Head to Head

‘That noise is the biggest threat to inner urban health after air pollution’

Peter Whitehead

Doesn’t any one do any drugs any more? Are sexually transmitted diseases – whoops – infections so last millennium? Is traffic calmed? Are all the bikies gone, gone to graveyards every one? Are families no longer riven by angry jealousies and risen against themselves? Do rugby players drink alone? Do bears shave before mardi gras?

Or are we grateful that the ridges above the Harbour are blessed by zephyrs clearing the inner-city of the smoke left by visitors’ vehicles vrooming back to their distant homes? Air pollution is a significant threat to health in the fitter-for-agriculture-than human-habitation Western suburbs of Greater Sydney, but we inner urbanites can breathe easy unless drawn to suck on an exhaust pipe when befuddled by the crack pipe.

Noise happens.

All sorts of noise. And some noise annoys.

This column’s editor is prone to stentorian outbursts on topical complaints in public places. Only a churl would imply these diatribes are not a community service: carbon neutral and visionary too. Are we to clamp down on any sound that travels for the sake of those who would be deaf to the world? Do we want Noise Monitors with gagging powers prowling our urban precincts to stifle the decibels of discussion?

Public spaces are for public purposes. Various alarms must purposefully assert themselves over the everyday ruckus of the chattering classes getting about their business. Any working city produces occasional outbursts that are not of broadcast quality

If this City of Sydney is not the place for you, move on. Move out.

Why burden this megapolis with your whingeing misery? Our hinterland is rich in sites for glorious cities created by right-minded citizens with noble dreams that must not be disturbed by strangers’ noise. Go forth and multiply the great cities of Oz and spare this rambunctious city of resounding sins your silent suffering.

Oh, two more thoughts: leaf blowers are the tool of Satan and must be silenced or banned. And if someone wants to do something about unmufflered motorbikes we look forward to a successful report and news of their continued well-being.

Andrew Woodhouse

No, I’m not in shock over a bad haircut in my new mugshot. It’s Edward Munch’s well-known The Scream (1893, National Gallery Oslo), typifying people’s response to noise.

Sydney Council leaf blowers, doof-doof car stereos, bikie gang exhausts, reversing trucks, dogs, construction site jack-hammers, 4am bars, brothel and nightclub drive-by shootings, fire engines etc, are all brain-piercers warranting a human rights violation investigation.

In high-rise areas like Pyrmont, Potts Point and Kings Cross, Australia’s densest area where triple glazing isn’t even enough, residents have reached 10/10 on my Edward Munch Scream Scale. We’re living in a disturbia, not suburbia.

And don’t tell people to move in with Sydney Councillor, Robert Kok, in leafy East Killara where the noisiest sound is the ker-thunk of a Mercedes door. He has no vacancies.

Excessive noise reduces sleep.

We need 7–9 hours sleep.  Sleep debt increases stress, anxiety, irritability, memory loss, accident rates, bi-polar disorder and heart attacks. It reduces wound healing and immunity rates. So catching a few extra Zs this winter may prevent you catching a cold.

Sleep for nurses, journalists, security, emergency and hospitality staff and others who keep the world rotating, isn’t a privilege: it’s a right.

Sleep deprivation is torture with a long history dating back to Roman times (tormentum vigilae, or waking torture). According to human rights groups it’s contrary to Article 5 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘No one shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman treatment.’

Clover Moore, wearing her MP for Sydney hat (the green one), has asked the Minister to do something about noise. She should write herself a letter demanding Council stop using leaf blowers, and introduce 100-metre pub buffer zones. All politicians actually wear three hats: one for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits from when elected.

Actually, I can’t wait for Simon and Garfunkel’s coming ‘superannuation’ tour to hear their hit, Sounds of silence and of ‘People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs that voices never share, And no one dared, Disturb the sound of silence.’