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ABC News
13 minutes ago
- ABC News
Removal of trees infested with shot-hole borer in Kings Park has surprising outcomes
The removal of beloved trees from Kings Park has left a scar across the escarpment and made it vulnerable to dangerous landslides. But it has also created an opportunity to future-proof the popular attraction amid a drying climate. Like thousands of trees in Perth, around 42 Moreton Bay figs and coral trees — which once towered over visitors to the inner city park — fell victim to the polyphagous shot-hole borer beetle, which was detected in WA in 2021. Principal landscape architect for the Botanic Parks and Gardens Authority, Bel Foster, said the trees had huge canopies that had sheltered the ground for decades. Ms Foster said their disappearance meant large areas of the escarpment were now exposed to rainfall for the first time in many years. "Because the soil underneath is really dry, it's got lots of humus," she said. The escarpment is a fragile geological system, and one that, with the busy Mounts Bay Road sitting at the bottom, required special planning. Ms Foster said authorities were working collaboratively with geotechnical specialists, civil engineers, restoration experts and Wadjuk traditional owners to come up with a solution. Ms Foster said while the removal of the trees was distressing for many people, it meant some positive changes could be made at the site. "We've been able to remove a lot of aging or end-of-life infrastructure that was down there, some very old retaining walls and other things that were actually causing challenges," she said. "With the re-profiling works, we've actually been able to achieve something that's got a really long, sustainable life span for us from an environmental, but also an asset, perspective." Part of the project has involved inserting custom-designed drainage cells below the soil surface at the top of the hillside to slow water infiltration. That measure is intended to prevent water running off the slope and causing landslips, while also holding water at the top to quench the thirst of trees and vegetation. "We know with climate change, drying climate and more irregular rainfall patterns, these kind of improvements are really important to the ongoing resilience of our collection," Ms Foster said. The bare landscape also allowed workers to revegetate the slope with native plants. Ryan Glowacki, acting manager of biodiversity conservation at Kings Park, said thousands of plants had been propagated from seeds and cuttings that were collected from vegetation in the area. "This year we've got just over 20,000 plants to put back in, which is a great achievement," Mr Glowacki said. That number is on top of 20,000 that were planted in a different location last year, and there are plans for 30,000 per year for the next few years. Mr Glowacki said there was now a good opportunity to replace introduced species with natives, which were more suited to the humid climate while providing stability. "All these species, because they've adapted to the environment already, they've got this ability to bind soil with their root systems," he said. "They provide great stability in that area and they can protect the space from small slippages in the sand, particularly with water run-off." Ms Foster said the escarpment was a significant area for the traditional owners, the Wadjuk people. While elders were monitoring the works, authorities found remnants of Perth's past, such as bricks and old bottles — but also something surprising. "One of the most exciting things for us in the project is, through the removal of some of [the] aging infrastructure, we've actually had a new freshwater spring emerge down at the toe of the escarpment," Ms Foster said. "An aspiration from the traditional owners for a long time has been to have that water flowing again as opposed to being contained in the fountains, so it's just a really fabulous kind of outcome from this project that we weren't anticipating. "It's a really important step towards that kind of story about healing country. Frogs have already returned around the spring where elders have installed habitats for them. A stand of 20,000 trees, shrubs and other ground cover, which was planted a year ago, has thrived, with some plants already three metres tall. Ms Foster said native fauna were returning to the area which had historically been frequented by pests. "With our fauna-monitoring cameras we've seen our possums coming down to drink, we're seeing more native birdlife down there," she said. Now that the final planting is complete, the tracks and paths will be opened back up to the public, who will be able to watch the transformation continue.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
As temperatures plummet in winter, heating Australia's public pools comes at an environmental cost
Swimming is a weekly activity for Jim Shen and his two children at their local pool in Melbourne's north. The 42-year-old comes from a family of strong swimmers and wants the same for his own kids. "It's a no-brainer. If you can give them the opportunity to learn how to swim early on, you do that," he said. As temperatures plummet in the winter months, Mr Shen's family visit the Reservoir Leisure Centre's indoor heated pool for lessons and regular exercise. "An indoor pool that's heated, to transition them to colder outdoor pools ... I think that's really important," he said. But Mr Shen — who has a background in engineering and ran an unsuccessful, pro-environment council campaign in 2020 — wishes the centre had a more sustainable way of keeping the water warm. The aquatic facility is operated by the City of Darebin, and draws its heat from gas-fired boilers, which burn fossil fuels to quickly heat its waters and maintain a desired temperature. The municipality was the first worldwide to declare a climate emergency and create an emergency plan to deal with climate change. By 2030, all of its buildings and assets are required to be electric and run on 100 per cent renewable energy. The council said it has reduced its gas emissions over recent years, with Reservoir Leisure Centre contributing to 60 per cent of its remaining gas output. "Principle is one thing, but measurable outcomes is another," Mr Shen said. About a quarter of Australia's aquatic centres are in Victoria. The ABC asked several inner-Melbourne councils how their centres are powered. It shows gas-fired systems at some aquatic centres are contributing to about half of their council's annual greenhouse emissions. In Melbourne's south-east, Stonnington Council operates two leisure centres, which account for 51 per cent of its yearly emissions. Meanwhile, the City of Melbourne operates four centres, which make up around 5 per cent of its gas emissions. The council is planning to convert these facilities to electric heating systems, in line with its net-zero strategy by 2040. Jarrod Leak from the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP), said electrified systems could be 10 times more efficient than the existing fossil fuel boilers heating many of the country's pools in winter. Victoria is facing natural gas shortages because of waning supply from the Bass Strait, according to the Australian energy market retailer AEMO. The regulator predicts gas supplies on the east coast could fall short of demand in peak times within a few years. As well as helping preserve those limited gas supplies, Mr Leak said councils making the switch to electric technologies, like heat pumps, would benefit from lower energy prices and decarbonisation. "These are beautiful and beloved assets by the community, so we want to keep them and we want to see them decarbonised but we need to have them running really efficiently and we need to get them off natural gas," Mr Leak said. A2EP is a not-for-profit collection of businesses and researchers helping corporations transition to a net-zero future. Mr Leak said about a quarter of Australia's aquatic centres are currently running heat pumps, and he expects that to increase to 35 per cent in the next two years. "With that efficiency, and you couple that with renewable electricity, you're getting the gain of lower energy prices and decarbonisation," Mr Leak said. While many councils contacted by the ABC recognised the need to transition to cleaner technology, some are a lot closer to others when it comes to making the change. The Maribyrnong City Council operates one aquatic centre in Melbourne's inner-west, which relies on a gas boiler and accounts for 41 per cent of its yearly emissions. "It's an outdated system and it uses a lot of gas," Mayor Pradeep Tiwari said. The council recently secured a $2.5 million federal government grant to transition the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre from natural gas to a centralised heat pump system. Mr Tiwari said it will help the council achieve its bold net-zero target by 2030. "It's going to save over 1,200 tonnes of carbon emissions, which equates to about 93 per cent of council's total carbon emissions." The first round of the federal government's Community Energy Upgrades Fund supported 58 local governments to deliver a cheaper and cleaner energy future, including 31 local aquatic centres. The Maribyrnong City Council has estimated the transition to heat pumps will save about $400,000 in operating costs each year. Other centres, which have already made the transition are still ironing out various kinks. The City of Darebin's other aquatic centre at Northcote was designed to be fully electric and achieve the highest sustainability ratings. Unlike gas boilers, the centre's heat pumps extract heat from the surrounding air and transfer it to the pool water. But occasionally, the cold temperatures outside mean the pumps enter a defrost cycle and can't operate effectively, which reduces the temperature of the 50-metre pool from its desired temperature of 26°C. "As a long-term solution, council is also investing to install additional heating infrastructure to support the electric heat pumps," Mayor Kristine Olaris said. The centre has used pool covers and temporary closures to conserve the pool's temperature. Other facilities — like the Brimbank Aquatic Centre in Keilor Downs and the Fitzroy Swimming Pool — have retained limited use of gas boilers to complement the roll-out of electric heat pumps. Mr Leak said this blended approach could help bring down emissions and operating costs. "We say it's good to keep a gas system as a back up. Maybe the heat pump will do 98 per cent of the job, keep the gas system just for that 2 per cent," he said. For habitual swimmers Jim Shen, the shift to more sustainable technology couldn't come soon enough. "If it is good for the environment, and they're able to run these things financially sustainably, then everyone wins in the community," he said.
News.com.au
14 hours ago
- News.com.au
How Sydney's homeless crisis has transformed since 2019
In February 2019, the NSW government signed an end street sleeping agreement with the Institute of Global Homelessness and City of Sydney. This included a commitment to reduce street homelessness by 50 per cent by 2025. Short of reducing or even remaining the same, the number of rough sleepers has instead increased by 67 per cent in the past five years, according to state government counts. One central Sydney volunteer has seen first hand how the face of homelessness has shifted over that time, saying 'it's no longer just those sleeping on the streets, but students, jobseekers, families, and older Australians all slipping through the cracks'. Donna Brooks has been volunteering for homeless assistance charity Orange Sky for more than six years near Central Station in the heart of Sydney. Over that time, with cost of living becoming increasingly burdensome and people struggling more and more to make ends meet, Ms Brooks said homelessness had shifted from something predominantly affecting those with pre-existing circumstances to everyday people just down on their luck. 'I think some years ago here it was a more common story that (homelessness) was a complex needs situation often,' she said. Complex needs refers to a situation where a person is dealing with several connected issues that seriously impact their wellbeing and ability to function in society. Examples can include intellectual disabilities, mental health concerns and drug addictions. 'Whereas now, I think what we're seeing a lot more is that people have less resources available to them. The cost of living definitely has had an impact on that,' she said. 'The cost of rent, a lot of people are priced out of the market. Some of the people that I've met doing Orange Sky have ended up learning about these services that they had no idea even existed for decades because they had careers and they ran a business and they were in a family. 'Then their circumstances change and they realise that they can't even get a rental and that they're struggling to get employment.' Orange Sky provides hot showers and laundry cleaning services via mobile vans and Ms Brooks said the demographics of homelessness she was seeing over the course of her work was becoming 'increasingly diverse'. 'I think it's important to note the diversity of people we see,' she said. 'We're seeing young people, older people, all ages, genders, ethnicities. It's become increasingly diverse. 'I think there are so many pathways and circumstances that people are facing that lead them to seeking out help and services like Orange Sky. 'What we see now is not just necessarily the rough sleepers that people might be familiar with walking past in the inner city or in the streets. There's a lot of people that are being very creative as to how they're surviving without having a secure home.' Ms Brooks said for some people that meant living out of a car, vehicle or couch surfing. But for others, more innovative solutions were required. 'I volunteer regularly near Central Station in Sydney,' she said. 'A lot of the people that come through there, for example, will ride trains and ride overnight trains and late-running trains just to get a bit of shelter and hopefully some safety rather than being out in the open overnight. 'So that's a different kind of homelessness but is very much homelessness nonetheless.' Speaking to NSW parliament on Friday morning, Premier Chris Minns announced a 10-year strategy targeting homelessness. Mr Minns drew focus to young people and Aboriginal communities 'disproportionately affected' by the issue. In the last census, the total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing homelessness was up 6.4 per cent from the previous census, making them approximately eight times more likely to be homeless than non-indigenous counterparts. Mr Minns announced a sleeping register would be brought in to develop a 'true picture of the scope and nature of people that are sleeping rough in NSW'. 'This is a real priority for us, an important one for the state, and an important one for Sydney, given we're one of the most expensive cities on the face of the world,' he said. Speaking to NewsWire, Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said 'the previous government's promise to cut homelessness in half by 2025 simply hasn't delivered'. 'We've heard the reports and seen the statistics, and we need to be honest, past plans by the former Liberal/National Government failed because they were never adequately funded, never strategic enough and never long-term,' she said. 'This week, we announced our new homelessness strategy, a real and comprehensive approach to tackling homelessness. 'This strategy isn't just about crisis accommodation; it's about addressing the root cause of homelessness, the lack of affordable housing.' Ms Jackson acknowledged in order to solve the crisis a strategic approach was needed. 'The cost of living is hitting hard, and we're seeing more and more everyday people at risk,' she said. 'They're not just the people we've traditionally seen affected. Now, more people, through no fault of their own, are falling into homelessness. They've lost jobs, experienced misfortune, and just can't make ends meet.' Ms Jackson said the previous government's approach lacked 'both the vision and the resources'. 'This is where we are different — we're putting in the investment that's long overdue,' she said. 'We've committed the largest housing investment in the state's history through our Building Homes for NSW program, $6.6bn, and we're implementing once-in-a-generation planning reforms to ensure we build homes where they're needed most. 'Not just for the people already homeless, but for preventing it from happening to more. 'We are taking responsibility. And we are doing it now, with the scale of investment, the whole-of-government strategy, and the long-term vision it takes to make homelessness a thing of the past.' Ms Brooks said in the recent cold and wet months the mood had shifted among the homeless community. 'It really takes a toll. The shift that I do is on a Sunday morning, and by 8.30 in the morning there's often people gathered waiting for us to turn up, and especially when it's been cold and wet, because they're eager to try to get a bit of a fresh start and to maybe have a warm shower and wash their clothes and put on some dry things and sort their bedding out so that they can almost start afresh that day,' she said. 'They will wait eagerly and are so pleased to see us because they can do that. It really takes a toll on people. 'Once you get into that cycle, it is so hard to get out of it. It impacts your health, your wellbeing. If you don't have a place that you can even safely sleep, how do you keep turning up for job interviews to try to get the job, to then try to get the apartment, to then try to get some furniture and a fridge? They're all very linked and it plays on people's health and it's certainly not just physical but mental health as well. It really takes a toll.'
