The Greens NSW

By Ann Hardy, National Trust of Australia

Over the past few decades the implementation of heritage legislation has become ‘rubbery’ and the robust operation of the Heritage Act 1977 has declined with the role falling by the wayside for Governments during the 1990s and 2000s. This dismantling of heritage legislation coupled with real threats to heritage has led to the resurgence of conservation groups and many grassroots organisations in NSW are now active defenders of cultural heritage in NSW.

Your rights as a residents to object to obnoxious over-development are is now at risk. The NSW Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard, announced last week that the government would be confining the public’s right to have a say to “strategic planning”. From then on, he said, it would be “full steam ahead” for developers.

Greens Senator for NSW Lee Rhiannon was stonewalled yesterday in Budget Estimates by the head of the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) who refused to expand on meetings held with Chinese miner Shenhua Watermark Coal Pty Ltd on plans to move coal from Gunnedah to Port Kembla in the Illawarra, bypassing Newcastle Port, because the company missed the deadline for use of the Newcastle coal loader (Audio below).

Greens Senator for NSW Lee Rhiannon says a bill scheduled to be introduced into the Senate today by Greens Leader Bob Brown would give communities like Bawley Point a greater say in where telecommunications towers are located, to address concerns about community health and environmental impacts.

“What Bawley Point residents now know is that current laws allow telecommunication companies like Crown Castles to skirt around local and state government planning laws, knee-capping the community’s right to be consulted,” Senator Rhiannon said.

“While good reception is vitally important to people living outside of the major centres, we can have this without sacrificing public health or the natural beauty of Bawley Point.