Victory for Werribee anti-dump campaign

Victory for Werribee anti-dump campaign

By Susan Price

MELBOURNE <196> The campaign against the Werribee toxic waste dump has won a major victory. CSR, the company that wanted to build the dump, has been forced to sell the land which was the proposed site to the Wyndham City Council. This means the dump will not be built in Werribee.

Harry Van Moorst, a leader of the campaign against the dump, told radio 3CR's Friday Breakfast Show on November 20 that the Werribee campaign represented a departure from the NIMBY (not in my backyard) approach to community environmental campaigns.

The campaign forged links with the trade unions, the campaign against the Jabiluka uranium mine and the community campaigners fighting the Niddrie quarry.

These campaigners united on June 5 for World Environment Day in a show of "people's power", Van Moorst said. The unions were crucial in allowing pickets of the dump site to be maintained in the face of pressure from CSR.

At the height of the campaign, a demonstration of 15,000 people was held at the Werribee race course.

Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, angered at the success of the campaign, launched an attack on CSR in November 17 Australian, calling the company's handling of the issue "inept, incompetent and appalling".

A victory party will take place at the Werribee Race Course on November 29, 2pm to 6pm.

From GLW issue 342