Residents tour ADI site
SYDNEY — Members of the ADI Residents Action Group on May 18 were given a guided tour of the Australian Defence Industries site, between St Marys and Penrith in Sydney's west, where developer Lend Lease has proposed to build 10,000 homes. The tour lasted less than 30 minutes. Residents complained it was selective and superficial and that ADI and Lend Lease officials failed to answer adequately a range of questions about decontamination of the site, the protection of Aboriginal sites and whether the Aboriginal community had been consulted, the fate of kangaroos and emus living on the land, the status of the land's heritage listing and whether National Parks and Wildlife Service scientific officers would be given full access to the area. The consensus after the tour was that the development should not go ahead and that the area should become a park for all the people of western Sydney. — Gail Lord.