“Law and order” auction fails NSW Indigenous communities

The Greens NSW have launched their approach to reducing Indigenous incarceration rates, increasing community safety and ensuring community development.

Greens candidate for Drummoyne, Bernard Rooney, said “The Greens package aims to reduce the appalling number of Indigenous Australians in gaol by investing in quality public services.

“NSW imprisons more Indigenous people per capita than anywhere else in Australia. Young Indigenous people are twenty times more likely to be in gaol than other Australians. At the same time, year 12 retention rates for Indigenous school students are half the national average.

“This is an expensive business that damages families and communities and drains resources away from social programs.

“It costs $70,000 a year to keep an adult male in jail, and much more for a juvenile. When they are released, NSW prisoners have the highest recidivism rate in the country. Well-targeted and resourced post-release programs could reduce the number of people returning to gaol.

I’ll clean Homebush Bay and harbour: Debnam

I’ll clean harbour: Debnam – Inner West Courier 16jan07: The State Opposition has promised to clean up all the dioxin hot spots in Homebush Bay if elected in March, something the State Government has said would cost taxpayers an “exorbitant” amount of money.

Opposition Leader Peter Debnam announced his Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River rescue plan last week, offering to inject $20 million into clean-up works at various sites around the waterway. Included in the plan were promises to remove all dioxin hot spots in Homebush Bay at a cost of $15 million so the fishing ban on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River could be lifted.

Better Dioxin Cleanup of Harbour Certainly Needed

Letter to Inner West Weekly re article of 10jan: Greens, local residents (the Rhodes Community Consultative Committee) and Canada Bay Council itself have been campaigning for years for an adequate cleanup of Union Carbide’s Vietnam-era dioxin contamination of Rhodes Peninsula and Homebush Bay.

Without community activism there is every likelihood that the ‘cheaper’ option in regards to a cleanup would be selected, which would benefit developers but not the community.

The Stockholm Convention (2004) imposed even stricter standards in regards to dioxins, one of the most deadly toxins on the planet, and the State Government only last year was compelled to ban commercial and recreational fishing in all of Sydney Harbour as a result of unexpectedly high concentrations of dioxin in the blood of Harbour fisherman and their families.

Both these events have occurred since the original agreement on the Rhodes cleanup was reached, and suggest a strong case for a higher standard of cleanup, especially in Homebush Bay itself, as I have called for previously.

Inner-West Weekly: Toxic harbour a “disgrace”

Inner-West Weekly10jan07: THE NSW opposition leader has blasted the Iemma Government over its inactivity to clean up the Parramatta River and Sydney Harbour.

After announcing a $40 million plan to clean the troubled waterways, Peter Debnam said the government had turned Sydney’s internationally renowned harbour into an “international disgrace”.

“The State Government promised 10 years ago to clean up the Harbour,” he said.

“It’s a disgrace that they committed to it but have done nothing.”