Anti-WestConnex protesters ‘fine’ Roads Australia
Anti-WestConnex activists protested at the annual Roads Australia dinner, with attendees being handed a $15 billion penalty notice for the folly they are about to inflict on Sydney.
Members of WestConnex Action Group set up a toll booth at the entrance, next to the red carpet. Guests, including the father of WestConnex, Nick Greiner, were made to run the anti-WestConnex gauntlet on their way into Sydney Town Hall.
Activists invited guests to bypass the congested entrance by using the WestCONnex toll gate. But, just like a real toll road, most skipped it.
Tiwi Islands deep sea port built without official assessment or approval
The ABC has revealed that a $130 million deep sea port for the oil and gas industry in the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometres north of Darwin, has been built, despite having no formal environmental impact assessments or approval from either the Northern Territory or Commonwealth governments.
According to the head of the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority, "gross deficiencies" in the existing laws meant companies could ignore the environment. Under NT law no penalties apply if companies breach environment laws.
The NT government says the Tiwi Islands’ unique geography and environment support “many species not recorded anywhere else in the Northern Territory (or in the world)” as well as the Territory’s “best-developed eucalypt forests, … important nesting sites for marine turtles, internationally significant seabird rookeries, and some major aggregations of migratory shorebirds”.