SYDNEY — At least 650 residents met at Ashfield Town Hall on March 15, to debate the government’s proposed options to extend the M4.
The meeting condemned the poor and inadequate information provided by the Road Traffic Authority on key issues such as traffic volumes, traffic flows, location and impact of ventilation stacks, and treatment of tunnel emissions.
A presentation was given by Sydney University Associate Professor Ray Kearney on the impact of emissions on public health.
A number of residents urged the government to properly fund public transport as an alternative.
The meeting concluded by voting unanimously to oppose all three options put by the government.
For more information check out <www.ecotransit.org.au> or contact the M4 East Tunnel Action Group on 0403 903 067.
Kylie Moon
Union rejects recycling report
BRISBANE — Transport Workers Union secretary Hughie Williams has rejected an interim report by waste management consultancy Maunsell, on allegations that private contractor SITA had routinely dumped recycled garbage with ordinary rubbish.
The report, released on March 19, claimed that at least 93 per cent of recycled waste ended up in recycling facilities.
Williams pointed out that not one of the TWU members who had made statutory declarations that they had been directed to mix recyclables with general garbage had been interviewed for the report.
Coral Wynter, Socialist Alliance candidate for Central ward in the March 27 Brisbane City Council elections, described the interim report as a farce. “This just underlines the importance of our call for the privatised rubbish collection system to be put back under direct council ownership, with full involvement of the union.”
Bill Mason
From Green Left Weekly, March 24, 2004.
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