CFMEU imposes green ban on Pyrmont site

BY MARCELLE HOFF

SYDNEY — The NSW branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has announced that it will impose an interim ban on construction of a high-rise development at the former Water Police site at Pyrmont's Elizabeth MacArthur Bay.

"We don't want to see Hong Kong-style development on Sydney Harbour", CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson told a November 11 rally at Pyrmont Point attended by public housing residents, construction workers, wharfies, middle-class retirees and well-heeled business executives.

The former Water Police site is under the control of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, which is considering a development application for private commercial and residential units on the site.

Ferguson said the interim ban would give the local community time to engage in meaningful consultation with the state government over the future of the site.

Sydney deputy lord mayor Dixie Coulton told the rally, organised by the Friends of Pyrmont Point campaign group, that she would urge the city council to support the CFMEU's green ban and supported the campaign group's call for the former Water Police site to become a public park.

[For more information on the campaign, phone Marcelle Hoff, Friends of Pyrmont Point on (02) 9571 4373, 0421 911 677 or visit <http://www.pyrmontpoint.net>

From Green Left Weekly, November 19, 2003.

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From GLW issue 562