I again sat in the Land and Environment court recently to see how justice and democracy are actually being served.
The hearing was about that huge rubbish tip at Central Mangrove; the one set up in the catchment without consultation of the owners. The owners were informed that they were neither wanted nor required at court, however, chose to attend anyway. All the big wigs duly presented at the front bench and proceedings began. The representative of the tip company told the judge confidently that an agreement had been reached and consent orders had been signed by Verda Terra and Gosford Council. All the judge had to do was sign it into law.
The representative of Gosford Council affirmed this. I was sitting there thinking, why haven’t the legal owners of the catchment, or the community, been heard? Then I noticed French whispers going down the line after someone had glanced back at us. Surprise, surprise, the guy from the league got up and sheepishly said that the representative of the local RSL sub-branch was present, and that maybe he should be invited up. He went on to admit that there was a disagreement on the true owners of the land. From the discussion that took place concerning the consent orders, I gathered that the amount of rubbish was to increase dramatically, well over one million additional tons of rubbish to be precise. The entire area of the land would be subject to dumping of rubbish, there would be an average of 55 trucks allowed per day. This means that if one day only 10 big trucks arrive, the next day you could see 100 trucks in, and of course, 100 trucks out.
That’s not all folks. Council and its co-conspirators reserve the right, it appears, to review the orders every three years, of course increasing the tonnage at will without any need for consultation with the owners or the community. This nightmare could go on forever, and think about this, if it can happen to land left for the community by one of our most dedicated servicemen, why not yours? To my delight, the judge said he did not have the authority to sign the document. You should have seen those worms squirm. However, it became obvious that they’re not giving up. The thought occurred that the members of the local RSL sub branch fought a war to protect our freedom and democracy. They are now fighting it again in court and the league, which should be there beside them, is stabbing them in the back.
They have to pay their costs; the league has frozen the sub branch assets. What happened to the fair go ethic? I sincerely believe that what is happening is tantamount to treason. The entire future of the population of the Central Coast is being sold out to foreign entities for the mighty dollar. Let’s be real, there are multiple millions of dollars in tipping fees for rubbish already there. Who got that? Did it go to the Labor slush fund? The Liberal electoral campaign, local councilors or officers – where has it gone? It certainly hasn’t gone to the local community. Is the council running scared and trying to cover up illegal or corrupt decisions of the past? If so, where is ICAC? The advertisement placed in the paper by the council recently, looking for tipping sites, where do you think it will be going? We all look forward to the likely contamination of the entire Central Coast Water supply, and the loss of the right to protect our own land or children. In reality we are looking at a dictatorship, where the ‘elected representatives’ have a price that only the rich can afford.
Letter, 8 July 2014
Clara Jones, Murrays Run