Disturbia in suburbia

_{BY ANDREW WOODHOUSE}

_{Noise doesn’t just happen, it is made to happen and  is the biggest threat to our well-being in the inner city.}

_{I’m not just talking about screaming, jet engine-style leaf blowers, construction site jackhammers or doof-doof nightclub noise forcing residents onto Stilnox to get some zzzs.}

_{We are living in disturbia, not suburbia.}

_{I am also talking about our tax-payer-funded Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at Garden Island who say locals are whingers.}

_{There is a groundswell of community concern about the RAN’s snub to neighbours’ amenity.} 

_{And no, the Navy was not here first. The residents were.} 

_{Garden Island wasn’t separated from Potts Point until 1939.} 

_{Potts Point may have lost its point but not its residents.} 

_{Now the Navy intend to build massive new wharves.} 

_{The two-stage works and later works will cost a staggering $700 million over the next decade and will not be completed until after 2030.}  

_{Using Orwellian double-speak they’re described as “Critical Recovery Infrastructure” projects, to pre-empt necessary approval.}

_{But the money needs Federal Parliamentary approval first.}

_{Stage one costing $238 million is now being considered by its Parliamentary Works Committee.} 

_{Last week these high priests of planning met in Woolloomooloo to put their case to the public.}

_{The room was packed with a full armada of over 40 white-uniformed, brass-buttoned, shiny-shoed Navy personnel with a phalanx of Defence staff as reserves.}

_{It was a land-locked battle.}

_{The tense meeting was met with threats of eviction for interrupters and as I was the only resident, I took that to mean me.}

_{We were told objections were minimal, yet no resident group was notified, thus evading scrutiny.} 

_{Commander Andrew Fraser, from HMAS Kuttabul, says “local whingers ‘crave engagement’”.} 

_{The new works will mean 53 large trucks clogging local roads six days a week removing debris.}  

_{The RAN says traffic will be “acceptable”. I reject this: the roads will be grid-locked.}

_{Residents were also told by Lieutenant-Colonel Fox, Project Director, that noise will be measured by the NSW Environment Protection Authority and that there will be noise screening.}

_{Can that be true?} 

_{In his email of 8}^th _{May he states: “The project does not require … monitoring or reporting with NSW EPA.”}

_{And when I phoned the noise screen manufacturer I was told these flimsy light-weight flaps have limited effect, even with 360-degree coverage. Currently, they only provide 180-degree coverage.} 

_{No relief from screening is possible, another furphy.}

_{The Navy says: “it is expected that potential noise impacts … could be effectively managed to an acceptable level.“ But will they? And acceptable to whom? And how?  The noise from Garden Island  is unacceptable now.} 

_{I do note, however, there is expected to be some reduction when dockside generators are finally removed after the two stage project is fully complete – after 2030.} 

_{But has the Navy ever completed a major project on time and within budget?} 

_{So there is no noise management plan, no noise mitigation, no decibel cap or sanctions for non-compliance. N-O-T-H-I-N-G.} 

_{It’s a two-fingered salute to taxpayers who are funding this extravagant indulgence.} 

_{We say the Navy’s motto, “We serve Australia with pride” is really “Serving ourselves from the taxpayers’ pot of gold with pride”.} 

_{Is RAN rally just an acronym for Really Atrocious Noise?}

_{To have your say before you go deaf email the works committee: pwc@aph.gov.au} 

_{Andrew Woodhouse is the President of the Potts Point and Kings Cross Heritage and Residents’ Society}