Our next Beautiful Walk will be at Blacks Beach Reserve. Come along for a Sunday afternoon stroll through the tranquil trail to the beach. Along the way, we will walk through a diverse range of habitats such as woodland, mangrove and coastal ecosystems. Each of these habitats support a fascinating range of plants and animals.

Joining us will be guest speakers who will talk about the value of mangroves and the importance of Blacks Beach for a number of native animals, including some unusual ant species!

Where: Blacks Beach

Meet: End of Pacific Drive

Time: Sunday 24 June, 3pm - 5pm

The Beautiful Walks program has been running for 4 years and is the Mackay Conservation Group’s most popular event. The walks are held in natural locations around Mackay and highlight the environmental beauty of the region. The event is held monthly, open to the public and free to attend.

To secure your place for the Beautiful Walk, RSVP by clicking here.

Mackay, Queensland. Mackay Conservation Group has today called on Premier Palaszczuk to rule out giving Adani up to $100 million of taxpayers funds for a road upgrade for its proposed mine, noting that dedicating public funds to the coal project would break her election promise of ‘no state funding for Adani’. (“Qld Government considering funding $100m road for Adani mine, documents show”, ABC today).

Mackay Conservation Group community organiser Maggie McKeown said, “Yet again the Queensland government is actively considering giving Adani handouts to build a mine that the majority of Queenslanders do not want.

“The Queensland Coordinator General recommended Adani be responsible for road upgrades and Adani said it would pay for the upgrade. Why then would the Premier spend public funds on this project?

“Polls show that seven out of ten Queenslanders say Adani should fund its own project rather than expect a taxpayer subsidy. (Stop Adani Alliance, October 2017)

“Queenslanders want public money spent on schools, hospitals and large-scale renewable energy projects. They quite rightly do not support their taxes being used to maximise the profits of a an overseas mining billionaire.

“Adani has received special deals from all levels of government. The  Palaszczuk government has been the biggest offender, offering cut price royalties, a license to take unlimited groundwater for 60 years and a license to pollute at Abbot Point Coal Terminal during Cyclone Debbie.

“Enough is enough. The Premier must today rule out this latest leg up, using taxpayers’ money,” Ms McKeown said.

Contact: Maggie McKeown 0434 837 774

Background
The RTI documents and a briefing paper can be found here.
ACF report, A Fistful of Dollars: Adani’s Preferential Treatment by Federal, State and Local Australian Governments, Oct 2017

Mackay Conservation Group is a volunteer based organisation that was established in 1983 that works to protect Central Queensland’s environment www.mackayconservationgroup.org.au

The Mackay Conservation Group is a member driven organisation. Our monthly meetings are a great chance for members and volunteers to come together, hear about upcoming events and offer suggestions on our work.

Our guest speaker for June is the amazing Steve Fisher, the marine operations manager from the not-for-profit organisation Wild Mob. Steve will give a presentation on the valuable conservation work that Wild Mob does, upcoming projects and how you can be involved!

Tuesday 19 June, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Mackay Environment Centre, 156 Wood St

RSVP HERE!

Crocodiles are an iconic species of Northern Australia. They were almost hunted to extinction during the mid twentieth century but in 1974 legislation protected all crocodiles from unlicensed killing. 

A bill has been introduced to the Queensland parliament by Katter Party MP, Shane Knuth, that would permit crocodile hunting, egg collection, removal and relocation to crocodile reserves. The Safer Waterways Bill is based on the false premise that there is a significant problem of crocodile attack in Queensland. The explanatory notes to the bill provide a thorough summary of the intentions of the proposed legislation.

The ABC recently undertook a fact check of Bob Katter's claim that a person is killed by a crocodile every three months in North Queensland. They found his claim to be false. Since 1985 there has been one fatal attack by a crocodile every three years. Meanwhile, in the 2007-2016 period there were on average 8.5 people killed in boating incidents in Queensland, a far more dangerous activity it seems. 

The Queensland parliament's Innovation, Tourism Development and Environment Committee is currently seeking submissions on the Safer Waterways Bill 2018. You can help maintain the current protections for crocodiles by making a submission before 4pm on 31 May 2018 asking the committee to*:

• reject the entire Safer Waterways Bill 2018
• call on the Queensland Government to commit to rigorous community consultation with all First Nations Peoples regarding Crocodile Management
• ensure there is increase employment and training of ‘Indigenous Ranger and Protected Area’ programs
• call on the Queensland Government to explore nature-based tourism ventures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, First Nations Peoples communities
• require further crocodile surveys to gain accurate scientific data on crocodile populations and crocodile egg health.
• require research investment into possible changes in crocodile egg mortality and survival rates to sexual maturity
• ensure there is no interference with crocodile populations through culling, removal or egg-harvesting be permitted unless conducted by authorised officers for essential public safety management, approved scientific research
• ensure there is well resourced "Be Croc-Wise" education campaign in Queensland

To be valid your submission must include your name and two of the three below:

• mailing address
• email address
• daytime phone number 

Address your submission to

 Joining us will be Fiona Paterson from the Mackay Regional Council, who will give a talk about local recycling and waste management. It will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the process and ask anything about recycling that you've always wanted to know!

 Tuesday 15 May, 6:30 - 8:30pm

 Mackay Environment Centre, 156 Wood St

 RSVP HERE!

Beautiful Walks are back! As the new Community Outreach Officer, I’m excited to invite you to the first Beautiful Walk for 2018. It will be held at the Kommo Toera Trail, which winds through a paperbark wetland and is an area full of diverse plant and wildlife species. Guest speakers will also be on hand to talk about the importance and ecology of the area.

Where: Kommo Toera Trail. Keeleys Rd, Slade Point

When: Sunday 20 May, 3pm - 5pm

The Beautiful Walks program has been running for 4 years and is the Mackay Conservation Group’s most popular event. The walks are held in natural locations around Mackay and highlight the environmental beauty of the region. The event is held monthly, open to the public and free to attend.

To secure your place for the Beautiful Walk, RSVP by clicking here.

Every which way you look at it - water is life. Every cell of every thing needs water. 

In Queensland we experience water in every form, from the very wet to the very dry but wherever you are, water is life. However, in the twists and turns of the Stop Adani campaign the issue of water is sometimes forgotten. 

Our water is our lifeblood in Queensland and that's why so many people are taking action in the Walk for Water on the 16th of June and signing the pledge calling for the cancellation of Adani's water licences. 

Adani's Carmichael mine will drain at least 270 billion litres of groundwater over the life of the mine - that's four Sydney Harbours! Lock the Gate brought water management expert Tom Crothers to Mackay to explain the impacts that the mine could have on not only local landholders in the Galilee Basin, but to all those who rely on the Great Artesian Basin. 

The drain on Qld water resources is just the beginning. The really concerning part is the lack of research that has been conducted to estimate the likelihood of damage to aquifers, sediment layers and neighbouring springs and therefore the impacts on water resources that regional communities desperately rely on in times of drought. 

That's why a Motion of intent was passed by the crowd, calling on the Qld Government to cancel Adani's Water licence, so that precious regional water resources are protected. 

You can also sign the pledge which will be sent to Premier Palaszczuk and other ministers.

Keep reading to find out more about how Adani's mine threatens Qld's vital water resources.

The Mackay region is lucky enough to have over 30 bat species call the area home. In the urban areas, the most common bat you’ll see is the Black Flying-Fox (Pteropus alecto), which is a larger species and can be seen in sizable numbers flying in the sky at dusk. Bats are social creatures and form nursery colonies to rear their young.

All bat species are unique and play a crucial role in the ecology of the environment. The majority of bat species eat insects and are appropriately called insectivores. Other bats prefer to eat nectar, pollen, fruit and seeds. These bats are called frugivores. And then there are bats who are omnivores, which eat both insects and fruits.