Australian Islands Home To 414 Million Pieces Of Plastic Pollution
May 16, 2019: University of Tasmania
A survey of plastic pollution on Australia's Cocos (Keeling) Islands has revealed the territory's beaches are littered with an estimated 414 million pieces of plastic debris.
The study led by IMAS researcher Dr Jennifer Lavers and published in the journal Scientific Reports estimated beaches on the Indian Ocean islands are littered with 238 tonnes of plastic, including 977,000 shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes.
Dr Lavers' research made headlines around the world when in May 2017 she revealed that beaches on remote Henderson Island in the South Pacific had the highest density of plastic debris reported anywhere on Earth.
While the density of plastic debris on Cocos (Keeling) Islands beaches is lower than on Henderson Island, the total volume dwarfs the 38 million pieces weighing 17 tonnes found on the Pacific island.
Dr Lavers said remote islands which don't have large human populations depositing rubbish nearby are an indicator of the amount of plastic debris circulating in the world's oceans.
"Islands such as these are like canaries in a coal mine and it's increasingly urgent that we act on the warnings they are giving us," Dr Lavers said.
"Plastic pollution is now ubiquitous in our oceans, and remote islands are an ideal place to get an objective view of the volume of plastic debris now circling the globe.
"Our estimate of 414 million pieces weighing 238 tonnes on Cocos (Keeling) is conservative, as we only sampled down to a depth of 10 centimetres and couldn't access some beaches that are known debris 'hotspots'.
"Unlike Henderson Island, where most identifiable debris was fishing-related, the plastic on Cocos (Keeling) was largely single-use consumer items such as bottle caps and straws, as well as a large number of shoes and thongs," Dr Lavers said.
Co-author Dr Annett Finger from Victoria University said global production of plastic continues to increase, with almost half of the plastic produced over the past 60-years manufactured in the last 13 years.
"An estimated 12.7 million tonnes of plastic entered our oceans in 2010 alone, with around 40 per cent of plastics entering the waste stream in the same year they're produced," Dr Finger said.
"As a result of the growth in single-use consumer plastics, it's estimated there are now 5.25 trillion pieces of ocean plastic debris.
"Plastic pollution is a well-documented threat to wildlife and its potential impact on humans is a growing area of medical research.
"The scale of the problem means cleaning up our oceans is currently not possible, and cleaning beaches once they are polluted with plastic is time consuming, costly, and needs to be regularly repeated as thousands of new pieces of plastic wash up each day.
"The only viable solution is to reduce plastic production and consumption while improving waste management to stop this material entering our oceans in the first place," Dr Finger said.
The plastic survey on the beaches of Cocos (Keeling) Islands was assisted by Sea Shepherd's Marine Debris program, the Tangaroa Blue Foundation and the Two Hands Project.
Look what the tide has brought in - Supplied: Jennifer Lavers
J. L. Lavers, L. Dicks, M. R. Dicks, A. Finger. Significant plastic accumulation on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43375-4
Urgent Call To Fill Big Gaps In Knowledge About Black-Throated Finch
May 17, 2019: James Cook University
A James Cook University-led review of the status of the Black-throated Finch has called for land-clearing to be slowed or halted to protect the endangered bird.
The finch is at the centre of controversy surrounding environmental consents for the proposed Adani coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland.
JCU PhD student Juan Mula-Laguna led the study. He said the southern subspecies has lost 80 percent of its historical range, is listed as extinct in NSW and is now primarily restricted to two main areas - around Townsville and central Queensland.
“We gathered everything known about the finch so we could outline necessary research to improve its conservation. But the study particularly highlighted the lack of ecological knowledge while the finch faces pressing threats,” said Mr Mula-Laguna.
He said the paucity of information created uncertainty about best management practices for the finch.
“It’s a scarce and inconspicuous bird and it lives over an extensive area in rarely surveyed places, which poses a significant challenge for the collection of biological data,” he said.
Mr Mula-Laguna said what information there was suggested two remaining strongholds for the finch, with the main population in central Queensland. This area largely intersects the Adani Group’s proposed Carmichael coal mine and separate commercial operations by other resource companies.
“There are ongoing signs of decline in the number of remaining Black-throated Finches, but the lack of systematic monitoring limits our capacity to give a total estimate. Also, we know more than half of the total habitat suitable for the finch now falls within resource extraction or exploration tenures and more than 120,000 hectares have already been slated for clearing for agriculture.”
Mr Mula-Laguna said mining companies had proposed leaving some areas untouched as environmental offsets for the birds, but these measures fell short.
“The limited area of suitable Black-throated Finch habitat remaining, the poor condition of some of the selected offsets, and the lack of a specific cumulative impact assessment or a coordinated plan for development makes offsets unlikely to compensate for the losses caused by clearing,” he said.
Mr Mula-Laguna said the scientists recommended focusing on close monitoring of the remaining populations and investigating the finch’s ecology to improve management practices in pastoral land and ensure their survival.
“We need to understand better the needs of this bird to be able to manage it, but any research should be conducted while obvious threats are halted or minimised, the most prominent being habitat loss, whether that’s for mining or agriculture. Without these measures we may be losing something irreplaceable,” he said.
Juan Mula Laguna, April E. Reside, Alex Kutt, Anthony C. Grice, Peter Buosi, Eric P. Vanderduys, Martin Taylor & Lin Schwarzkop. Conserving the endangered Black-throated Finch southern subspecies: what do we need to know?. Emu - Austral Ornithology. Published online: 16 May 2019. Doi.org. 10.1080/01584197.2019.1605830
Protesters Flock To Toondah
by BirdLife Australia
Huge crowd assembles to protest proposed development
When developers see a stretch of mudflats, their minds automatically turn to ways to develop them. Fortunately, increasing numbers of people are rejecting this mindset, and this was never more apparent than on the muddy shores of Moreton Bay last Saturday, May 11th, coinciding with World Migratory Bird Day.
Over 500 people of all ages and from all walks of life assembled at G.J. Walter Park in Cleveland to express their dismay and anger about the proposed development of Toondah Harbour at the ‘Draw a Line in the Mud’ rally, organised by BirdLife Southern Queensland.
The protesters linked arms to form a human chain, demanding a commitment from their Federal candidates to take action against the unacceptable threat the development poses to the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew and other threatened shorebirds which rely on the mudflats at Toondah for their survival.
Toondah Harbour isn’t just any patch of mud — it’s part of an internationally recognised Ramsar wetland of international importance. That it is an important feeding site for the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew, as well as other migratory shorebirds, is among the reasons for its Ramsar status. The population of Eastern Curlews has plummeted by around 80 per cent in the past 30 years, mainly because the wetlands they rely on to survive are, one by one, being lost to developments just like the one proposed for Toondah by the Walker Group. It’s been likened to ‘death by a thousand cuts’.
BirdLife Southern Queensland has worked tirelessly in recent years to stop this development but has been regularly thwarted by different levels of government in protecting this special place.
“It is an immense failure of state and federal leadership to allow damaging commercial interests to be put ahead of our unique and precious endangered species,” said Judith Hoyle, a local resident and bird lover who is the Convenor of BirdLife Southern Queensland. "All levels of government are stonewalling."
“Our leaders must know they cannot let this unpopular and destructive development go ahead,” she said.
“The Walker Group wants to sacrifice over 42 hectares of feeding and roosting habitat that is important to ensuring the Eastern Curlew’s survival.” (The Walker Corporation wants to dredge the site and construct 3, 600, three thousand six hundred residential units).
“The mudflats that the curlews rely on for their survival must not be destroyed.”
“This development and the destruction of our wetlands will push our Eastern Curlews further towards extinction.”
"If we can't get this protected, our nature laws are broken," Ms Hoyle said.
the problem
Moreton Bay in Queensland is acknowledged as one of the world’s most important sites for the Eastern Curlew and has been recognised as a Ramsar site under an international agreement that protects wetlands.
National legislation and international agreements protect Ramsar sites from negative environmental impacts, particularly against destructive developments within their boundaries. So, when a development was proposed within Toondah Harbour, which would have destroyed a substantial area of Eastern Curlew feeding habitat, it was expected that the Federal Minister would declare the proposal as clearly unacceptable under federal law and reject it outright.
However, a decision on this seemingly straightforward case was delayed an unprecedented number of times before eventually being allowed to progress to the next stage in the assessment process.
The decision even went against the expert advice of the Department of Environment that concluded the development proposal would likely have significant impacts on the ecological character of the Ramsar site and these impacts would be difficult to mitigate and offset.
Despite significant domestic and international pressure, our national laws have failed to offer swift protection for Eastern Curlews at this important site. A final decision on this proposal has not yet been made, but the fact that a proposed development within a Ramsar site was not rejected from the outset calls into question the Government’s commitment to upholding its obligations under both domestic legislation and international agreements. If the proposal is allowed to go ahead it sets a dangerous precedent for future developments within Australia’s other 65 Ramsar listed wetlands and indeed Ramsar Wetlands around the world.
The fact that a Minister can ignore the expert scientific advice of their own Department highlights the need for stronger national environmental laws and independent institutions to ensure those laws are applied without political influence.
the solution
The proposed new independent National Environmental Protection Agency would be responsible for conducting transparent environmental assessments and would ensure that Australia meets its obligations to conserve important habitat protected under international agreements.
The independent National Sustainability Commission would ensure that Australia has a robust system of biodiversity monitoring, improving our understanding of migratory species’ use of key habitats and ensuring these are not subject to cumulative impacts from multiple projects across the species’ range.
Strengthened environmental legislation must ensure the Federal Government assumes responsibility and leadership for reversing the decline in Australia’s environment. It must prevent the extinction of native species; and protect and recover key biodiversity areas, threatened ecological communities and threatened species including strict protection for their critical habitats.
Images: Fiona Blandford
Two Birds, A Small Frog And Two Rare Orchids Now Listed As Critically Endangered In ACT
May 14, 2019: Mick Gentleman, MLA, ACT Government Environment Minister
Northern Corroboree Frogs, Swift Parrots, Regent Honeyeaters and two species of rare orchids are now listed as ‘critically endangered’ in the ACT to align with national listings.
Seventeen other nationally threatened species have also been added to the ACT Threatened Native Species List across various categories.
I have changed the status of these species to reflect their status in the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
This will lead to stronger national collaboration for protection of biodiversity. We will continue to work with other jurisdictions on monitoring, research and action for recovery of threatened species.
Initiatives are in place to maintain the long-term survival of a number of these species, such as the successful Northern Corroboree Frog breeding program at Tidbinbilla.
Since 2011, the breeding program has helped release hundreds of captive-bred Northern Corroboree Frogs back into the fragile high country wetland ecosystems that contain sphagnum moss.
The ACT Government’s Woodlands Strategy is helping to restore and maintain the habitat for both the Swift Parrot and the Regent Honeyeater.
The Canberra Spider Orchid and the Brindabella Midge Orchid are endemic to the ACT and are found in very small areas. Long-term action plans are in place to preserve the remaining populations in our nature reserves and in the Brindabella Ranges.
For a full list of amendments made to the Threatened Species List, please visit the EPSDD website
The Regent Honeyeater - critically endangered
Free Worm Farms And Compost Bins Available For Northern Beaches Residents
May 15th, 2019: NBC
Northern Beaches residents can register for a free worm farm or compost bin from Wednesday 15 May under a new Council initiative to support residents to get on board the war on waste.
“We all have a duty to reduce our footprint and compost bins and worm farms are a great way to avoid sending food scraps and garden waste to landfill,” Mayor Michael Regan said.
“According to the EPA, more than a third of the contents of an average red lid garbage bin in NSW is wasted food - around $3,800 worth for every household.
“We can all shop better and reduce what we throw out but of course, there will always be some food waste that we can’t avoid.
“A worm farm on your verandah or a compost bin in your backyard is a relatively easy way to help the environment plus it produces environmentally friendly, natural fertiliser that your garden and pot plants will love.
“And kids love a worm farm – and they can learn about how to help to better our environment literally in their own backyard, how good is that.
”With our new waste service coming on line in July and a concerted effort by our community to get on board the war on waste, this is a great time to introduce this initiative.”
Choosing between a compost bin or worm farm often depends on the type of garden you have. The ideal location for a compost bin is somewhere with sun and good drainage. In contrast, a worm farm thrives in good shade and is suitable for courtyards, balconies and small gardens.
Residents can register online to receive a voucher, which can be used to redeem a free compost bin or warm farm from a convenient pick up location in Manly (52 Raglan St) or Mona Vale (1 Park St) during business hours.
Classification Of Land - 13 Warriewood Road Warriewood
Council obtained title to the subject land at 13 Warriewood Road Warriewood (Lot 13 DP1206507) on 20 March 2019 and intends to classify the land as “Community Land”.
Make a submission
Enquiries: Council’s Property / Finance Officer - Property Ph. 1300 434 434
Submissions close Monday, 20 May 2019
Classification Of Land - 18 MacPherson Street, Warriewood
Council obtained title to the subject land on 16 April 2019.
Council hereby gives Public Notice of its intention to classify the subject Council land as “Community Land”.
Make a submission
Enquiries: Council’s Property Finance Officer: 1300 434 434
Submissions close: Monday, 17 June 2019
Grevillea Caleyi Bushcare May 2019
Next volunteer bushcare day will be on Monday the 27th of May, 2019.Meet at the picnic shelter at 8.30 am
New volunteers welcome - training will be provided
Wear long trousers, a long sleeved shirt and boots or closed in shoes
The session will be cancelled in the event of rain. For more information contact David Palmer on 0404 171 940.
Please join our Bush regeneration morning at the Baha'i Temple, 173 Mona Vale Road Ingleside.
Based on our past success PNHA has been given a new round of funding to continue work on conserving the threatened Grevillea caleyi - so we look forward to your support.
Morning Tea provided.
Pittwater Natural Heritage Association
Archie's Pittwater Clean Up
My name is Archie Mandin
I am a Seabin Ambassador, I started this campaign because I want to take a stand against ocean plastics!
My goal is to raise enough money to bring a minimum of 20 Seabins to Pittwater NSW as I want to give The Northern Beaches the opportunity to reduce its plastic pollution impact on the ocean. Its amazing how much accidental rubbish comes down our creeks and into our waterways
I need your help to raise money to buy the Seabins a revolutionary ocean cleaning technology which is essentially a floating rubbish bin that operates 24/7 catching all floating debris in the water.
The Seabin helps clean the ocean of floating debris which in turn creates cleaner oceans and we all benefit from this in one way or another. I mean, who really wants to swim in pollution? Not me that’s for sure!
Did you know that 300 million tons of plastic are produced in the world every year, half of which is for single use products, from this more than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year. We need to do something about it and now with the purchase of a Seabin we can all participate and make a difference!
Join me and my campaign to help ensure cleaner oceans!
What’s a Seabin?
The Seabin is a floating rubbish bin that is located in the water at marinas, docks, yacht clubs and commercial ports.
The Seabin can catch an average of 3.9kgs of floating debris per day which adds up to 1.4 tons per year. (depending on weather conditions and debris volumes) The Seabins is catching large plastic bags, bottles, plastic straws, coffee cups, food wrappers, surface oils and micro plastics down to 2 mm small.
How can a Seabin contribute to cleaner oceans?
The Seabin contributes to cleaner oceans by removing 1.4 tons of floating debris per unit per year. The location of the Seabin in marinas is ideal and where it matters most, close to the source of entry for floating debris. Ports and Marinas are perfect locations to stop floating debris from entering the open ocean and ocean plastics are also brought in by wind and currents.
Are the Seabins a danger to marine life?
The fish According to the team at Seabin, stay away from the surface of the water where the Seabin sucks in the water. They are deterred by the force of the water current. If there are swarms of jellyfish or bait fish it is recommended that the Seabins are turned off until the swarms pass. If a fish was to accidentally go into the Seabin, it would be caught in the Seabin and stay submerged in water until the marina staff retrieve the filter and throw the fish still alive back into the water.
How does it work?
Water is sucked in from the surface and passes through a catch bag inside the Seabin, with a submersible water pump capable of displacing 25.000 LPH (liters per hour). The water is then pumped back into the marina leaving litter and debris trapped in the catch bag to be disposed of properly.
Who is responsible for the Seabin?
This is the best part of it all, the marina will be the one responsible for the upkeep of the Seabins and also they will be paying for the energy consumption of the Seabin which is around $2 - $3 a day.
The marina enjoys a cleaner marina and the rest of us and the marine life enjoy cleaner oceans with less floating debris polluting our oceans!
Seabins part of a whole solution
Seabins whole solution is Technology, Education, Science, Research and Community. The reason for this is that Technology alone is not the solution to stopping ocean plastics, education is the real solution.
Great! Can our local community be involved also?
Yes! The team at Seabin have interactive programs and lessons designed for schools, community and youth to interact with the Seabins and have over 2000 school students engaged around the world, this is something that we can do locally also with support from the team at Seabin Project.
What will we be doing if we participate in these programs?
You would be joining an international community contributing important data and feedback on ocean plastics to the Seabin central data base. Renowned scientists, universities and environmental agencies are all a part of the programs also.
The lessons range from identifying ocean plastics to data collection of what the Seabins are catching weekly. The data collection is a very easy activity and where we can all see the measurable impact of debris the Seabins are taking out of the water in all weather conditions.
It’s as simple as counting how many plastic bags, plastic particles, food wrappers and then noting it down on a spreadsheet or app. Weather conditions and location information is also entered into the data base.
How can you help our campaign and make a difference in the world?
Every contribution to this crowdfunding campaign helps, be it $1 or $50 dollars, it all adds up and bring us closer to our goal.
Even if you cannot afford a donation, please help by sharing this campaign with your friends and family on social media. The more people that know about the campaign the better!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to check out our campaign!
FOR CLEANER OCEANS!
Archie
FAQS SHEET
Seabin Project FAQs
Q: Can someone pay out the crowdfunding campaign goal?
A: Yes! We need help! The more money we can raise, the more Seabins we can buy.
Q: Why crowdfund a Seabin?
A: Until now, the Seabins were not for the everyday person to purchase because marinas ports and yacht clubs are the target market for Seabin Group. This is a way where everyday people can give something back to the oceans.
Q: How do Seabins work in tidal areas?
A: Seabins at present are designed for floating docks and pontoons. The Seabins move up and down with the tide on the floating dock.
Q. How are the pumps run?
A. The pumps are currently electric, and around $2-$3 a day to run.
Q: When are the Seabins available?
A: Depending on your countries location, Seabins will be available Feb 2019.
Q: Do any fish get sucked into the Seabins? What about smaller marine life?
A: There is a possibility of fish to enter the Seabins, however in the last 2 years of development, the Seabins have only caught a handful of small bait fish. Most of which have been thrown back into the water alive. The fish simply stay away from the flow of water entering the Seabin and with the current fine tuning of the Seabin, the risk is now minimal.
Q: I don’t have any money to donate, how can I help?
A: Don’t worry! Your amazing anyways and thanks for even contacting us. We need help to share this project around with any media we can. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, websites, bloggers. Also with newspapers, magazines, tv, radio and journalists. Also friends and family!
Curious Kids: Can Snails Fart?
May 13, 2019
Answered by Bill Bateman, Associate professor, Curtin University
Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.
Can snails fart? Thank you. – Avalon, age 9, Scotts Head, NSW.
Lots of animals fart because of what they eat, but it was not easy for me to find a clear answer on whether snails really do. More research is needed to know exactly how the digestive system of a snail really works.
You might have heard about methane. It is a gas found in a lot of animal farts. I did find one study that said that scientists kept some snails in a glass container for one day and one night and checked if they would produce methane. And the snails did not.
(For the adults in the audience, the paper noted that, “In this aspect, the structure of the microbiota and in consequence the functioning of the digestive microbial ecosystem of the snails differs markedly from those of vertebrates, especially herbivores.”)
You may have seen reports that scientists built a database showing which animals do and don’t fart. Not every animal in the world is on there, but it does say that mussels and clams (which, like snails, are part of a group of animals called molluscs) do not fart. Moon snails, which live in the sea, were also listed as a no.
One thing we do know is that a snail’s bottom is right near its head. Flickr/Yamanaka Tamaki, CC BY
One thing I can tell you is that a snail’s bottom is right over its head. This is because snails are very different from other molluscs (which includes things like octopus and squid as well). Because they are squashed into a protective shell, their body is twisted round to fit in. As a result, their bottom is just above and to the side of where their head comes out.
Gassy molluscs
Water snails, mussels and other molluscs do produce a gas called nitrous oxide if they live in polluted water.
You might have heard of nitrous oxide. It’s also called “laughing gas”. But this can be a problem, as nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas and lots of it will add to climate change.
These mussels, when they are not producing laughing gas, produce something called “pseudo-faeces” which literally means “false poo”. Because the food they eat (little plants and animals floating in the water which they suck in) can contain a lot of sand, they sometimes have to squirt it all out. This doesn’t come out of their bottom, but out of something called a siphon, through which they suck their food.
____________________________________________________
Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.
Australia Post Abuzz With Native Bee Stamps
May 14, 2019
Some of Australia’s native bees are set to appear on a striking commemorative stamp issue to be released by Australia Post this May.
Speaking on the stamp release, Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said it was an opportunity to learn about the diversity of Australia’s native bees.
“We have a great diversity of native bees and they play an important role as pollinators of native flora. These beautiful stamps remind us of how integral the often solitary native bee is, and they’ll be of interest to nature lovers and collectors alike.”
The four domestic base-rate ($1) stamps feature artwork from renowned Australian wildlife illustrator Kevin Stead and include:
$1 Resin Bee (Megachile macleayi)
The Resin Bee, from the family Megachilidae, builds its nest in narrow holes in timber, constructing the nest and sealing the entrance with gums and resins it collects from leaves and plants. This solitary bee, which is found across northern Australia, prefers nectar from legume flowers.
$1 Green and Gold Nomia Bee (Lipotriches australica)
From the family Halictidae and found throughout eastern Australia, the solitary Green and Gold Nomia Bee nests in the ground. After looking for mates and foraging for nectar during the day, clusters of numerous male bees spend the night clinging or “roosting” together on tree twigs or grass stems.
$1 Wasp-mimic Bee (Hyleoides concinna)
The solitary Wasp-mimic Bee from the family Colletidae can most frequently be seen feeding from eucalypt flowers in eastern Australia from southern Queensland to Tasmania. It convincingly disguises itself as a black and orange wasp in order to fool and deter predators.
$1 Neon Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus nitidulus)
The striking, bright metallic blue Neon Cuckoo Bee from the family Apidae is so named because it opportunistically lays its eggs on the pollen balls inside the ground nests of the Blue-banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata). This solitary cleptoparasitic bee, which has no need to collect pollen from flowers, is found across eastern and northern Australia.
Products associated with this issue include first day cover; stamp pack, medallion cover, booklet collection and booklet of 10 x 4 $1 self-adhesive.
The stamp and associated products are available at participating Post Offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794, and online at auspost.com.au/stamps, from Tuesday 14 May 2019 while stocks last.
Astra Aerolab To Open In The Hunter Valley
May 16, 2019: NSW Government
A new defence and aerospace technology park in the Hunter will create up to 5500 jobs during construction, and service and maintain Australian fighter jets.
The new Astra Aerolab precinct will allow aviation companies to establish themselves in the region and support the Royal Australian Air Force combat aircraft, including the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.
F-35A Joint Strike Fighter-planes
BAE Systems Australia, one of the largest defence contractors in Australia, will employ around 400 highly skilled people to support the Joint Strike Fighter fleet during the 30-plus years of the aircraft’s service life.
Newcastle Airport and BAE Systems Australia also signed an agreement giving the defence contractor an option to lease land on stage one of the Astra Aerolab site.
The NSW Government has provided $11.7 million to the 76-hectare precinct near Williamtown airport for vital infrastructure, including an access road, power, water, gas, sewer and data connections.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the funding towards the Astra Aerolab precinct is helping to create jobs for aerospace engineers, aviation, IT and avionics specialists and attracting workers to the Hunter region.
“I want to thank Newcastle Airport, the City of Newcastle and Port Stephens Council for their hard work and commitment to making this precinct a reality,” Mr Barilaro said.