You would be aware that a Labor and Liberal Councillor of the Rockdale City Labor-controlled Council were dismissed in the early 2000’s for accepting kick-backs from developers; they were later charged and convicted.
At a Rockdale City Council meeting in mid-November, a packed crowd in the public gallery almost broke into a near riot after a controversial council decision to allow the rezoning of land in Sans Souci. After the meeting, some councillors described the scene as an unprecedented display of public anger. Mayor Bill Saravinovski was forced to adjourn the meeting. Along with the majority of councillors, he left the chamber for about 15 minutes, with the crowd jeering and applauding as they walked out. Hundreds of people attended the meeting, and those who could not fit into the council chamber stood outside the room.
When an amendment to reconsider the rezoning, put forward by Greens Cr. Leasa De Leau and supported by Independents Cr. Yvonne Bellamy and Liz Barlow was lost, and the council voted for the rezoning, the crowd exploded. Many of the crowd punched their fists into the air and yelled insults at the Councillors: “You weak mongrels.” “You’re all corrupt.” “You’re all spineless” and “You’re dogs.”
After some of the Councillors left the room, Cr. Yvonne Bellamy was able to restrain the crowd, and they eventually departed. The crowd, consisting of both young people and elderly men and women had come to the meeting to listen to the discussion on the rezoning of land along Rocky Point Road, bounded by Jameson Lane, Russell Ave. and Evans Street, from residential to general business 3(a). The rezoning would allow for the building of a proposed four-storey commercial premises about 20 metres in height, with three levels of underground parking, which would eventually include a supermarket. The site is owned by the Kamper accounting family and the owners of the Superbarn Supermarket group.
The Councillors supporting the rezoning did not give a reason why they had supported the change.
Resident John McCallum, who attended the meeting, said “Not one of the Councillors who voted for that decision could give us one reason why.”
A recission motion was defeated on Wednesday night, November 22, 2006.
Vivi Koutsounadis-Germanos moved to Evans Street, Sans Souci, 23 years ago, and she is determined a development on Rocky Point Road will not go ahead without her objections being heard. Mrs. Koutsounadis-Germanos spoke at Rockdale Council’s November 15 meeting, clearly voicing her disapproval of the rezoning and the “proposed monstrosity” on a site between Russell Avenue and Evans Street. At the meeting, the majority of Councillors voted to allow the rezoning of the area from residential to commercial. “The development is huge in size and scope, and is out of character with the environment and the present houses,” she said. “It will affect our privacy, mental health and wellbeing because of the noise generated by excessive traffic, especially the big trucks, pollution and overshadowing of our houses, denying us the natural sunlight which we have had all day for 23 years.
Mrs. Koutsounadis-Germanos, who has received an Order of Australia for her services to the community, said the residents felt the matter would have far-reaching implications in all aspects of their lives. “(The matter) is being rushed through council, and we have not been given adequate time and documentation to be informed and be heard,” she said.
Rhonda Gillings, 66, who has lived in the area for 35 years, also attended this Council meeting. “It was the first Council meeting I have ever gone to, and hopefully it will be the last,” she said, explaining she left in disgust. “I’m quite horrified by the proposed development, and I’m working with other people not to have it stopped, but to have it modified.” The day prior to the meeting, Mrs. Gillings sent emails to all the Councillors, detailing her dissatisfaction with the proposal. “They took me hours to send, and then I only received a reply from one person,” she said.
One could be forgiven for believing that Labor-controlled Councils are in collusion with their State Government colleagues and, what epitomises this, is the failure by the Labor-controlled Rockdale and Canterbury City Councils to challenge the N.S.W. Labor Government’s refusal to filtrate the M5 East Tunnel, which is the world’s best practice.
WARNINGS OVER M5 EAST EMISSIONS.
The N.S.W. State Labor Government ignored warnings that portal emissions from the M5 East Tunnel would multiply health risks in surrounding communities by a frightening 50 times. Eric Roozendaal was exposed as the second Roads Minister to ignore Health Department concerns over the M5 East to side with the powerful Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA).
The RTA is going full bore with plans to permit unfiltered fumes to be pumped out of each end of the tunnel to clear the haze in the 4km. twin tunnel. Residents around the exits are furious they will be directly in the draught of exhaust particles, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other noxious gases. A secret N.S.W. Health briefing, made public at the insistence of the Greens, outlines the dangers of portal emissions and warns against using an October 2006 CSIRO study as a reason to sound the all-clear for worried families.
“CSIRO re-analysis demonstrated that portal emissions increased community exposure to air pollutants by about a factor of up to 50 compared to emissions from the stack,” the Health Department warned Mr. Roozendaal. And after: “Whereas the ground level impacts of stack emissions are small and considered unlikely to result in health effects, the ground level impacts of portal emissions are of much greater magnitude.”
Mr. Roozendaal has stuck to advice from the RTA that there is no health risk in or outside the tunnel. Former Roads Minister Michael Costa did likewise in 2003 when the Health Department, under a rising Morris Iemma, urged the RTA to warn drivers to wind up their windows inside the tunnel for their own safety.
A spokesman for Mr. Roozendaal said in early November 2006 that the CSIRO report “examined expelling all emissions from the tunnel portals. There never has been any proposal to do this - and never will be,” he said.
Greens’ MP Lee Rhiannon said, “The Government must put residents’ health before its motorway obsession and filter emissions before they are released at ground level.” The stench over the M5 East grew in the affected neighbourhoods around Kingsgrove, Bexley North and Arncliffe.
Mary Papademitra, a resident of Flat Rock Road in Kingsgrove, said, “There are many families with young children in this suburb, and everyone is worried about this dirty air coming out of the tunnel.”
Anti-pollution campaigners say there was a surge in health complaints the last time that regular portal emissions occurred in 2003. Although we are in danger of becoming repetitive, can someone explain to us why the Canterbury and Rockdale City Labor-controlled Councils remain silent on the M5 East tunnel’s toxic emissions, which are slowly but surely killing their residents/ratepayers. Are we on the wrong tangent in believing that collusion between these Councils and the N.S.W. Labor Government has every chance of being a fact rather than fiction? We are finding it extremely hard to understand how an elected member can turn a blind eye to what is a major health risk. Link >>>> UPDATE – OCTOBER 2006 - PART THREE.
KEEP AN EYE ON STRUGGLING FARMERS.
Lifeline 131114 Beyondblue 1300224636.
Farmer Mark Pickford knew something was wrong when he began snapping at his children. They started “ducking and hiding” as soon as they saw their dad coming. He headed to his local GP, and was diagnosed with clinical depression - an increasingly common diagnosis in rural Australia as the Nation’s worst drought continues. Mr. Pickford, 44, is just one of thousands of farmers doing it tough and finding it hard to cope. While he says he has never contemplated suicide, other families are not so lucky.
In Australia approximately one male farmer commits suicide every four days, according to National depression group, Beyondblue.
Mr. Pickford, who owns a sheep and cattle property between Orange and Dubbo, said he was speaking out as he wanted other farmers to know help was available. “When you’re on the tractor, feeding stock, you’ve got a lot of time to think, and I think you can do too much thinking,” he said.
“I would encourage blokes, if nothing else, to find a mate to talk to. And watch out for your mate. If you think a bloke’s struggling, give him a ring, ask him how he’s going.” Anti-depressant medication helped him to communicate properly with his wife and children.
“You can cope for so long, week in, week out, year in, year out, and all of a sudden it goes bang. But for goodness’ sake, the doctors are aware of this problem, so just go and have a bit of a check-up.”
Come on Australia, we survived on the bush, now it’s time we returned the favour. Without rural producers, our country has zero; in fact we will become a third world Nation.
LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SALE OF CAREFLIGHT HELICOPTER SERVICE.
“Premier Morris Iemma, reinstate CareFlight before it’s too late for them and you.”
What is interesting is the deadly silence of the Opposition political parties.
For those interested in the truth, you should go to CareFlight’s website http://careflight.org/
When you discover the truth of the matter, make sure you pass on this information to your family, relations, friends and their friends. This is the only way we can spread the truth by networking as a team, and we can defeat the blackout media.