People

In May 2005 Chris Hogendyk became aware of a small 260ha property located in the heart of the Macquarie Marshes that was for sale. The property had been used for cattle grazing for over 150 years, and was in a rather sad state after 5 years of drought and overgrazing.

Chris motivated a group of 30 residents of the Macquarie Valley to chip in to buy the property, which they named ‘Burrima’, the local Aboriginal name for ‘Black Swan’.

The group formed a unit trust, the Macquarie Marshes Environment Trust (MMET), and elected a Committee of Management to handle the day-to-day management of the property.

Since the MMET has owned ‘Burrima’:

1. It has been de-stocked, with spectacular regrowth of reeds and other plants

the block in 2005

the same area a few years later

2. An eco-toilet has been put in to cater for visitors

Chris Hogendyk is the man with the wide brimmed hat.

3. Walkways have been put across major channels to make the wetland walk more accessible

4. A total of 1,170 native trees and shrubs, including 600 saltbush, have been planted. Revegetation with native grasses has been planned for this spring.

5. Local traditional owners have been granted access to map scarred trees and Aboriginal middens

The MMET has hosted hundreds of visitors to ‘Burrima’ including local community groups, schools, politicians, birdwatchers, universities, research scientists, and many more.

Chris has also become increasingly determined to expose the environmental water theft and politics that are destroying the two nature reserves in the Macquarie Marshes.

He has been lobbying for policy change through his role as Chairman of Macquarie River Food and Fibre.

Chris is also the General Manager of Auscott Macquarie – a large cotton growing enterprise with a farm and gins in the Macquarie Valley.

Chris is passionate about farming and the environment. His wife Gill Hogendyk is Treasurer of the Australian Environmental Foundation and an active member of the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES).

Ignorant armchair environmentalists at the popular blog Larvatus Prodeo criticize Chris on the basis he grows cotton and Gill on the basis she is married to Chris (see comment posted at 4.43pm on October 5). And at least some of those guys and gals wear cotton jeans and t-shirts! If the folk at Larvatus Prodeo want to learn something about wetlands and cotton growing they could volunteer to chip weeds at ‘Burrima’ or in the upstream cotton fields.

Since beginning this blog in April 2004, I’ve received lots of information and opinion from readers. I’ve really appreciated the notes that I’ve been able to publish from people like Libby, Ann, Ian, Luke, Roger, Cinders and others.

I’ve also occasionally published comment from Paul Biggs, who should not be confused with Paul Williams who I also occasionally publish.

Paul Biggs is now going to join Neil Hewett as someone who occasionally posts directly to this blog and will look after the blog when I visit Indonesia again later this month.

Paul Biggs is a Biological Sciences graduate who has worked in medical research at Birmingham University, UK, since 1979. He became interested in climate change after watching a BBC documentary in 2003 called ‘The Big Chill,’ which claimed that the Gulf Stream could be cut off within 20 years, resulting in the UK having climate like Alaska.

Worried by this, he decided to investigate the claim in climate journals that he has access to at Birmingham University. It soon became clear to him that the Gulf Stream shut down was more scare that substance. As a result, he now spends much of his spare time debunking the claims that there will be a man-made climate catastrophe due to carbon dioxide.

Paul and his partner

I had lunch last week with Rick Ness, President Director of Newmont Mining in Indonesia, and his son Eric. They were in Australia very briefly and took time to visit us at the IPA when I was in Melbourne.

Journalist Mark Hawthorne from The Age was there and wrote about it the next day with comment that:

“A SMALL group gathered at the Institute of Public Affairs office in Collins Street yesterday to hear the tale of woe of former Newmont executive Richard Ness.

The mining boss is being tried in Indonesia for alleged arsenic and mercury pollution at a mining operation at beautiful Buyat Bay, home of a fishing village and a popular scuba diving spot.

“Government cracks down on polluting miner” made plenty of headlines around the world, but the only problem for green groups and the non-government organisations (NGOs) behind the investigation into the mine is that all the evidence now seems to clear Ness and Newmont of any criminal pollution and, indeed, has revealed a high-level conspiracy to incriminate Ness with falsified evidence…

“Ness’ best advice was to fight fire with fire — especially when tainted evidence was presented by NGOs showing how mercury had “polluted” the food chain. “We went though the data and found they had assumed the average family of two adults and two children under 15 kilograms eats 77 cans of tuna per day,” Ness said.
“I turned up to court and put 77 cans of tuna on the table in front of me. That made my point.” [end of quote]

Eric had visited, and dived, at Buyat Bay just before coming to Australia and describes the experience in a recent blog post:

“It’s actually hard to describe how great the diving is in Buyat, which was one of the first things we did. I’ve been diving since I was about 14 years old and I’ve been fortunate enough to dive in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Thailand, the U.S. and a number of different areas throughout Indonesia and I can unequivocally say that Buyat Bay has the best diving I have ever seen. It’s no surprise that Jerry and the North Sulawesi Tourism Office has recently put out a dive book to promote the area as a dive destination. Read the rest of the blog here:
http://www.richardness.org

You’ve seen Rick on a motor bike, remember this blog post: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001697.html

Well, here he is underwater:

Rick Ness diving at Buyat Bay, February 2007

My Dad, Richard Ness, is the President Director of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya and is currently on trial in Indonesia.

He and my step mom Nova, have five sons. My step Mom was born in Indonesia and Dad has spent a total of over 20 years in various parts of Indonesia and also in other parts of the world. My younger bother was born in Australia.

Dad was born and raised on a farm in Northern Minnesota. He attended Moorhead Technical Institute, and on graduating was employed by a Caterpillar heavy equipment dealership. Seven years later, he made the decision to change career paths, returning to teach at the same technical institute he had graduated from.

In 1979 he took a sabbatical leave, packed up his family, and traveled to Indonesia to accept a consulting assignment to design and develop a maintenance program and mechanical training curriculum for Freeport’s Mine in Papua, East Indonesia. He later joined Freeport and lived in Papua for 10 years where he spent some of his time learning the rich culture and exploring the rugged beauty of that part of the world. I remember he spent time in various villages assisting in the development of health and education infrastructure. He later moved to Jakarta as Vice President of the company.

His responsibilities in Jakarta, included promotion of local procurement, and he conducted several feasibility studies, including a study for a copper smelter. In addition he focused on any opportunity to expand business in Indonesia. Dad continued his interest in economics and development through further studies at Harvard Business School.

Without doubt, it is Dad’s belief that the biggest enemy of the environment is poverty, and poverty can only be overcome with positive policy changes. Through his work in Indonesia, Dad has been part of a team which has created over 23,000 direct jobs for the Indonesian people and maybe four times that many in indirect employment plus represents in excess of $6 billion in direct investment into the Indonesian economy.

That was what Dad did for a living. He lives his life in trying to make the world a better place. He has been the Mining Chair of both the American Chamber of Commerce as well as the Mining Chair for the International Chamber for several years, promoting both investment and legislative reform. He was also First Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, often traveling to Washington D.C. to lobby the US Government on behalf of Indonesia on array of issues ranging from trade, investment to foreign policy. He is currently on the Executive Board and former Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Mining Association promoting responsible mine development and legislative improvements that would benefit both Indonesia and investors.

On the international front, he has represented the International Chamber of Commerce as a United Nations delegate to both regional assemblies as well as representing business at the United Nations 10 year World Summit for Sustainable Development, helping outlining how governments and the private sector work together to reduce poverty and set the 10 year millennium goals at the United Nations Assembly.

In Johannesburg, one of the Indonesian projects showcased as a partnership initiative included a project that a group of Dad’s employees had worked on with the local universities and dive association to undertake a major reef coral reef rehabilitation project in North Sulawesi. At the time, this was the single largest private sector reef rehabilitation project in the world and has continued to be very successful.

My Dad has worked and been a delegate representing Asian region to the World Bank on their world wide Extractive Industries Review; with a similar focus on how oil, gas and mining can reduce poverty and improve living standards of developing nations. He also helped co-author the economic section of the plan for the Council of Foreign Relations on how economic development can help reduce conflict in Papua. None of these activities were part of his formal job, and they took precious time away from his family, however, he firmly believed that if one does not take the time help change the world along with the environment that we live in, by fighting to reduce poverty in an ever growing world population, the conditions for the poor and underprivileged will only get worse.

Do my parents practice what they preach?

Yes they do! Dad’s main social focus at work is poverty reduction – health – education – environment. At home, Mom and Dad have, and continue, in supporting literally 100’s of children with school fees and books on the islands of Lombok, North Sulawesi and Jakarta.

It is our family’s belief that only through education and policy change, can those who are underprivileged raise themselves from poverty, and it is only when economic conditions improve will environmental conditions dramatically advance.

There is no lack of opportunity to make a significant impact in poverty reduction in Indonesia. If you use the $2 per capita per day as a poverty bench mark, then almost half of the nation is living below this level. My parents are involved in supporting orphanages in North Sulawesi, Jakarta and Lombok.

I know that they, along with other employees of Newmont, are active in many other programs and with everyone’s combined efforts have made a difference; including surgery for those in need, personal support to remote medical clinics, not forgetting to mention support for Indonesia’s share of natural disasters – from tsunami’s in Aceh to earth quakes in Central Java.

I know when the tsunami struck Aceh and the island of Nias the whole world pitched in to assist, from Governments, relief agencies, NGO’s, religious groups as well as companies and individuals from the private sector. I know dad was also willing to do his part, and he was invited along with a handful of long term experienced residents to offer suggestions and advise on recovery planning to the United Nations special council.

But what do Mom and Dad do besides work, plus meeting their religious and social obligations?

Dad is an avid reader. In the past he was my diving buddy, and he likes fishing. Both enjoy good food and like to cook, watch a good film. They both love children.

But when Dad really needs to clear his mind, he regresses to his younger days and cranks up his motor cycle and goes for a ride.

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As a reader of this blog you may like to tell us something about yourself, a colleague or friend. Please send to jennifermarohasy@jennifermarohasy.com. Contributions are filed under ‘People’. Scroll down to read about some of the other contributors to this blog. There is a note from Richard Ness here.