Holy Grail

Page 4 of 14 pages : significant questions (jump to page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14) :

“The West Australian believes the decision by the DPP (State Director of Public Prosecutions) to press charges over a letter written by a member of the public will, if successful, have an extremely damaging effect on the fundamental right to free speech.”

Paul Armstrong, Editor, The West Australian Extract : The West Australian (Page 14), 13 Dec 2006

“I must point out that I am not against development. However I am opposed to the locating of the entertainment centre on the foreshore. In my opinion no one in their right frame of mind would want it down there especially with the large number of road trains entering the port and trains with grain and woodchips and Albany having a large elderly population it would be a recipe for a major disaster. There are few people that I know of who are in favour of the entertainment centre on the foreshore. I think the council should look for a better site with adequate parking space. It seems to be a small amount of councillors and some politicians who want everything on the foreshore with no vision to the future development of the port.”

V.R. Addis, Albany Resident & Ratepayer Extract : Albany Advertiser (Page 6), 14 Dec 2006

“Governments should resume land only as a last resort. We all understand that if the Government has to do something in the public interest, it has the right to resume land. But in just about every case I know of, the Government has entered into negotiations with the property owners and tried to reach an amicable compromise. In this case (the proposed Northbridge Police Complex), the Government doesn’t seem to have had any real discussions. They’ve just straight from the beginning gone for the jugular, and said, ‘We’re going to resume it anyway’. That really throws property rights straight out the window. The speed and lack of negotiation is, to my knowledge, unprecedented.”

Joe Lenzo, Executive Director, Property Council of Australia, WA Extract : West Australian (Page 7), 14 Dec 2006

“McGowan hands over the Environment portfolio to McRae under the Carpenter Cabinet reshuffle in the wake of Brian Burke and the Busselton CCC investigations : “Mr McGowan had, to his credit, finished off some of Dr Edwards’ (a former State Minister for Environment & Heritage) initiatives, but there’s a list as long as your arm, where he’s let us down. There was the dropping of the wetlands policy, undoing years of work. There was the decision on Gorgon ($15 Billion gas plant on Barrow Island) – there are so many risks associated with that.”

“His merger of the Department of Environment and the Department of Conservation and Land Management has not been a happy marriage. There’s a lot of dissatisfaction and there have been some high level resignations. It was a perplexing decision in the beginning. Mr McGowan also dropped the Sustainability Initiative, which was a major theme of the Gallop Government. The initiative tried to develop ways of doing development in which the environmental and social impacts were given as much importance as the economic.”

“Geoff Gallop made a commitment to develop a sustainability policy (which he did) and to introduce sustainability legislation. We were informed by Minister McGowan that (the legislation) was no longer a priority and had been dropped. This was a major plank in Labor’s environmental policy in 2001, and was repeated and amplified before the 2005 State election. Dr Gallop actually had the Sustainability Unit within his own department. He set up a sustainability roundtable to help implement the strategy. The roundtable has (now) been abolished. The legislation has been abandoned, and the unit has been down-sized and transferred to the (new) Department of Environment and Conservation.”

“We are hoping the appointment of Tony McRae will be a correction by the Premier. Mark McGowan was a very hardline, industry–orientated minister who wasn’t really appropriate in the role. The public was starting to get quite upset with him. Tony McRae is much more sympathetic to the environment and much better informed about the issues. He is going to have the same problems as Judy Edwards had in dealing with a very pro-development Government, which doesn’t want anything to get in the way of its pro-development agenda, so he is going to have to argue very hard. He is going to lose a lot of them, and he is going to have to go out and defend Cabinet decisions he hasn’t supported himself.”

Dr Phil Jennings, President, Conservation Council WA Extract : Sunday Times (Page 29), 24 Dec 2006

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Following comments by Louise Pratt MLC, as Chairman of the Standing Committee for Environment and Public Affairs : “The Government has agreed that a cumulative impact study on existing industry in Cockburn Sound and plans for the James Point port was necessary, but would now seek technical advice on whether the marina development (Mangles Bay, Point Peron) needed to be included as part of that research. The Fremantle Port Authority had (already) started work on such a study, which had been required by the EPA as part of its advice on the Government’s plan to build an island port in the Sound. The study is expected to take up to 18 months, and is being overseen by the port authority but would involve several specialists and be scrutinised by the EPA as the State’s environmental watchdog.”

Alannah MacTiernan, Minister for Planning & Infrastructure, WA Extract : West Australian (Page 1), 29 Dec 2006

The Christ Church Grammar School Founder’s Service for Canon W.J. McClemans : “Inspiration - So much of what we talk about in school is to do with each of us being on a journey to be better than we are. Finding the right direction can be hard. How can I be better at what I do? How do I set my challenge? How do I establish the path from where I am to where I could be? From where does my inspiration come to be better than I am, and achieve my unseen potential.”

“Clearly, if we reflect on our Founder’s thoughts, it is through making God our Leader. Christ is in every way an inspiration. He set a new path, stood up against the authorities for what he believed, projected a philosophy that contradicted many of the laws and ideas from where he had come. In every sense, he was a revolutionary and he was willing to die for what he believed. He is inspirational, and yet I appreciate that for many of us here, he is distant and somewhat removed from our daily lives. If not Christ, then from where do we draw our inspiration? From where does our confidence to transform come? The inspiration to be exceptional is around us each and every day at Christ Church. Our challenge, no matter who or what we are, is to notice and to act upon it.”

Garth Wynne, Headmaster, Christ Church Grammar School, Claremont, WA Extract : Chronicle 39 (Page 25), Dec 2006

The Holy Grail : “At last, the blight that has divided the city centre from Northbridge – the railway – can disappear underground and a vibrant, attractive, safe area surrounded by apartments and pedestrian-friendly streets created in its place. At last, Perth will be able to claim itself a city of international appeal which does not close down at the end of the business day, and is not captive to the night-time exploits of gangs and hoodlums. It is worth remembering, however, that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change for the better the fabric of the city. Care must be taken to ensure that succeeding generations have no cause to complain about their legacy and rather, that they are thankful for the vision of their forebears. The redevelopment plan requires more than just the public support it richly deserves. It also needs a great deal of money from developers. That should not be hard to find because the new area could become the most exciting part of the city, tailor-made for visionary architecture and cutting-edge design.”

“If there is disappointment it lies in the seven years that the project will take to complete. It will not be finished until 2014 (the first of the Anzac years), and inevitably such projects take far longer than predicted. It must be hoped that the impetus generated by this proposal can be extended to plans for the redevelopment of the city foreshore. That too has been notable for a complete lack of action, despite it also being the subject of debate for many years. Not making the most of such a wonderful asset is a serious failure by the city’s planners. While both developments could be expected to be used and enjoyed by tourists, that should not be the only aim. All West Australians benefit from having a lively, energetic capital city. This new plan cannot be allowed to go the way of so many others, into a dusty vault somewhere. The State Government and the Perth City Council must ensure that this time, it all comes to something.”

Paul Armstrong, Editor, The West Australian Editorial : West Australian (Page 14), 4 Jan 2007

“The plan we have before us presented by EPRA (East Perth Redevelopment Authority) is without doubt a developer-driven plan. It is designed to return maximum dollar benefit to the State Government and has very little benefit for the broader community. The appalling situation of EPRA acting as a de facto private developer on publicly owned land, making the rules about the land, selling the land and taking the profits needs to be highlighted. To add insult to injury, the WA community is being sold a plan that does not live up to its ‘Northbridge link’ moniker. The plan does not link Perth to Northbridge. There are only two connections, and they are roads aligned to Perth’s most pedestrian-friendly streets. … This is an unconscionable action, particularly when there has been no public debate about the merits of merging Perth with Northbridge or even what kind of development should go on the land. There must be more genuine public engagement and consultation on this issue. As a major public asset, half the land at least should be set aside for public open space.”

Ken Adam, Chairman, Perth CityVision Article : West Australian (Page 20), 10 Jan 2007

Albany, Western Australia