Feeling off being dumped upon

The second half, in which the councillors and mayor put their views, was to my mind just an exercise in whitewashing and excuses

STAND UP: Surely the council was elected to look after the citizens of Ipswich and not to pass the buck to unelected bureaucrats, a reader says. Picture: David Nielsen

I ATTENDED the meeting at Collingwood Park about the waste dumps on Saturday last.

The first part of the meeting was an excellent explanation of the hazards of allowing the super dump to go ahead and included an excellent speech by Jo-Ann Miller.

The second half, in which the councillors and mayor put their views, was to my mind just an exercise in whitewashing and excuses.

It seems that the council has handed over responsibility to bureaucrats and is just going to accept their decision without any discussion or debate and without voting on it.

It would appear that this is just a convenient way of saying that whatever the outcome it is not the council's fault.

One councillor actually said: "We can't stop dumps coming to Ipswich."

A question was asked about water tests would be by the EPA.

It seems it only did one test, which, according to the questioner, is way below what is necessary.

The answer was, "I am not a scientist... I can only judge the information given".

One lady pushed hard for an assurance that council members there would vote against the dump and could not get a straight answer.

Surely the council was elected to look after the citizens of Ipswich and not to pass the buck to unelected bureaucrats!

JOHN BARKER

Ipswich