It's rubbish

REDBANK residents have been urged to channel the fighting spirit that stopped a radioactive waste dump in order to stop the expansion of the New Chum dump.

Riverview resident Gale Finocchio expresses her concern over the expansion of the New Chum dump at a public meeting. . Picture: Claudia Baxter

REDBANK residents have been urged to channel the fighting spirit that stopped a radioactive waste dump in order to stop the expansion of the New Chum dump.

Dump operators Transpacific Waste have applied to Ipswich City Council to increase the size of the tip from 50,000 tonnes per year to 1.9 million tonnes.

At a public meeting in Redbank Plaza on Saturday councillors and four candidates for Bundamba declared they were against the expansion.

Close to 100 people crammed into the Smokin Kitchen Restaurant at the shopping centre to voice their dissent to at the expansion of the dump.

Collingwood Park resident Jim Dodrill called on the people of the area to stand together, as they did against the radioactive waste dump in the late 1990s, to protest the expansion.

"No council, no State Government, no Federal Government will stop that dump," Mr Dodrill said.

"The only people who are going to stop that dump are right here."

Ipswich deputy mayor Victor Atwood and Cr Paul Tully both vowed to vote against approval of the dump at the council meeting.

Similarly Labor member of Bundamba Jo-Ann Miller stood atop her chair to address the crowd vowing she'd be "the first in line" to protest any expansion.

"I will never, ever support that dump," she said.

"My commitment, as a resident of Collingwood Park and as an asthmatic, is that we should lock up that dump."

LNP candidate for Bundamba Michael Kitzelmann said he would stand against his own party if an LNP government supported the dump.

Similarly Katter's Australia Party candidate Bernard Gaynor and independent candidate Angela Watson also declared their opposition to the tip.

Mr Gaynor said he didn't believe residential areas were an appropriate place for the tip.

"Katter's Australian Party will oppose this dump," he said.

"Our children's backyards should not be dumping grounds for toxic waste."

Cr Tully said he would be voting against approving the expansion.

"We don't want the rubbish from Brisbane, northern NSW and Toowoomba coming here," he said.

"I don't believe there is any prospect of councillors supporting this. I won't be supporting it, and I reckon it will be a safe bet that out of the 11 councillors there aren't many who do."

However, Mrs Miller warned that council voting against the expansion would likely only see Transpacific take the matter to court.

Mr Dodrill said despite the possibility of legal action from Transpacific a united community could stop the expansion.

"They'd built that radioactive waste dump," he said.

"But they never got to use it.

"If you stand side by side as a community you will win."

A number of residents voiced their concern about the lack of a new Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for any expanded dump.

Collingwood Park resident Ben Pook said the potential damaged to the environment from a 38 fold increase in the size of the dump need to be known.

"Are we going to push for a new EIS?" he said.

"An increase of this size must have a hugely different impact."

The meeting turned fiery on Saturday with Collingwood Park resident Mike Donohue ejected after he criticised chairwoman of the meeting Patricia Peterson.

Cr Tully said residents had 15 days to lodge an objection to the development with the council.

Originally published as It's rubbish