Residents rally to save green belt

By Alistair Dickinson

SYDNEY -- The Australian Defence Industries (ADI) Residents Action Group is hoping for a big turnout for a march and rally starting at 11am at the ADI gates in St Marys on July 26. The action is to oppose the development of the ADI site by Lend Lease.

For over 60 years the land was occupied by ADI, and toxic waste and explosives have been buried there, along with low-level uranium (before it was moved to Lucas Heights).

A soil and water contamination report was released in 1993 by local and state governments which showed contaminants such as TNT, lead and organochlorines at much higher levels than Environmental Protection Authority standards required for development approval.

The federal Coalition and NSW Labor governments are keen to allow the site to be developed by Lend Lease. State minister Craig Knowles has already given approval for 8000 houses to be built on the site.

A recent study by Earl Grebert, a long-term worker at the ADI site, found that the majority of people who had spent a long time on the site had either already died or were dying of cancer. Grebert died shortly after finishing the survey.

Local activists are concerned that the land is still contaminated and former workers there claim that nothing should ever be built on the site.

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