NEWSLETTER 15.12.08 - MORE WOOLLY PROMISES

MULLUMBIMBY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
www.mullumaction.org
NEWSLETTER 28 – 15.12.08

WOOLWORTHS GONE VEGETARIAN?? They’re promising not to process meat or chicken at their proposed Mullumbimby supermarket!! Have they gone vegetarian? No, it’s their latest ruse to get on-site sewage accepted on the floodplain; they reckon if they don’t process these products they will have less wastewater!

Dept of Planning (DoP) and Woolworths (Wws) have been having intercourse; 3 communications dated 7 Aug, 19 Sept & 19 Nov were sent from Wws to DoP, copies of which were sent to Byron Shire Council (BSC) recently together with an “independent” consultants review from Whitehead Associates commissioned by DoP. Presumably Whitehead Assoc were the persons taking soil samples from the site a few weeks age. BSC was invited to make a submission to DoP re: this “new information” from Wws, the closing date being 8 December. Did BSC buy the vegetarian promise from Woolies? I am attempting to get a copy of their submission. Watch this space.

I contacted Paula Tomkins (DoP) asking for copies of the above documents and for some time in order that MCAN could make a submission. She simply replied thus: “The Department is not inviting public submissions at this time” and failed to respond to my request for copies of the documents.

I applied to BSC for the documents and was told to go to DoP for them. DoP are not answering me. Hello, what’s going on? Christmas is traditionally a special time for government to slip things through – remember last New Year’s Day when Woolworths was announced. Congratulations team, for keeping them at bay for a whole year!!

HOW YOU CAN HELP – please go to www.mullumaction.org and click on our CAMPAIGN BUTTON which will send a message direct to Premier Nathan Rees and Minister of Planning Kristina Keneally. Please ask your friends to click too. It’s easy!

MULLUM’s POO PIES – BSC councilors voted 6-3 to fix up (and replace if necessary) the leaky sewage pipes which dispatch raw sewage into the Brunswick River. This happens in times of heavy rain when the water table rises and groundwater infiltrates the pipes. Their Resolution 08-748 sounds great and this is my summary of it.

That should the pipes be deemed in need of replacement that funding will be made available for this work as a priority of 2009/10. Also, the moratorium will not be lifted until the rainwater going into the pipes is no more than five times the average Dry Weather Flow, and that residents will be kept informed of what’s going on re the pipes.


RUDD’S ROTTEN 5% EMISSION TARGET: Is this adequate for protecting Great Barrier Reef, Murray Darling and Kakadu? Is Kevin showing leadership and commitment to a meaningful target?? Complete on-line survey (2 mins) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4aEBfIJsFB3owEi0_2fG7u0w_3d_3d
and/or write to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong at Commonwealth Government Offices, 70 Phillip Street, Sydney 2000.

CLASS ACTION RE CLIMATE CHANGE: Article from The Guardian: “You could soon sue oil and power companies for climate change” – how about a class action against Wws for contributing to climate change? Or Kevin perhaps?
http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=613261

MCAN CHRISTMAS GATHERING 16 DEC: (Also My 60th Birthday and Duncan’s birthday). Please call Deb for directions 66843723

QUOTE: DYLAN THOMAS
Do not go gentle into that good night.Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

My version:
Do not go gentle into Mullum’s plight
Rage, rage against the Big Box fight
(with your keyboard).

Blessings
Deb