MEDIA RELEASE

30.4.2018

SNAP PROTEST AGAINST ILLEGITIMATE

WESTCONNEX M4-M5 LINK APPROVAL

Berejiklian Government approves Stage 3 of WestCONnex without publicly informing the residents of NSW.

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday April 10 2018

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, April 10 2018

Rally to protest Berejiklian’s continued desolation of the Balmain peninsula.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Fix NSW Transport rally and made it such a big success.

We had over a thousand people from over 25 community groups and unions attend. Our message to stop the tolls and put public and active transport first was heard loud and clear and we received prime time coverage on Nine, Seven and ABC news. A number of follow up articles appeared in the Blue Mountains Gazette, the Newcastle Herald, the Mosman Daily, the Inner West Independent, the South Sydney Herald and Australasian Bus & Coach.

Happy New Year and thanks for all your support through 2017. It was our biggest year of activity so far and no doubt our movement will continue to grow in 2018.

(cartoon by Cathy Wilcox for SMH)

Here's a blow-by-blow account of the significant events of 2017 that have contributed to exposing westCONnex as the toxic scam that it truly is.

COALITION AGAINST WESTCONNEX

Media Release - 15/12/2017 12.20 pm

RESIDENTS DEMAND END TO ‘FAKE’ APPROVAL PROCESS.

Anti Westconnex campaigners today occupied the NSW Department of Planning in Pitt Street, Sydney, calling for NSW Planning to reject the Environmental Impact Statement for the Stage 3 Westconnex tollway between St Peters, Haberfield and Rozelle and for an end to ‘fake’ approval processes.

“The community is sick of being pushed aside while decisions driven by the road lobby are being made behind closed doors,” said Paul Jeffery spokesperson for the Coalition against WestConnex, a network of anti-WestConnex community groups involved in today’s protest.

A chanting chorus of activists in 'faceless' masks (stamped REJECT EIS!) and a trio of White Elephants demanded an end to Gladys' FAKE approval process.

NSW Planning received more than 12,000 submissions, including submissions from City of Sydney and the Inner West Council, documenting hundreds of flaws in Sydney Motorway Corporation’s EIS. NSW government departments have also been strongly critical of the EIS which is based only on a concept not an actual design. (http://www.altmedia.net.au/epa-rejectswestconnex-
eis/128946).

“Despite the evidence, we’re worried that political pressure will be exerted to override expert concerns so that the Gladys Berejiklian government can move ahead with privatising WestConnex. The Stage 3 project would impose more intolerable impacts on residents and waste a further $7 billion on a solution that will worsen, not solve, traffic congestion.”

“For Planning to approve an EIS based on a vague concept would show utter contempt for communities whose lives have been made intolerable by WestConnex projects, for the people of NSW who’d bear the cost and for the very idea of independent planning,“ said Paul Jeffery.

Contact: Spokesperson for Coalition against WestConnex : Paul Jeffery 0410 636 663

The CAW network includes No WestConnex: Public Transport, Rozelle Against WestConnex, Westconnex Action Group, Leichhardt Against WestConnex, Save Newtown and other groups.

Statement by Coalition against WestConnex

The Coalition against WestConnex (CAW), a network of community groups opposed to WestConnex, has launched the People’s M4/M5 EIS.

The People’s M4/M5 EIS is a website designed to help people make submissions to NSW Planning, which is currently assessing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for WestConnex Stage 3, a tunnel between St Peters and Haberfield and Rozelle in Sydney's Inner West. Despite calls for a longer period, the public has been given only 60 days to respond to an EIS of 7000 pages.

Council elections September 9

Many councils across NSW are having elections this Saturday Sep 9th. Your local council can play a vital role in amplifying your opposition to WestCONnex, fighting to stop the project and getting the public and active transport solutions Sydney so desperately needs. Different areas will have different concerns, it may be huge tolls, exhaust pollution or a lack of public transport.

To help find out where the candidates stand and help you make an informed vote, on July 30th we put up a Facebook post calling on all candidates in the Inner West Council area to respond to a set of questions on WestCONnex. We also invited candidates to submit video responses as well. We posted those responses on our Facebook page as they were received. 

COMMENT ON LETTER TO LUKE FOLEY

We had been hoping to bring our supporters up to date with Labor’s position on WestCONnex. So on 16 August, the Coalition Against WestCONnex, which includes twelve community groups opposing WestCONnex, sent NSW Labor leader Luke Foley a letter asking him to answer some questions. We specifically told him that we regarded the answers to these questions as being relevant to the Local government elections this Saturday, 9th of September. We attached a list of strong reasons for Labor opposing WestCONnex.

We asked him to reply in five days. With only three days to go to the election, we have not received a reply so we are releasing the letter so supporters can make up their own minds why NSW Labor will not answer these questions.