Dynnyrne Residents Protest Fifth Lane Proposal

Media conference with Dynnyrne residents in front of Parliament House, Hobart, 29 June 2021. Key spokesperson was Meghan Smith (pictured above, second from left in front row). Also present were MHAs Rosalie Woodruff (Greens), Ella Haddad (Labor), Kristie Johnston (independent) and MLC Meg Webb (independent).

Journalist – Meg Syde

Meghan, why are you guys out here today?

Meghan Smith

We’re out here because of a ridiculous proposal by the Minister for State Growth Michael Ferguson to compulsorily acquire 17 homes and bulldoze them so that he can build a folly of a fake lane that won’t solve the traffic congestion. And just make people homeless and ruin our community.

Journalist – Meg Syde

We’ve got several MPs standing beside you, how important is it to have their support?

Meghan Smith

It’s been incredibly supportive, incredibly important for us to have the support of Kristie Johnston and Ella Haddad, without whom we would not be able to push this issue as far as we have today.

Journalist – Meg Syde

And what would you like to see happen?

Meghan Smith

I’ve got a message for Michael Ferguson. Can I read that? Mr. Ferguson, it’s been 14 weeks since State Growth sponsored private engineering firms WSP and Pitt & Sherry showed up at our doorsteps with this devastating news. Since then, despite numerous requests, we have had no clarity on when public consultation will begin from State Growth, Michael Ferguson, or his colleague Minister Elise Archer. How long does Michael Ferguson expect us to put our lives on hold? How long is Michael Ferguson expecting us to live with this level of stress, uncertainty and fear? Is it a few months until Parliament returns? Is it Christmas? Is it next financial year? How long Michael?

Everyone knows – except seemingly Michael Ferguson – this is a dinosaur response that wastes a huge amount of taxpayers’ money and will do nothing to solve the problem of traffic congestion. Michael Ferguson, all the residents and community of Dynnyrne ask is for you to end our anguish and make a decision.

Journalist – Laura Beavis

Michael Ferguson said in Parliament today no final decisions have been made, and they won’t be made until there’s been adequate consultation. Has there been much consultation?

Meghan Smith

I would suggest that Michael Ferguson might like to read the definition of consultation in a dictionary. We’ve had one letter from State Growth, we’ve had people that we didn’t know show up at our door, who turned out to be contractors from private engineering firms. We’ve had a few other emails; we got a printed out version of a how to compulsively acquire your home ABC-step-by-step guide, printed off a web page. I don’t consider that to be adequate consultation. These are our homes. They’re not just houses.

Journalist – unidentified

(inaudible) … to start again in a new place?

Meghan Smith

Well, that’s a great question and one that we would really like an answer to. We don’t know, we have had very little advice. We’ve had – I believe Elise Archer is the Attorney General – we would think that somebody from her department might be able to give us some information about what compulsory acquisition means. I don’t know, none of my neighbours know. What we’re asking for is that Michael Ferguson give us that very clarity that we need. In this hot housing, property price market, I’m not really sure that we are actually going to be able to get back into the community that we love, and that we won’t actually end up living south on the southern outlet and becoming part of the problem that he’s indeed trying to solve.

Journalist – Laura Beavis

Is the mental anguish creating physical problems for people in your community?

Meghan Smith

The mental anguish is creating an enormous amount of problems for people on the road. We’ve lived for over three months now with the with the spectre hanging over us that our homes are going to be bulldozed. We’ve got older people, retired people, young children, children who are trying to finish their final years at school, toddlers, pre-schoolers, we’ve got a whole range of people living on our street. All of them have had significant physical and mental anguish caused not not not just by the proposal, but the lack of consultation indeed the lack of information.

And, you know, fortunately, somebody from our camp actually sat down and read the Hobart City Deal document. And it’s clear to us that Michael Ferguson is either incompetent or a liar. Because the Hobart City Deal clearly says, and this is the assumption that we all bought our homes under, that the footprint, any expansion to the fifth lane would occur in the existing footprint of the Southern Outlet. So what’s happening? Just give us some clarity? What’s happening?

Tasmanian Times

Are there any people affected by this who are in favour of the project?

Meghan Smith

No, simple answer, not one.

Journalist – Laura Beavis

How many, do you know about how many families and households are affected?

Meghan Smith

As far as we know, there are 17 homes today that will be directly affected, who have been told that their homes are potentially required to be demolished. There are at least … I don’t know how many other homes will be required, will be impacted by the demolition, the roadworks. When do they stop? Do they stop at one extra line? Is it two extra lanes, three extra lanes, they are taking an enormous amount of land, they won’t tell us why they need all that land. So we don’t know. These are questions Michael Ferguson should be answering. He’s the man who has all the information, not me. I, I’m just somebody he’s trying to do my job and support my community.

Journalist – Adam Langenberg

Do you take any comfort from the fact that there’ll be a formal process where your voice will be able to be heard before a decision is made?

Meghan Smith

Well, I don’t really understand what the formal process is. When we had the engineers in our lounge room, they told us that it was a done deal. And that any public consultation was really about us negotiating around settlement and our personal circumstances. So I don’t I don’t even know what the legitimacy of the public consultation will be. That’s what we’d like to know from Michael Ferguson; you really seriously want to know what are our perspectives? I mean, he came out last week and said that it wasn’t just for the residents, it was for the other members of community. It doesn’t really sound to me like he is really genuinely interested in the residents’ plight. And, frankly, you know, it’s still a fat waste of money.

Journalist – Adam Langenberg

And how hard are you going to fight this proposal going forward?

Meghan Smith

Well, I think as evidence here today, we’re going to fight this for as long as hard as we need to, not just for the residents of Dynnyrne and the community of Dynnyrne, but the for the community of Hobart, this is a big fat waste of taxpayers funds. If you blow the money on this, you can’t find anything else that will actually deliver decent infrastructure and solve Hobart’s traffic congestion.

Journalist – unidentified

Do you think these means these politicians besides you should put in a motion of no confidence in Minister Ferguson?

Meghan Smith

Oh, look, I don’t know what the politicians beside me are able or willing to do. All I know is that they’ve been hugely supportive. And we couldn’t have got these as far as we have without their support. So what they choose to do from here on is is up to them but we wholeheartedly thank them for their support thus far.