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Since Mr Scully’s announcement last week that the M5 East exhaust stack would not be filtered, pressure has been mounting from different quarters to prevent approval of the controversial proposal.
On Thursday 6th April, Greens MLC Rhiannon was successful in passing a motion to make public all documents relating to the inquiry into the M5 east ventilation stack. Various members of Parliament in both Houses of Parliament have attacked the Government’s response to the inquiry questioning different aspects of the proposal, with further debate expected on the issue this week. These have included shadow environment minister Ms Peta Seaton, Liberal MLC Dr Pezzutti, Christian Democrat MLC the Reverend Fred Nile, Reform the Legal System Party MLC Peter Breen, Unity Party MLC Dr Peter Wong and Better Future for our Children Party MLC Alan Corbett.
"We want to know the basis for the decision to proceed with an unfiltered stack in a valley, when compelling e
vidence presented at the inquiry demonstrated serious health risks and better, cost effective alternatives" said RAPS spokesperson, Mark Curran. "A $760M project such as the M5 East should not result in a blight on the landscape, nor increases in lung diseases and asthma. Filtration systems exist and we demand they be used."
A group of angry Marrickville, Turrella, Bardwell Park and Earlwood residents protested at a Heritage Week function attended by Dr Andrew Refshauge in Marrickville on Sunday 2nd April, where he was presenting a conservation medal. As Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning, Dr Refshauge’s department is the consent authority for the stack proposal. The residents joined the ceremony, silently displaying their protest signs and managed to have a short meeting with Dr Refshauge afterwards. He seemed unaware that there was only one stack in a valley, or that it would take four years for a filtration system to be retro-fitted if there were exceedences.
Promising 
meetings were subsequently held last week between RAPS and senior staff from Dr Refshauge’s department. "We drew their attention to the way some of the conditions of consent had been interpreted, and the inadequacy of advice the RTA had provided and the lack of public consultation" said Mark Curran. "They assured us they intend to be much more pro-active in ensuring the conditions of consent are implemented".
Community dissatisfaction with consultation processes was clearly evident at the last Community Consultative Committee meeting on 6.4.00 where the RTA advised that the air quality modelling had been submitted to DUAP for approval without the final report being presented to the committees for comment, as required by the conditions of consent. "Community representatives were incensed. This was in clear breach of previous undertakings from the RTA that this would not occur. The draft report was difficult to follow because of inconsistencies, and there were many questions we wanted answered. We’d requested additional information to help us frame our responses. It just showed how farcical the consultation process has been."
On an industrial front, discussions have also been held with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union who are considering placing a green ban on work associated with the stack.
RAPS will be holding a public meeting at Bardwell Park RSL, Hartill-Law Ave, Bardwell Park on Wednesday 12th April, at 7.30pm to report on negotiations with senior government representatives and planned actions. Bardwell Park is an appropriate venue, as the meeting point of the three affected electorates of Marrickville, Canterbury and Rockdale. All interested residents are urged to attend.