Mine, Browns Oxides Mine and Area
55, McArthur River Mine, Ranger Uranium Mine,
Gove Bauxite Mine, sand and gravel mines in
Darwin’s Rural Area, and the transport component
of the Roxby Downs mine in South Australia.
We continued the Environment Centre NT’s
long campaign for greater transparency and
accountability in the mining sector with repeated
calls for the environment and social components
of Mining Management Plans to be made public.
NT Resources Minister Kon Vatskalis repeatedly
assured us through the year that the this would
occur. Unfortunately, the Territory Government
has still failed to amend mining laws to mandate
this, doubtless in the face of ongoing opposition
from some miners.
Two pollution events in remote ports highlighted
how weak our environment laws are when it comes
Coming soon after the Darwin Harbour port
pollution scandal, the Resources and Environment
Departments were tasked with investigating. But
it quickly turned out the Environment Department
has no powers to prosecute Rio because our weak
pollution laws exempt mining and ship loaders
from their jurisdiction. Only the Territory’s mining
laws have any direct control over pollution at ports
attached to a nearby mine, and the NT Resources
Department have never prosecuted Rio or former
owners of the port for the pollution which,
according to our sources who work there, has been
occurring at least as far back as the 1980s.
The Year in Review
Nuclear Free NT
Our staff and volunteers continued to oppose
expansion of the controversial and incidentplagued Ranger Uranium Mine inside the
World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.
In April our staff and concerned Indigenous activists
attended the Annual General Meeting of Energy
Resources of Australia to ask the hard questions
about ongoing water management problems and
concerns over leaks and seepage from the mine.
It was at this meeting that ERA made clear
publicly its great hope to one day mine Jabiluka,
the rich uranium deposit just to the north of
Ranger. Media coverage of these comments sent
a ripple through the nuclear free movement
around Australia, including many who successfully
blockaded and opposed Jabiluka a decade ago.
In April we supported Indigenous Traditional
Owners from the Muckaty Lands Trust steadfastly
oppose a low and intermediate radioactive waste
dump proposed by the Federal Government and
Northern Land Council for their traditional lands.
We hosted a rally outside the Legislative
Assembly in Darwin on the day a Senate
Inquiry convened to hear concerns from land
owners and the community. With a large crowd
as audience, and significant media interest,
representatives of the Ngapa, Milwayi, Ngarrka,
Yapayapa and Wirntiku clans maintained they
were the rightful traditional owners and told
how they had not been properly consulted by
the NLC nor did they grant consent for the dump.
Only a week or two later, we helped expose
a conductivity spike downstream of the mine
and inside Kakadu. Conductivity is monitored
as a trace for radioactivity as uranium is often
associated with sulphates. The miner failed to
publicly notify Territorians until confronted in the
media. They initially denied the spike came from
their mine – where else would it come from? –
then later admitted they were at fault.
The federal monitor, the Supervising Scientist,
also failed to report the spike on its website, and
only presented weekly data rather than real time
monitoring information.
On other uranium mining matters, our staff
supported the Arid Land Environment Centre
and the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance in their
opposition to proposed new uranium mines in
the Territory, particularly Angela Pamela near
Alice Springs.
Rally at Parliament House, Darwin, against the nuclear
waste dump proposed for Aboriginal lands on Muckaty
Station. Image: Melanie Bradley.
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The Year in Review
Montara oil spill
The eleven-week long oil spill from the Montara
oil field in the extremely remote and nearpristine Timor Sea that started on 21 August
2009 was one of Australia’s worst oil spill
disasters. Not that the public would have known
this following infamous comments by federal
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson in the days
following the spill. He said, “…there’s no way the
environment is at risk”.
At the time former oil rig operators and people
familiar with offshore oil exploration were telling
us why the spill happened and what impacts
the dispersant sprayed onto the massive slick –
which measured thousands of square kilometers
– would likely have on fish marine life and the
seabed by causing globs of oil to sink.
The Inquiry set up into the spill heard the
Thailand Government owned company PTTEP
Australasia had committed serious major
breaches of its licence and operational plans,
and failed to meet industry best practice
standards. The Territory Resources Department
was also found to have failed in its duties as the
delegated authority responsible for ensuring the
oil company complied with the law, and adopted
a cursory ‘tick and flick’ approach to regulation
with an underfunded and small compliance unit.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Water demand management,
wastewater recycling & reuse
Cartoon by Col in Wicking, NT News, undated.
Our staff met regularly with Territory
Environment Department and Power and Water
Corporation staff to discuss harbour pollution
concerns, urge greater attendtion to demand
management and water pricing, get updates
on changes to infrastructure and monitoring,
advocate for much tighter sewage treatment
licensing, and seek major investments in tertiary
sewage treatment and recycling.
Unacceptable sewage pollution from Leanyer
Wastewater Treatment Plant into Buffalo Creek
and from Ludmilla Wastewater Treatment Plant
into Ludmilla Creek were foci of these discussions.
Both plants will need new licences from mid
2011 to continue operating. We strongly argued
environment regulators should not grant new
licences until Power and Water Corporation
clearly demonstrated how they would install best
practice tertiary level treatment, or equivalent,
and invest in major wastewater recycling.
The Year in Review
Environmental Policy, Practice and
Law Seminar Series
We kicked off a great partnership for a regular
lunchtime seminar series in Darwin on
environmental practice, policy and law. Together
with the EPA, Environmental Defenders Office,
Darwin City Council and Minerals Council of
Australia (NT Division), we held seminars on
community engagement for sustainability and
landscape scale conservation and protected
areas in Canada’s Boreal forests.
Top End Gardening guide
Montara oil spi ll and fire, Timor Sea. Image: Chris Twomey.
We continued our campaign for permanent
low-level water restrictions and full cost
recovery pricing for domestic and rural water
use. Our staff were frequently amazed at the
widely held view that Darwin has plenty of
water and would never need water restrictions.
The reality however, is that Darwin’s water
supply reserves are being used up and that the
Territory Government would need to introduce
restrictions if the Top End wet season was
below average for just two years straight. In the
absence of a broad suite of measures to drive
down water wastage and support conservation,
there is a very real risk that a future Territory
Government will commit to building the Warrai
Dam on the upper Adelaide River, a beautiful and
healthy free-flowing river system.
Thanks to
a generous
donation from
Planet Organic
Darwin, the
Environment
Centre NT
was able to
work with keen permaculture gardeners and
horticulturalists to produce this guide to help Top
Enders grow healthy, pesticide-free and local food.
Full of great images, advice and an annual
gardening planner, the Top End Gardening
guide was put together by our staff and
loyal volunteers, permaculture enthusiast
Lachie McKenzie, and photographer Nicholas
Gouldhurst. With advice and support from Scott
McDonald and tropical gardening legend Leonie
Norrington, the guide is designed to help anyone
grow their own garden to feed their family,
share with friends, and cut food miles associated
with trucking fruit and veggies to Darwin from
southern Australia.
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The Year Ahead
The year 2010/11 will see our staff continue
our strong advocacy, policy development, and
support for green living.
to be introduced in early 2011 regarding native
vegetation management and retention, water,
pastoral lands and soil conservation.
Our COOLmob Program will continue to expand
and deepen its support for Territorians seeking
to cut power and water bills, recycle and
reduce waste, reduce transport emissions and
carbon pollution. We will expand our bulk buy
programs, chase additional funding sources and
revise our website to include social marketing.
We will workshop and rewrite our strategic plan
for the next 3 years and undertake the new
directions that evolve from that planning.
We’ve secured funding from the Australian
Government’s Caring for Our Country
Community Action Grants to totally revise and
reprint the ever popular ‘Weeds of the wet/dry
tropics of Australia’.
We will host the second Top End Sustainable
Living Festival in conjunction with the Tropical
Garden Spectacular in early June 2011.
We will continue to seek the prosecution of
polluters at East Arm Wharf in Darwin Harbour,
Gove Harbour and at the Port of Groote Eylandt.
We will escalate our advocacy and community
campaign to reduce damage and pollution from
INPEX’s Ichthys gas plant with a goal of ensuring
dolphins, dugong and other aquatic life are not
killed or excluded from the harbour by blasting
and dredging.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
This campaign will also call for the INPEX plant
to be carbon neutral, which means they would
need to buy carbon offsets equivalent to all the
carbon pollution they release.
We’re going to invest more resources in our
Safe Climate campaign to seek bipartisan
commitments for stabilisation and deep cuts to
the Territory’s carbon pollution levels by 2020.
Our campaign for stronger pollution control and
environmental assessment laws, particularly
for heavy industry such as ports, mines and gas
plants, should engender significant reforms.
In addition, our staff will be closely following
debated in the Legislative Assembly on bills likely
Strategic Plan
2009/10 - 20013/14
After surveying our members for their views
on what we should focus on, and holding a
strategic planning workshop with key invited
people in September 2008, the staff and
Management Committee developed a Strategic
Plan that sets out what we will seek to achieve
during the next five years.
The plan proposes an exciting agenda, ambitious
in scope, and acts on the advice of our members
and supporters. The five broad Goals we will
work to achieve are shown below.
1. Protecting land, sea and biodiversity
The Territory’s globally significant landscapes,
seascapes and biodiversity are conserved by
stopping and reversing key threats, supporting
effective on-ground management, and establishing
and effectively managing protected areas.
2. Climate Change and Renewable Energy
Territorians are informed and catalysed to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions. Substantial
progress on emissions reductions and renewable
energy generation is made, with the Territory
doing at least its fair share as part of Australian
and global efforts.
3. Nuclear-free NT
The Territory is free from industry that involves
any part of the nuclear chain.4
4 With the exception or ongoing evaluation of nuclear medicine
4. Green Greater Darwin
Greater Darwin is built and run for sustainable
communities, enabling people to live low-impact
lives and reduce their ecological footprint,
surrounded by a healthy and protected
natural environment.
5.Sustainable Business and Industry
Industries and businesses in the NT are
sustainable.
For each of the Goals we’ve set ourselves targets
and actions for key projects and campaigns,
such as ending major land clearing, greening the
Planning Scheme, driving growth in renewable
energy, stopping the Muckaty Waste Dump, and
keeping heavy industry out of sensitive areas.
Submissions and referrals
Through the year we provided submissions on
the following:
• Objections to major land clearing in the Daly River catchment and on the Sturt Plateau (various);
• Reforms to pollution control laws, port
infrastructure and operations at East Arm Wharf, and Power and Water Corporation’s East Point outfall into Darwin Harbour;
• Referred to the EPA for investigation the
copper concentrate pollution at East Arm Wharf;
• Senate Inquiry into forestry and mining on the Tiwi Islands;
• Northern Australia Land & Water Taskforce
regarding conservation and sustainable development in Northern Australia;
• Territory Government’s Living Rivers Strategy discussion paper;
• Territory Government’s Land Clearing Guidelines;
• Territory Government’s development of new native vegetation management legislation;
• Environment Protection Authority’s review of environmental impact assessment procedures in the Northern Territory;
• Draft Environmental Impact Statement Guidelines for Redbank Copper Mine, Area 55 Oxide Project, Ranger Uranium Mine Heap Leach Facility,
• Draft Environmental Impact Statements for Olympic Dam Expansion, Redbank Copper Mine, and Wonarah Phosphate Project;
• National Radioactive Waste Management Bill Inquiry;
• Draft NT Crown Lands Weed Management Strategy;
• Territory Government’s Climate Change policy;
• Partnership proposal to the Territory
Government for the Top End Sustainable Living Festival;
• Darwin City Council’s Climate Change policy;
• Territory Government’s Draft Gamba Grass Plan of Management;
• Natural Resource Management Board (NT)’s
draft Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan;
• COOLmob Submission on the Construction of Defence Housing at Muirhead, Darwin ,NT, Parliamentary Steering Committee on Public Works
• COOLmob submission on Territory 2030 Strategy
• COOLmob report on Bellamack Design Guidelines
• COOLmob submission on Territory Government’s Climate Change Policy
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Committee membership
Our staff participated in a large number of
committees through the year to advocate for
the environment, support strong government
initiatives, and confront unsustainable proposals
by government and industry:
Australian Government
Northern Australia Land & Water Taskforce
Alligator Rivers Region Advisory Committee
Northern Territory Government
Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee
Daly River Management Advisory Committee
Weed Advisory Committee
Mt Todd Reference Committee
Green Energy Taskforce
Local Government
Darwin City Council Climate Change and
Environment Advisory Committee
Darwin City Council Parking Advisory Committee
Public events
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
Our staff hosted and participated in many public
events and talks:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
COOLmob presentation to Benevolent Institutions;
COOLmob presentation to Darwin Middle School Pupils and other schools;
COOLmob presentation to NTG Taxation Department staff;
Moderated a seminar by Larry Innes, Pew Environment Group, on the Canadian Boreal Initiative, Darwin City Council;
Nuclear Free NT public event, Groove Café;
Participation in a panel at the launch of the
EPA’s advice regarding reforms to environmental impact assessment laws and procedures, Browns Mart, Darwin;
Sustainable Schools Summit, Millner
Primary School;
Talk on marine parks at a fundraising
screening of the movie Ponyo, Deckchair Cinema, Darwin, May;
•
•
Talks by Environment Centre NT staff to schools in the great Darwin region; and,
Top End Sustainable Living Festival, 5-6 June, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens.
Our People
Corporate Governance
The Environment Centre NT is an incorporated
Association established under the Association
Act (NT) and governed by a Management
Committee established under a Constitution.
Members of the Management Committee
are elected by our members. Management
Committee members in 2009/10 were:
Kathy Bannister (till November 2009)
Rachel Carey (till November 2009)
Mark Cowan (from November 2009)
Diane Koser, Convenor
Jo Kieboom
Pamela Mills
James Pilkington
Tina Schroeder
Hannah Seward
Our People
Environment Centre NT staff and volunteers.
Image: Emily O’Connell.
Staff and volunteers at an Environment Centre NT stall,
Darwin. Image: Stuart Blanch.
Our staff
Dr Stuart Blanch, Coordinator
Dr Melanie Bradley, Policy Officer
Robin Knox, COOLmob Project Manager
Elly Langridge (till March 2010), Administration
Manager
Evy Magoulas (from March 2010), Administration
Officer, Community Engagement Officer
Steve Beagley; Senior Auditor and Consultant,
Michael Cauce (from November 2009),
COOLmob Project Officer and Auditor
Tanya Esden (till April 2010), COOLmob Audit
Manager
Adrielle Drury (from February 2010), COOLmob
Audit Manager / Project Officer and Auditor
Nicholas Gouldhurst COOLmob Auditor
We farewelled two valued staff members, Elly
Langridge who had served as Administration
Manager for five years, and Prue Barnard
who worked hard over almost three years
as Marine Parks Campaigner to protect our
ecologically intact marine ecosystems. We thank
Elly and Prue for their years of hard work and
commitment.
We also attracted new staff, consultants and
volunteers. Michael Cauce, Adrielle Drury
and Nicholas Gouldhurst joined the growing
COOLmob program. Evy Magoulas developed
our first ever social media strategy and managed
the office admin administration. Hannah Seward
became our communications officer.
Volunteers
As a community environment organisation we
rely on volunteers and benefited through the
year from many who freely provided their
time and expertise. In particular we thank:
Management Committee members:
Justin Tutty
Sarah Amies
Jan Schneider
Anne Highfield
Lesley Major, Top End Sustainable Living Festival
Manager
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Sustainability Report
Our staff, ably led by our experienced COOLmob
household sustainability assessors, identified
opportunities for reducing energy use and cutting
power bills. These were then put into practice,
including purchasing energy efficient appliances,
opening windows and using pedestal fans for
individual workstations instead of air conditioning
when practicable, setting computers onto power
save mode and turning off the power point when
an appliance is not required.
In recognition of our growing carbon footprint from
our growing staff, we also commenced purchasing
100% GreenPower from Power and Water
Corporation during the year. This will continue.
Whenever possible, staff avoided flying interstate for
meetings and opted for teleconferences instead.
For meetings that necessitated flying, staff purchased
carbon offsets for all flights accredited by the
Australian Government’s Climate Friendly initiative.
Around the office, we used double-sided
printing on 100% recycled printer paper,
which is independently certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council, as well as printing on the
reverse side of used paper.
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
All materials recycled through standard office
services were collected and recycled. Towards
the end of the year staff also voted to purchase
additional recycling services from local company
NTRS to further reduce resources being sent to
landfill, such as a wider range of plastics (codes 3-6).
Non-meat kitchen scraps were collected and
buried in the garden beds. Where possible, low
impact products were purchased for the office,
including phosphorus-free natural dishwashing
liquids and organic Fair Trade coffee.
In the longer term and funds permitting, we
are seeking a permanent office space where we
can install a solar hotwater heater and rooftop
solar panels, create permaculture and native
gardens, and provide disabled access. Another
goal is to purchase an electric vehicle to use
carbon-free travel by charging the car with
100% GreenPower.
As a membership based community sector
environment organisation, the Environment
Centre NT is always conscious of assessing,
reducing and offsetting our environmental impact.
Independent Auditor’s Report
30
EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
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Finances
Income, 2009/10
Finances
Expenses, 2009/10
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EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
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Finances
Finances
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EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
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Finances
Finances
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EC NT ANNUAL R EPORT 2 009 /2 010
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Finances
Finances
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© Environment Centre NT 2010.
Annual Report 2009/10
First Published by the Environment Centre NT Inc.
Unit 3/98 Woods St, DARWIN NT 0810.
GPO Box 2120, DARWIN NT 0800.
Australia.
T 08 8981 1984
admin@ecnt.org
www.ecnt.org
Facebook Environment Centre NT
ABN 12 094 525 400