Over 120 attend meeting to discuss quarry extraction proposal
HANSON Glasshouse Quarry’s application to double extraction at its hinterland site has been referred to the State Government for assessment.
The latest development in its proposal to increase rock extraction from 600,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes per year comes as 120 concerned residents and community stakeholders met to debate the issue. The meeting, held on September 4 at Glass House Mountains Hall, hosted a number of guest speakers including passionate locals, representatives from Hinterland Quarry Action Group and Save Noosa Hinterland, local historian Ron Gillinder, local traditional elders including Uncle Alan Parsons and Division 1 Councillor Rick Baberowski.
Submitted to Sunshine Coast Council in late July, Hanson’s development application has provoked concern and debate among local residents. Issues including potential environmental concerns, cultural, noise, dust and traffic were all raised by the community.
While not all community members wish to restrict the quarry operations, citing the need for reliable quarry products to deliver vital infrastructure, those against have raised wide reaching concerns including potential impact to local groundwater and surrounding mountain integrity, in particular Mt Coonowrin which is located next to the quarry. Council has called for a community impact assessment report to be included in the submission as well as more detail about increases in truck movements.
The matter has been referred to the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) to further review environmentally relevant activities and state transport infrastructure in relation to the proposal.
Co-organiser of the community forum and local group ‘Save our Glass House Mountains’, Megan Standring, said it was fantastic to see so many people turn up in support at the meeting, and that passionate debate was rising within the community.
She said she hoped people would rally around the issue and put forward community submissions to Council in a timely manner.
“Do we want to be a mountain community or a mining community?” she asked the audience.
“It’s our choice and people need to raise their voices up now and fight this together. We need to stand up as a community and protect our Glass House Mountains. The noise, dust and traffic will impact us all, our children and our future enough is enough! she said.
Local traditional custodian BJ Murphy raised environmental pollution concerns in relation to high levels of dust impacting surrounding flora and fauna, and also queried the impact to a historical waterhole and potential underground water table running near the quarry site amongst other issues. “What will the community get if this expansion goes ahead?” he asked.
“Potential groundwater pollution, roads not up to standards, more dust that travels for miles and traffic safety issues,” he said.
President of Hinterland Quarry Action Group, Anne Veivers urged audience members to rally together and “fight now or forget it”.
She acknowledged the challenges involved that could become legal, and offered pragmatic suggestions based on her own community activism journey.
“You need to be strong, cohesive and smart. Numbers matter when it comes to community submissions so do your research now about how this may impact you and base it in facts,” she said.
Member for Glasshouse Andrew Powell, and local Councillor Rick Baberowski both attended, with Cr. Baberowski taking the floor to provide further clarity on the Council application and decision-making process. He said the process would produce a report with recommendations, and he urged audience members to hold their minds open. Cr Baberowski said he was encouraged when he walked into the room and saw over 120 people in attendance, as a “trigger point for a report to go to Council is 100 submissions”.
However he would not be drawn into a public position on the issue until the reports had been concluded and the submissions analysed.
“I am obligated to hold my mind open to the arguments from the applicant, certainly the report from the Council officers and all of the submissions for, against or neutral,” he said.
“You would want me to know all of the information before I make a judgement and what my argument should be on the floor of Council,”.
A Hanson Glasshouse Quarry spokesperson acknowledged that since lodging the application they had received a combination of direct calls, meeting requests and emails. They had been made aware of the meeting however the team had chosen to not address the community group. “Before and after the lodgement of our Development Application, Hanson has engaged in one-on-one and open communication with direct and surrounding neighbours about the day-to-day operations of our existing quarry and future plans. We have received calls of support for our project from members across the local community and have also met with residents who had further questions about the technical components associated with our development application and wanted to speak directly with us,” the Hanson spokesperson said.
To find out more about the community campaign visit the Save Our Glasshouse Mountains facebook page or email saveourglasshousemountains@gmail.com and to speak with Hanson Quarry directly email glasshouseinfo@hanson.com.au or visit glasshousequarry.com.au for more information.
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