Cyclone cuts state from Australia
Western Australia was cut off from the rest of Australia due to the effects of category four Cyclone Bobby, this week 10 years ago.
The storm, of a similar size to Cyclone Tracey which flattened Darwin in 1974, battered WA’s coastline with winds gusting up to 280 kilometres an hour, causing the loss of two fishing vessels, the grounding of an unladen bulk carrier and losses for mining operations around the state.
Onslow bore the brunt of Bobby but rainfall throughout the north west left most areas flooded.
BHP suspended operations at its Griffin oil field and oil and gas production at WAPET’s Thevenard Island and Barrow Island operations
Searches were being mounted for several fisherman lost and feared drowned after the fishing boats Harmony and Lady Pamela disappeared.
The fisherman were understood to be wearing orange lifejackets but the job of searchers was made difficult by the sea being turned ochre off Onslow due to topsoil being washed into the ocean.
The 61,000 tonne deadweight bulk carrier Bulk Azores ran aground in the midst of the storm but was able to be brought into Dampier for assessment.
Miners said flooding caused by the cyclone would cost WA about $50 million in production. They likened it to the big wet of 1992 which stopped gold production for several weeks in some mines in the Kalgoorlie area costing tens of millions of dollars in lost output.
Work was stopped at Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit and a range of mines around the Goldfields. Nickel production around Leinster was slowed.
Fuel shortages, due to remote operations being isolated by the cyclonic deluge, were expected to have an impact.
Offshore the North Rankin A and Goodwyn platforms felt the full force of Bobby but came through unscathed. Indeed, they produced higher gas volumes in response to an unexpected gas demand from the state’s power utility.
On the financial front, Alan Bond made what some press outlets were describing as a "Houdini-like" escape after he was discharged from bankruptcy.
United Credit Union, WA’s largest credit union, reported an interim after-tax profit of $1.25 million in December after boosting its assets to more than $200 million for the first time.
Also looking for a profitability boost was Woodside Petroleum, which expected a modest improvement in its fortunes if market conditions remained stable. It also paid off $US35 million from its $US1.19 billion debt, its first ever repayment.
While WA’s major gas player was looking at brighter times, the government of the day were trying to strike a new royalty-sharing arrangement with the Federal Government.
Then State Resources Minister Colin Barnett said his proposal, which had been well received by then Prime Minister Paul Keating, was to rationalise the five different tax and administrative regimes that existed within the North West Shelf province.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Grants Commission recommended cutting WA’s share of Federal funds by $53 million for WA to $1.7 billion while plumping for increases of $60 million for Victoria to $3.8 billion, $12.6 million for Tasmania to $721 million and $8.2 million to the Northern Territory.
On the sporting front, the Fremantle Dockers had their first official AFL hit-out, although, as the final siren sounded bringing to a close the Ansett Cup match the Dockers were 35 points behind St Kilda and with only 17 fit players.