Critical Times

Here are the details supplied by concerned residents:

Re: St. Clair Reserve – Neighbours for Optimum-Outcome!
NO-O!

Dear Neighbours,

We are a group of Senior Residents who need your support to ensure the most Optimum – Outcome for our area

The Charles Sturt Council is planning to swap the St. Clair Reserve, including the oval, for a contaminated part of the former Actil industrial site, for our children and future children to play on.

We are devastated about this.
We are the generation that has been exposed to hazardous substances eg. Asbestos, Heavy Metals (Lead), Arsenic etc., in their many and various forms.

WE HAVE BECOME AWARE of the health consequences from exposure to toxic substances. Many of our family members and friends are suffering. As early as the 1950s the Government was well informed about the dangers associated with Asbestos exposure, but did not make it publicly known to workers and families.

We are very wary. If the City of Charles Sturt goes ahead with its plans our children will be playing on this contaminated land. The Charles Sturt Council is not prepared to tell its residents about the effects from exposure to ARSENIC. The various developers who
purchased the Actil site became aware of the serious contaminants in the soil so they refused to build houses on it. They were not prepared to risk their companies being associated with residents’ negative long term health effects. They bailed out and sold the property on to avoid the possibility of indemnity in future negligence claims.

The Government’s Land Management Corporation however, is prepared to play Russian Roulette with our children’s health. It knows how difficult it is for individuals to win compensation claims against Government breaches of Duty of Care, eg Stolen Generation Cases/Children Abused in State Care. What chance do our children and future children have?

We need to stop this NOW.

Remediated / Contaminated Soil:——they say tomayto, we say tomato

We do not know how this supposedly remediated arsenic soil will affect children’s reproductive systems. We do not know if there will be a stronger link to Juvenile Cancer in our area

We do speculate, however, that there is a South Australian Government Department that does know what exposure to ARSENIC does to children, but will not tell you——exactly what happened to Asbestos victims!

While we believe in the Great Australian Dream of owning our own homes we are against this cheating deal. Will the Charles Sturt Council forewarn new families that their open space is a contaminated land site? What do you as existing residents think about this?

Please support us by joining our protest. This is an absolutely raw deal for our residents.
The Charles Sturt Council has one of the lowest proportions of open space in Australia. It should be creating more open space for Community Development projects like Community Gardens. Open space community development projects like this will not be possible because all our community land will be contaminated. New homes in high density housing areas all have smaller backyards so residents will have to rely on contaminated open space for their children’s play. How would you like your children/grandchildren to have to play on such land?

We ask you to

1 Ring the City of Charles Sturt 84081111 and tell the Mayor of your concerns (be prepared for the remediated soil propaganda)
2 Attend the Nov 9th Council Meeting (At Charles Sturt Council Chambers – Woodville Road) at 7.00pm when they decide whether to approve the land swap
3 Come at 6.30pm for a residents’ rally before the council meeting.

Help us by racking, stacking and packing this meeting. Make our councillors truly represent the wishes of the people who elected them, not their political masters.