Protestors caged by Westconnex
Image: Greens MP Jenny Leong intervened as tree loppers endangered protestors and animals on the weekend.
Credit: Andrew Chuter
BY ALEX EUGENE
The battle against Westconnex roadworks continued last weekend, but this time with messy outcomes for protestors and wildlife alike.
Tree cutters at Campbell Road, Alexandria last Saturday morning began to extend the caged off area without notice, and within minutes had partially fenced a group of protestors inside the demolition area.
Andrew Chuter, a representative of the No Westconnex: Public Transport action group says workers had no intention of stopping until Jenny Leong, Greens MP stepped in.
“Jenny intervened and spoke to the supervisor, and made it clear it was unacceptable to cage people without first explaining what was happening. After a while the contractors realised they didn’t need to extend the cage and gave up,” he said.
But the workers had not completely sealed off the demolition area. To the alarm of protestors, a dog made its way into the area and ran around while trees were being lopped.
To make matters worse, branches were falling outside the fenced off area coming dangerously close to people standing by. Then protestors noticed a possum in one of the trees about to be lopped, and informed the workers, who ignored the advice and continued felling trees.
“There was no wildlife officer there and protestors had to inform [the demolition company],” said Mr Chuter.
To top it all off, destruction barraged on, according to Mr Chuter.
“Across the road, demolitions continued in the St Peters interchange sending up big plumes of smoke, but it was not being watered.”
The shocking incident comes just days after action groups felt they made had made progress, when Westconnex tycoon Denis Cliche was ordered to appear in parliament and reveal his whopping salary. It is reportedly almost a million dollars a year, more than the Prime Minister makes.
Mr Cliche was forced into the admission after a successful petition by No Westconnex: Public Transport was heeded by the government.
The group are now working on another petition calling for a full parliamentary inquiry into the road project, and have already gathered over 1,000 signatures.
“Glady Berejiklian refuses to listen to residents, experts and politicians at local, state and federal levels. We can only win this by building it into a mass movement. We all know that public transport is the only way to fix congestion,” said Mr Chuter.
The Greens, who are also pushing for a Senate inquiry, said in a recent statement on their website “The Greens oppose Westconnex because of the negative social, environmental and economic impacts it will have. We oppose the compulsory acquisition of people’s homes for this dirty tollway, and the destruction of precious parklands and green spaces. We support the redirection of public funds into world-class sustainable public transport.”
Professor James Weirick from the UNSW Built Environment Department is promoting an alternative vision for the roadworks. He says that the tunnels being dug can be converted into a metro line. UNSW are currently hosting an exhibition entitled Civilising Westconnex to showcase the alternative plans.
