PRESS RELEASE

The Chairman of The Rivermouth Action Group Inc, Mr Barry Wilson said today, "The release of the ‘Port Road Project Newsletter No 1 under a Mains Roads heading left our Group concerned because of the number of blatant mistakes it contained."

Mr Wilson said, "I have raised my concerns with the Port Road Project Team only to find that I was more concerned after the phone conversations than before."

Mr Wilson said, "Mistakes contained within the newsletter included twice an incorrect Web Site address for the Government Project which when was found, announced that no information is presently available, the rail line is shown 600 meters south of the Lindum Railway station at Crawford Road, the mention of the Ampol Refinery twice which is now the Caltex refinery, that the Port Road will reduce the heavy vehicular traffic on Lytton Road instead of reduce heavy vehicular traffic on a section of Lytton Road between the Port and the Gateway Arterial Road".

He also said, "The justification for this road is couched in terms such as, ’critical to the long term economic development of the south east region and western parts of the state’ and ‘efficient freight movement’ and "facilitate the use of more freight efficient vehicles’ ".

Mr Wilson said, "The community must be concerned about these words being used to explain the introduction of Type 1 Road-Trains and B-Triples using the Gateway Road, the Southern Bypass Road, the Logan Motor Way and Ipswich Road and as yet unannounced other arterial roads without any broad scale Public Consultation of their introduction."

Mr Wilson said, "Residential Streets in Murarrie are presently being used by heavy vehicles without any Brisbane City Council or Main Roads’ intervention or concern."

Mr Wilson said that, "the Newsletter said that the Impact Assessment Study completed in 1997 for the Port Road examined the issues relating to the Port Road. What it did not admit was that the study carried out by Maunsell never consulted with the public about the present proposed Port Road Corridor. The many environmental impacts are now different because of the different alignment."

During two phone conversations with the Project team on Friday 28 May Mr Wilson learnt that no Public Meetings were to be held to discuss the new Port Road alignment or is impacts on the community or the environment.

Mr Wilson said, "If a consultant or Governments are not willing to hold open public meetings then they either have something to hide or do not want the public to have an open forum to discuss the impacts to the community by the community. ‘Secrecy and Divide and Conquer’ are methods governments and consultants have used for years to force the evils of the modern society on the small communities who do not have the numbers to resist."

Mr Wilson also said that, "The Rivermouth Action Group Inc condemns any Government who use these tactics and calls for a replacement newsletter to be reissued without mistakes or misinformation without delay as a matter of urgency".

Barry Wilson
Chairman
The Rivermouth Action Group Inc
Ph 07 3399 6204
28 May 1999
copy of press release

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