Cassy O’Connor
If he pulls this one off, the bonanza is all his … bargain basement public land sold to those rich and foolish enough to buy a perch exposed to the Roaring Forties in a bay full of copper, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, lead and zinc.
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Why should we believe anything this government says?Why should a deeply worried, statewide community which has already made its views very plain, have to go through up to two more years of fighting a billion dollar corporation on the proverbial shoestring?
Why should the Tasmanian government even consider a canal style development when they have already been banned in NSW, and when governments in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are experiencing canal estate pain?
Wetland destruction, loss of rare fauna and flora, water and soil pollution, erosion of banks and beaches, insect swarms, loss of public access, regular dredging, crippling bills for councils trying to control the damage … totally unnatural and ugly to boot! Just so twentieth century … Canal estates are a pox.
MP3 Online:
Listen to Cassy O’Connor:
Listen to Duncan Kerr:
WOW.
Deja vu …
Here we are again, back at City Hall among friends two years and nine days since the first time Walker Corporation’s exciting, new lifestyle fired us up to join in protest under this roof. Thank you so much for being part of this show of strength, and determination for the coast today. It needs us, like never before.
So much has happened since then. But nothing has really changed … Still the same empty pragmatists pulling the levers, the same cynical manipulation of public debate, the same wealthy tycoons sniffing hungrily around virgin coastline.
Lang is back for another bite at Ralphs Bay. His representatives, Kevin Hunt and Lia Morris say the bay is degraded, and Lang’s crew is going to fix it for us. Make it nicer for the birds too, we’re told … but their primary feeding grounds will be eradicated. And the natural smells of a healthy sandflat ecosystem will be dealt with to the satisfaction of reasonable people.
Apparently, this, we who object are not. When we question why it is that neither the developer, nor the government acknowledge the real value of Ralphs Bay to the Derwent Estuary and all its inhabitants, we are accused of spreading lies. Some of us are personally vilified in Parliament and on statewide radio.
No, not much has changed. We still dwell in a new Tasmania where dissent provokes political aggression, and where conservation and community so often come last. Such political depravity, not seen since the day’s of Joh’s Queensland, where I grew up.
And we are driven into battle, once again by love and fear
We are still here too; people who know the real value of a place to a community’s wellbeing. We know what’s at stake because we know what we have. As Tasmanians, we appreciate the true worth of our shared common wealth … our remarkable coastline.
And we are driven into battle, once again by love and fear.
The loving is easy. For every soul who’s ever sat in peace, or strolled along, one of this island’s myriad, exquisite bays and beaches. When our eyes drink in the wild horizon from unspoiled shores, we know it is we — and not Lang Walker — who are rich.
Those of us who live around Ralphs Bay are reminded daily that one man’s billion dollar corporation would do away with what we love and share. The birds who fly to the northern hemisphere and back, the Pied Oyster catchers strutting about on the sandflats, the critically endangered Spotted handfish feeding and breeding unseen on the bay’s sandy bottom … We simply can’t allow these marvels to become the victims of one man’s obscene urge to cash in on our coast, and a government that clearly just doesn’t get it.
This is what we fear, and more. We are up against the might of a corporate giant determined to have a bloke-sized chunk of the Tasmanian pie. We face being thrust into a long, drawn out and costly planning assessment process. We find it impossible to accept assurances the Premier will abide by the umpire’s decision if it gets that far. We know this government has form here, and we know the final arbiter, Paul Lennon, backs the Walker plan 100%.
What disturbs us most in this saga is the brazen disregard for both coastal and community values, and for democracy itself. We were ASSURED by the Premier in March 2004 that the community’s views would be heard before any decision was made on whether to formally proceed any further with the first Walker proposal.
Cabinet was divided on the issue
In community survey after community survey conducted by our Labor and Liberal representatives, the response was a resounding NO by an average of at least 70%. Thousands of letters were sent and phonecalls made to ministerial offices. Such was the outcry, Cabinet was divided on the issue, and ultimately Walker walked in September last year. But that was BEFORE the election.
This is now. And all pretence of community consultation has been abandoned. Four years out from another poll, in an act of staggering betrayal, Cabinet changed its collective mind. The Project of State Significance bill has been tabled for debate. And, just yesterday, Planning Minister, Steve Kons, assured us, “Under the RPDC process there will be opportunities for the public to express their views.” We are advised to have faith in the planning process.
Sound familiar?
Why should we believe anything this government says?
Why should a deeply worried, statewide community which has already made its views very plain, have to go through up to two more years of fighting a billion dollar corporation on the proverbial shoestring?
Why should the Tasmanian government even consider a canal style development when they have already been banned in NSW, and when governments in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are experiencing canal estate pain?
Wetland destruction, loss of rare fauna and flora, water and soil pollution, erosion of banks and beaches, insect swarms, loss of public access, regular dredging, crippling bills for councils trying to control the damage … totally unnatural and ugly to boot! Just so twentieth century … Canal estates are a pox.
The smartest approach for our elected representatives to take is to apply the precautionary principle, BEFORE the community once again has to marshall scarce time and resources to point out the bleeding obvious.
The stinking fish just gets smellier by the day
Why on earth are we still having this debate when the State of the Derwent and State of the Environment reports, as well as the Derwent Estuary Monitoring Program recognise the importance of Ralphs Bay, undisturbed and protected? The State Coastal Policy, full of good intent but enfeebled by lack of teeth, has been totally disregarded. Perhaps just a sign of these times. In the most recent, revised public draft of a new State Coastal Policy, the Precautionary Principle did not even rate a mention.
The stinking fish just gets smellier by the day.
But it’s all sweet in the minds of Paul Lennon, Lang Walker, Kevin Hunt and Lia Morris … proponents of this exciting and magical fantasy we all need to share. They call this artificial nirvana Lauderdale Quay and we’re told it will be a $300 million bonanza.
Lang Walker knows that already. If he pulls this one off, the bonanza is all his … bargain basement public land sold to those rich and foolish enough to buy a perch exposed to the Roaring Forties in a bay full of copper, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, lead and zinc.
You won’t find Lang and Lennon Labor’s Lauderdale Quay on any map, but what you will find, without too much digging is the June 2006 RPDC Background Report on the Bruny Bioregion. It lists Ralphs Bay, Lauderdale as a site of high conservation significance. These RPDC maps also correctly include the full extent of Ralphs Bay sandflats INSIDE the boundary of the Conservation Area.
The perverse irony
You might recall, a year ago, at the urging of Walker’s lawyers, the government sought to clarify the boundary of our Conservation Area in order to exclude the nutrient rich sandflats. With solid legal advice from the Environmental Defenders’ Office backing us up, we disagreed then, and we disagree now. So too, it seems does the Resource Planning and Development Commission, the very body that will assess the Walker proposal if it secures Project of State Signficance status.
It’s a perverse irony. And, here’s another. Today, in a joint media release Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell, and his Tasmanian counterpart, Paula Wriedt, announced a Commonweath/State action plan for Derwent heavy metals. Ms Wriedt — who was part of the Cabinet decision to give Walker the go-ahead — says the plan builds on the efforts of government, industry and community partners who have been working to restore the Derwent. The action plan highlights the need to limit dredging and other activities that may disturb contaminated sediments. We. the public, have been invited to comment … and we will. Someone needs to tell the left hand just exactly what the right hand has been getting up to in the weeks pre and post-poll.
There may yet be time to stop this traincrash from happening. Lennon Labor has the numbers in the Lower House, but Tasmania’s Legislative Council casts the deciding vote on the PoSS. In the days and weeks before Parliament resumes, ring, write, email and fax every member of the Upper House, even those who say they’ll support the PoSS.
Tell them the risks tied to any possibility — however remote — of the Walker proposal getting through the planning system, are far too high. Tell them a community was conned into thinking its voice would be heard. Tell your MLCs to put principle before politics; conservation and community before corporate profit.
And there is another way you can be of considerable help. Yesterday, we launched our Fighting Fund on Nutgrove Beach on the shores of a threatened river. We need support so we can continue to raise awareness, lobby effectively and get the best available assistance for the possible path ahead. Donations can be made to the SRB Inc account at any branch of the National Australia Bank and every dollar of your donations, large and small, will go towards coastal protection, one way or another.
Lennon Labor shouldn’t for a second imagine that this issue won’t be a festering wound for it all the way to the 2010 poll. It will also become a key feature of the picture history paints of this government — a government that works to eradicate an inconvenient Conservation Area; backs corporate interests over community; and overtly seeks to divide where it could unite. The true list is much longer and it is being written.
We will not give up on our homes
In closing I would like to pay tribute to that inspiring group of highly motivated individuals who have been dubbed The Ralphies. It is because of the quality of character and skills of every member of Save Rave Ralphs Bay Inc. that we have been, and will continue to be, so very effective. I am very proud to be a member of Save Ralphs Bay Inc.
We can take some heart from the history of environmental struggle.
American Lois Gibbs has a place in the Ecology Hall of Fame for leading a campaign in the seventies to expose the risks to 900 families who lived at Love Canal, Niagara Falls, on top of 20 000 tonnes of toxic chemicals. The Love Canal Homeowners Association exposed corporate and government deceit, and truth won that battle. This quote from Lois Gibbs is for the Ralphies, and everyone who’s ever stood up for a place they love.
“Corporations are scared to death of us, because they can’t deal with us. We will not compromise. We will not give up on our children. We will not give up on our homes. We will not give up on our schools, and our communities for somebody else’s profit. So they just walk away from the table, saying “You’re unreasonable, hysterical, radical people.”
But we know who the real radicals are … and they are on notice.
We shall fight them on the beaches, and we will NEVER give up on Ralphs Bay.
RALLY FOR THE COAST #2
Hobart City Hall
Monday 24 July 2006
www.saveralphsbay.org
Earlier: Not so, Mr Walker
