Photo: www.tonymichael.com.au
July 6, 2008 Planning Backlash Clocktower Rally
Mr. Madden and Mr. Brumby are playing ping pong with us. I would like to tell you the story of how Mr. Brumby and Mr. Madden have dealt with blue wedges and sound a warning to communities who oppose this government’s expansionist plans
Their rhetoric is that they are committed to making Melbourne more liveable
They say they are committed to fighting global warming
Yet everything they stand for makes it worse
They are busy catering for:
More roads
More tunnels
More high rise
More trucks
More ships……. And
More carbon emissions
In 2004 a planning panel rejected the channel deepening project.
In 2005 a planning panel rejected the Nowingi toxic dump.
In 2007, a planning panel approved channel deepening - with a toxic dump - in the middle of the bay
The toxic dump in the bay is 60 times the footprint of the Nowingi dump.
The Nowingi dump was to be EPA licensed and had strict annual and total operating capacities. (All other toxic dumps in the state must be licensed and are strictly managed.)
The toxic dump in the bay is unlicensed and has no limits to volume or what can be dumped there.
How did that happen???
Its only approval was via the heavily manipulated EES process, and the EPA is left on the sidelines wringing its hands, only able to say what it has been told to say by its masters – Mr. Brumby et al.
Mr. Madden approved the Channel Deepening EES process, and he:
• Altered the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry
• Removed public right to cross examination
• Limited duration of the hearings
• Handpicked a compliant panel who clearly were not sympathetic to the public and who had little relevant experience compared with the competent and highly credentialed panel of 2004 who first rejected channel deepening
Senior legal figures, including Julian Burnside QC, Chris Canavan QC and Chris Wren SC were highly critical of Madden’s approach, saying such things as:
• Basic and fundamental fact finding denied
• Unprecedented in Victorian planning history and should never happen again
That is how this appalling project has been approved.
Mr. Brumby and Mr. Madden are committed to assisting their corporate mates, who build tollways, tunnels, coal fired power stations, de-sal plants ……..and freeways through the Bay…….they are not interested in us.
What's more, government has run a taxpayer funded spin campaign to turn opponents into terrorists and to blatantly promote a project which is outmoded, poorly justified and unwanted.
Blue Wedges has been listed on the US Naval Intelligence register as a “credible threat to international shipping”, and yet the most we have ever done is shake our fists at the dredge!
We can only assume that our government provided the US Navy with our details.
It’s time for a different, calmer way forward.
We don’t need more of everything –do we need any more prosperity??
We are fine the way we are.
Most thinking people agree with that.
It’s time to tell Mr. Brumby and Mr. Madden to shape up or ship out!
