STCA

The Southern Tasmanian Youth Transitions Taskforce has launched a film competition – ‘Lost in transition?’ — with substantial prizes.

The Theme

The film needs to be about transitions for young people moving, and think about moving from full time high school to further education, training and employment.
 
It will look at aspects of transition that might include: challenges, fears, hopes, opportunities, hurdles, decisions, stepping out, entering the unknown, moving to adulthood, and so on, from a student perspective.
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Download the December 2007 quarterly report [580b PDF] here

Late last year STCA, with funding support from NRM South and the Australian Government, awarded grants to 11 organisations and community groups.

These grants have been the catalyst for purchasing a variety of weed management equipment and  developing several area-specific weed management plans.

By increasing capacity for weed management in the southern natural resource management region of Tasmania, STCA has made considerable progress with implementing the Southern Tasmanian Weed Strategy (2005 2010), in addition to hosting the Project Manager Weeds.

Outcomes include:

• 4 mobile washdown units
• 3 portable spray units
• equiping 2 community group trailers in Sorell and Clarence plus restocking weeding gear for Friends of Maria Island
• developing Weed Management Plans for Hobart College (Mt Nelson Campus), Channel area of Kingborough Council, Egg Islands, Ridgeway Reserve
• developing Tasman Council Roadside Weed Action Plans
• weed mapping in Coningham Nature Recreation Area

An environmental group has turned to rock-climbing expertise to rid Tasmania’s coast of a noxious weed.

Boneseed is a South African plant that has infested large parts of the state, including the north, east and south coasts.

Bush regenerators at Dodges Ferry, east of Hobart, are using abseiling equipment to remove the last vestiges of the weed from a cliff face.

The project’s manager, Sandy Leighton, says boneseed a weed of national significance.

“It’s one of those 20 weeds because of its invasiveness, its impact on all of the biodiversity that we have around our coastal areas and also its potential to keep spreading. So it’s very very easy to spread,” she said.

Ms Leighton says clearing the cliff is essential to eradicate the invasive weed.

“The stuff on a cliff, although it grows slower, it does produce seed and the birds again can transplant it or transport it ’round.

“So if we do work in reserves or in areas to clean up the boneseed, we really need to pick up all of the plants.”

The Southern Regional Transport Forum was held on the 4th April 2008. The forum provided an opportunity for State and local government, along with key stakeholders, to identify major transport planning issues for the Southern Region before a draft plan is released for public comment later this year.

The issues that were raised at that forum — and a first draft of an assessment of the key regional issues — is now available for download. Any feedback or comments would be welcome.

Download issues draft plan [64Kb PDF].

The Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority has recently appointed Sandy Leighton as the new Project Manager Southern Tasmanian Weed Strategy, replacing Jonah Gouldthorpe.

Sandy has a passion for engaging anyone and everyone in weed management, from raising awareness and skills, to identifying gaps and exploring possibilities for partnerships, knowledge and infrastructure sharing all with the ultimate aim of achieving on-ground results.

Starting out in life as an entomologist Sandy crossed over to weeds about 13 years ago whilst working as a consultant on the Meander Valley ragwort biocontrol program.

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Now is the best time to treat thistles (except Californian). Once thistle seed germinates it forms a seedling or ‘rosette’.

Searching for and treating rosettes now will save you a lot of time, money and worry as you will be destroying the plants before they mature, flower and produce more seeds next summer and autumn.

In Tasmania we have a variety of thistles including Spear, Slender, Nodding, Californian, Variegated, Cotton, Saffron and Milk thistles.

Thistles impact on pasture grasses and crops in agricultural areas and also in disturbed areas on roadsides and conservation areas.

They also invade the home garden. Seeds germinate mainly after the autumn rains but a few shoot at other times when adequate moisture is available.

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Major activities for April 2008:

• Developing weed management infrastructure and planning in priority locations:
• Equipment - Mobile Washdown Stations, Spray units and community group trailers.
• Weed management planning - development of the Channel Weed Management Strategy, Ridgeway Reserve Weed Management Plan, Egg Islands Weed Management Strategy, Coningham NRA weed management planning, action plans for Hobart College (Mt Nelson Campus) and roadside action plans for Tasman Peninsula.
• Managing the Australian Government funded “Nationally Strategic Control of Outlying Boneseed Infestations Across Tasmania” for the southern NRM region with priority areas south of Huonville, Bruny Island, parts of the Channel between Coningham and Garden Island Creek, East Coast south of Bicheno, Dunalley and Tasman Peninsula
• Progressing eradication of Bridal creeper/ Asparagus weed across the southern region
• Establish partnerships between key stakeholders
• Undertake stakeholder consultation
• Southern Region input into state weed planning
• Map Priority weeds in the Southern NRM Region

The Southern Integrated Transport Plan is currently being developed. It is a joint initiative under the Southern Partnerships Agreement, developed cooperatively by the Department of Infrastructure Energy and Resources (DIER), Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority and 12 Southern local government authorities: Brighton, Central Highlands, Clarence, Derwent Valley, Glamorgan-Spring Bay, Glenorchy, Hobart, Huon Valley, Kingborough, Sorell, Southern Midlands and Tasman.

The plan recognises the relationship between economic development and infrastructure and is linked to the development of an Economic Infrastructure and Development Strategy under the Partnership Agreement.

The Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority (represented by the Joint-Executive Directors) and Department of Economic Development (DED) have taken the lead in developing this strategy.

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Chair of the Southern Tasmanian Councils Association (STCA), Ald Rob Valentine, said today the Southern Tasmanian Councils who led the ‘Fair Go For Our Roads’ campaign, will keep the Federal Government accountable on the delivery of all its $303 million in road funding commitments made to the region during the 2007 Federal Election campaign.

Ald Valentine said the STCA fully expects the Federal Government to implement the then Labor oppositions plan to improve southern Tasmanian roads, as announced during the election campaign.

The commitments listed in the correspondence received by the STCA at the time included;

• $131 million towards the Brighton Bypass and upgrading the East Derwent Highway;
• $56 million to build a Brighton transport hub;
• $11 million towards the upgrade of the Bridgewater Bridge;
• $5 million to start planning the Pontville-Bagdad Bypass and new Bridgewater Bridge;
• Fully fund the Kingston Bypass with the Tasmanian Government;
• $11 million to upgrade the Bridgewater Bridge;
• and A commitment to extend the AusLink National Transport Network in Tasmania to include the Brooker Highway from Granton to Hobart, and the Tasman Highway from Hobart to the Hobart International Airport.

“The Kingston By-pass was put on the agenda, over and above the STCA’s Fair Go For Our Roads campaign by the then Howard Federal Government promising a fully Commonwealth funded Kingston By-pass,” Ald Valentine said.

“This was later matched by the then Labor opposition as a fully funded project in partnership with the state government.

“Our region has waited a long time for these urgent improvements to our transport infrastructure and Southern Tasmanian Councils will closely monitor the realization of the Kingston Bypass, along with the other projects under the funding arrangements and timeframes as outlined when the commitments were originally made.”

For further comment and interviews, please contact Ald Rob Valentine, on 0418 127 323