By Gail Lord
SYDNEY — On September 21, the Australian Defence Industries Residents Action Group (ADIRAG) picketed the Mt Druitt office of Labor MHR for Chifley, Roger Price.
The group is opposed to a planned 8000-building development by Lend Lease on the 1535-hectare former ADI site near St Marys in Sydney's western suburbs. The residents are demanding that a regional park be created on the land.
The picket also protested against ADI not making the health records of former employees available to the Western Sydney Public Health Unit.
A petition requesting the health records was presented to Roger Price and local state MP Jim Anderson in 1996. Many former workers at the closed plant have died from what many believe to be work-related diseases.
Price met a delegation from the picketers but failed to adequately address questions put to him. His only response was that we would follow up the residents' concerns after the October 3 election.
Price supports the huge development. He has stated that it would cost too much to buy the land from ADI as it was not defence department land. However, the residents' group has found documents showing that the commonwealth government remains a major shareholder in the land.
ADIRAG spokesperson Geoff Brown on September 21 described the attitude of Price and his Liberal opponent in Chifley, John Coles, as "ignorant and apathetic". Brown said the residents' group would ensure the ADI development was an election issue.
Both major parties are "ignoring the need of their electorate" for open space, Brown told the local Penrith Press.
Another barrier has been placed in the way of residents. During the regional environmental study process it was promised that the decontamination procedures report would be made available to the public. Now the Environmental Protection Authority wants to charge hundreds of dollars for a single copy of the report.
The Democratic Socialists' candidate in the western Sydney seat of Reid, Rupen Savoulian, said on September 24 that the Democratic Socialists support the residents' demand for a regional park on the ADI site.
"We have been involved in this struggle for years and, unlike other parties, we will continue to be after the election. Our activism isn't simply a convenient vote catching exercise, but is based on seeing that the needs of the people of western Sydney met", Savoulian said.