Speaking at a rally in Hyde Park last Sunday, Mr Mundey was
cheered by a crowd of almost 1000 people, made up largely of community groups
from as far a field as Ballina, Mullimbimby and Tweed Heads. They came to
protest against over development and to call for the scrapping of part 3A of
the planning laws, which gives the Planning Minister the ability to fast track
contentious developments.
“Let this be the rebirth of resident action groups
throughout NSW,” Mr Mundey said.
Although Kristina Keneally replaced Frank Sartor as Planning
Minister more than a month ago, banners still showed plenty of anger towards
the previous minister. A “Not happy Nathan” placard showed the
crowd’s contempt for the Rees Labor Government.
Upper House MP Sylvia Hale of the Greens was more direct in
her attack: “Communities in this state are fed up with Labor,” she
said.
Dave Matthews from Friends of Eveleigh said his community
group was yet to receive a response from the new Planning Minister.
“She won’t respond to our letters,” he said.
“They don’t care about heritage at the site, they just want the
land.”
Paul Power from Friends of Callan Park said Sydney’s University’s plan for that site was
conceived with “ridiculously little” community consultation. Powers said
he now felt “disgusted and embarrassed” to be a lifelong Labor voter.
He described Callan Park as the “Centennial Park
of the inner-west, a beautiful serene place” and a totally inappropriate
location for a university campus.
The leader of Friends of Currawong, Shane Withington,
invited the various community groups to attend the rally, after having fielded
about 2000 emails.
“I’ve been staggered by the response and the
frustration of these people who’ve been denied any say in what happens in their
community,” Mr Withington said. “They’re frustrated and they’re very
angry.
“We’ve got Sydney groups fighting massive inappropriate
developments in their suburbs, rural groups fighting mining which is poisoning
local rivers, another group fighting a mining company which wants to take over
the entire village, another is fighting the construction of an unnecessary dam,
while others are fighting for heritage values and to save bushland and
wildlife.
“There’s no doubt NSW planning laws have failed. The
response to our call for support for the rally proves that beyond a shadow of a
doubt.”
Perhaps the most telling speaker of the day came from
Hilltop in the Southern Highlands, where a $6
million 100 hectare rifle range has been fast tracked without any community
consultation. The land is a migration zone for native gliders and koalas.
“The rot clearly did not leave a month a go with the
previous planning minister,” the speaker said. “[Ms Keneally] may
have come in as fresh blood, but she still carries the Labor genes.”
President of AIH – an Australia-wide group of local heritage
societies – Andrew Woodhouse said the rally was a watershed moment for a
constituency fed up with the state government’s “pro-developer planning
regime”.
Mr Woodhouse said: “It’s no concidence people are
simultaneously, giving this government a two-fingered salute in local
by-elections.”
Photo: A protester vents frustration at the march
Source:
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