IN scenes reminiscent of classic Australian film The Castle, a Senior Counsel has joined the Environmental Defenders Office to stop the Government dumping a warship at Avoca Beach.
At the 11th hour Nigel Cotman, SC, joins the EDO’s senior solicitor Ian Ratcliff and barrister Geoffrey Kennett at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal at 10am tomorrow (Monday July 5) at 55 Market St in the city.
Early this year residents discovered the State Government planned to dump a warship 1.4 km off North Avoca beach: a scenario reminiscent of the big screen’s Kerrigan family which discovered the Government planned to reclaim their home for airport expansion.
No Ship Action Group appealed the ex-HMAS Adelaide’s Sea Dumping Permit in March, the day after it was signed by the Minister for Environment Protection, Peter Garrett.
The Central Coast community has raised $46,000 in four months to stop the dumping of the obsolete warship under the guise of an artificial reef for divers. Billed as a tourism income generator, it is only viable as a dive site for 25 years.
The community has to raise another $50,000 to meet the ever-rising costs of litigation.
“It’s The Castle with a dash of Yes Minister, but there’s nothing funny about it,’’ an NSAG spokesperson said.
“With former ICAC assistant commissioner Senior Counsel Cotman joining our leading Counsel Kennett we know we have the best chance possible on our limited budget.“
“The State Government has supplied 24 witnesses and two boxes of evidence – overkill in a case of this size. Legally we have been advised it is a breach of the Model Litigant policy. We do not have the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars the government have at their disposal to justify their right to dump this warship in our bay.”
The Central Coast community has been fundraising with film nights, concerts and selling raffle tickets.
Many of these residents will question the integrity of the Labor government at the next election, following the Government’s wanton environmental vandalism.
“If this sinking went ahead, not only would our beaches be polluted with toxins and plastics for the next century, but wave refraction off the ship will scour the sand and erode our beach.”
The Keneally Government plans to sink the ship in the middle of the humpback whale migration path in a depth of 32 metres on the largest sandbank along the Central Coast.
Last week at the International Whaling Commission in Agadir, Morocco, a five-year study of 1000 sperm whales showed whales had toxic levels of chromium from the ocean. Sources of chromium include paint and steel.
On Monday an NSAG witness, a naval ship engineer, will fly in from the US to Sydney for the hearing. NSAG has commissioned five reports from experts in the US before the tribunal, which is set down for four days in front of AAT President Garry Downes.
No Ship Action Group
Media Inquiries http://noship.com.au
Ben Smith 0409 693 205,
Michelle Meares 0439 645 372