Hundreds pack into Yarra Bay Sailing Club to oppose Botany cruise plan
HUNDREDS packed out Yarra Bay Sailing Club in a call to arms against plans for a cruise terminal in Botany Bay.
Southern Courier
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HUNDREDS packed out Yarra Bay Sailing Club in a call to arms against plans for a cruise terminal in Botany Bay.
It was standing room only at the event organised by Maroubra state Labor MP Michael Daley who chaired proceedings.
Heffron state Labor MP Ron Hoenig, Randwick Mayor Lindsay Shurey, Kingsford Smith Federal MP Matt Thistlethwaite and members of the Save the Bay Coalition were also in attendance.
During the meeting Mr Daley gave an assurance that if elected next year his Labor state government would scrap the plan.
Responding to a question from the floor, he said: “We don’t have to have a meeting to say we’re not going to do this.
“This (the proposal) has no friends, none.
“It is not going to happen. I will be the deputy premier in March if we get elected, I will have a bit more clout than I do now. It will not happen.”
He told the meeting he was close to reaching 10,000 signatures for his petition which would enable the matter to be debated in state parliament.
Members of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council also addressed the meeting and announced the group is opposing the plans.
Members will write to the state government to raise concerns of the continued “overdevelopment of our country” and the “detrimental impact to the social and spiritual connection to the area” the terminal would have.
Matt Thistlethwaite MP used the meeting to call on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to “get off his backside” and speak out.
Mr Morrison’s Cook electorate can be seen across the bay from the sailing club. But as yet he has declined to comment on the matter. It comes after the previous Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made a “captain’s call” to rule out Garden Island and instead investigate Botany Bay for a third terminal.
“In my view that is not good enough,” Mr Thistlethwaite said of the PM’s reluctance to speak.
“He is not only a local member who borders the bay but he’s the Prime Minister of Australia. “He needs to show some leadership on this and our community is telling him today to get off your backside, look into this and make a decision and stop a cruise ship terminal in Yarra Bay.”
Mr Hoenig MP highlighted the historical and cultural significance of the area.
“When you travel through central Europe, not even that great bastion of human rights Joseph Stalin would pull down the historic parts of the nation. Only we do it in Australia.
“The vested interests seem to completely dominate the environment, our history and heritage.”
Both Randwick and Bayside Council have come out in opposition to the plan. Randwick Mayor Lindsay Shurey said she had already met with the Save the Bay Coalition group and had helped with the buying of banners.
“We put our money where our mouth is,” she said. “We are determined as a council to save Yarra Bay.”
The Save the Bay Coalition was out in force with both Maria Poulos and Bill Burst speaking for the group.
“The way I see it, it is the theft of land, the theft of land that belongs to us,” she said.
“Our heritage, our bounty, our public space. It’s the definition of greed.”
La Perouse elder Aunty Barbara Simms-Keeley got the biggest applause of the afternoon after calmly dealing with a heckler. “No man tells me to shut up,” she told him. She later embraced him after the meeting.
She criticised decision makers for not consulting with the original inhabitants of the land.
“I have a long history here, I have a bloodline that is unique here. But do we get consulted on things? No. Do our elders get consulted? No.”
“When we cut ourselves we all bleed red,” she added. “So when we leave here today let’s leave in unity. Let’s be one people.”
The meeting also heard from Dr Natalie Rogers, from UNSW.
Dr Rogers, who has a PHD in bio science, is a local and told how she used to sail in the bay.
She said there were numerous species of sea life at risk if the development goes ahead. Some species, such as the Sydney pygmy pipehorse, was only discovered in 2004.
“
We cannot let this happen in Yarra Bay,” she said. “We need to let the powers that be know that they have not just a moral but a legal obligation to protect the bay and its marine life. We will fight to hold them accountable.”
The meeting was closed with a resolution to call on the NSW Government to abandon its plan for Botany Bay.
Michael Daley said the huge turnout showed just how passionate local people are about the issue.
“Enough is enough. This is well and truly a dumb idea. It is completely unnecessary and also a great insult to the people of the area.”