March 8th, 2008
In these times of climate change we need to be aware of, and be protective of our environment, but some of our leaders still don’t seem to get it.
Greens Cr Chris Harris said: “The Lord Mayor Clover Moore has now become Premier Iemma’s cheerleader. Instead of working to protect the city’s environment here she is cheering on the use of public space and Sydney’s beautiful harbour to accomodate a “Grand Prix” between 26 fossil-fuel guzzling power boats screaming around at 250km as they spew out tonnes of greenhouse gases.
“In the process, these power boats will be destroying the habitat of the undersea life, distressing pregnant whales seeking refuge in our harbour, disrupting anyone else who wants to use the harbour, inflicting ear splitting decibels upon local residents who may not want to experience this environmental catastrophe and, costing Sydney hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide services such as toilets, security and the clean up afterwards. And for what? To provide cheap thrills to a bunch of aquatic rev-heads.
“And what a backflip. Wasn’t it only recently that the Lord Mayor closed Sydney streets, particularly in Millers Point which has been locked up for months, to prevent motor rev-heads from hooning around? And these terra firma racers weren’t doing anywhere near 250km per hour.
“It is interesting that the Lord Mayor slams hooning on our streets but is happy to cheer on the Premier as he encourages hooning on the harbour.” Cr Harris said.
See story SMH 7th March 2008 ” Loos with a view, thanks to Iemma”
Posted in Environment
September 20th, 2007
Greens Councillor Chris Harris has nominated the City of Sydney Council for a positive award at the Greens Bad Development Awards. The Awards, run by Greens MP Sylvia Hale, target bad developments and councils, but also have categories which recognise good developments and initiatives.
The City of Sydney has 15 water harvesting and recycling systems already installed with another 34 underway, and Councillor Harris, an often outspoken critic of bad developments and the lack of sustainable initiatives, is impressed by the positive steps the Council is taking on water.
“I’m usually the dissenting voice on developments and issues that do nothing to help make this city sustainable, so it’s good to be able to promote initiatives that will help the city reduce its reliance on mains water and the volume of stormwater discharged into our waterways,” Councillor Harris said. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Council, Environment
September 13th, 2007
Twenty-one ‘life savers’ surrounded by a huge contingent of police were last Friday welcomed by Deputy Lord Mayor and Greens Cr Chris Harris to the ‘declared area’ in front of the US Embassy in Martin Place.
The 21 climate savers represented the 21 member nations meeting at the APEC summit in Sydney.
With Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, MP Sylvia Hale, and Greens candidate for Sydney Jenny Leong, Cr Chris Harris called on the APEC leaders to stop talking and start taking real action to prevent climate change while they still had the chance.
Chris Harris: “Walking from The Domain to this media conference today we were escorted by ten police on bicycles. While it was distressing that the police felt the need to escort people who believe in peace and non-violence, it was comforting to see that these police were at least on bikes rather than in gas guzzling SUVs. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Council, World Affairs, Environment
August 28th, 2007
On the day that Justice Jayne Jagot found for the developer in the Carlton United Breweries (CUB) case she highlighted the fact that courts do not make merit decisions, they simply uphold the law. Whether or not that law is a donkey’s bottom is irrelevant, it’s the law.
For all of those who had believed there was a chance for the environment and for Sydney to come out of its industrial revolution, smog-infested thinking, it was a very bleak day indeed.
Then from the gloom of the courtroom there was suddenly hope in a Chippendale café coming from the most unexpected source – the developer.
Unlike Foster’s - the previous owners of the CUB site who wouldn’t even return phone calls let alone agree to a meeting - the Singapore based Frasers Group wanted to talk.
Ecological sustainability of the CUB site is the fundamental core of the community’s problem with the development. This community is as Elizabeth Farrelly articulated in her piece (Fooled again by a system that stinks SMH 22/8/07) “neither stupid nor intransigent nor luddite; they know that development must happen and that sustainability demands density.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Environment, Development, NSW Government
August 14th, 2007
The environment.
R.I.P.
It was a black day for Sydney as Justice Jagot in the NSW Land & Environment Court ruled against the environment in favor of unsustainable development and the unfettered powers of Minister Sartor.
This was the first Australian case (Drake-Brockman v Minister for Planning) dealing with the climate change effects of a large urban development. The development – the Carlton United Brewery site (CUB) in Chippendale – was formerly owned by Foster’s Ltd and recently acquired by Singapore based Frasers Property.
Justice Jagot upheld that while Minister Sartor should encourage sustainable development, under the law the Minister was not compelled to, nor was it in the court’s jurisdiction to force the Minister to do so.
Deputy Lord Mayor, Greens Councillor Chris Harris: “Under Part 3A Minister Sartor can do whatever he likes to the environment and the Land and Environment Court is powerless to stop him.
“Thanks to this ruling, the CUB development could legally spew out millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the 2300 cars approved for the site. Using coal-fired generated electricity it could pump hundreds of thousands of litres of water to the site and hundreds of thousands of litres of sewage from the site and into the harbour every year. Not only that but this development will be the benchmark for every other development approved in the city.
“If Labor wanted to lower the bar on sustainability and kill off the environment they couldn’t have found a better man for the job than Mr Sartor.
“Ironically businesses, schools and ordinary Australians are the ones coming up with innovative ideas to counter climate change. Hopefully Frasers will join this group and differentiate themselves from Fosters and the Labor government who are so blinded by the pollution they create that they sacrifice future generations for profit?” Cr Harris said.
The judgement in full can be found here.
Posted in Environment, Development, NSW Government
