Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Seasons Greetings and Thank You from Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong HERE

Selected songs HERE and HERE

The Jephson

Thanks to all the Save ANZAC Parkers who attended our gathering at The Jephson Hotel Toowong yesterday evening. Thanks to Ray Smith, Labor Lord Mayor Candidate for 2012 election, for coming along too. We will have another get-together in the new year when the silly season is over.

MEDIA: The Courier-Mail, Wednesday, December 22, 2010 'Victory in battle to save park"

'BCC told to look elsewhere for tunnel carpark site' Sarah Vogler COUNCILS REPORTER
"RESIDENTS fighting to stop their memorial park becoming a carpark for the $1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel are cautiously claiming victory following a ruling by the state's Coordinator-General. Brisbane City Council has been told to look for alternative parking for tunnel workmen after the Coordinator-General refused its plan to create a temporary car park in Anzac Park Toowong..."
NEWS page 30 HERE

What it comes down to, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, is the fact that the local community has just spent two months of its own time and its own financial resources objecting to a proposal which should not have been made in the first place, when we have better things to do with our lives. The proposal for the 300 vehicle construction workforce car park within Anzac Park would have been approved by the Coordinator-General and our park would have been destroyed if we had not objected strenuously and filed in the Supreme Court.

What BCC should have learned from the Airport Link workforce car parking problems is that the workforce car parking imposed condition must be addressed properly, rather than seen as something inconsequential to the project and therefore deviously addressing it in only a few paragraphs in an Application for Project Change, just before a significant project is about to begin, hoping no one in the community would notice the proposal and then expecting it to be approved by your mate the Coordinator-General, no questions asked.

Construction workforce car parking is a condition which has to be satisfied. The locals don’t have to have their memorial park destroyed or have to put up with workers parking on the local streets either. A real solution must be found and if workers are provide with the luxury of car parking facilities then it should be expected that they use these facilties.

Christmas Truce on the Western Front

During World War I, on and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies. Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

Our sentiments exactly, here on Legacy Way's Western Connection.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 HERE

Sun, moon and earth align in our favour, perhaps?

Total lunar eclipse from Mt Coot-tha tonight, five minutes up the road from our ANZAC Park. Good omen, bad omen, lightness to darkness, darkness to lightness. One set of ideas about what’s different or unique at odds with other people’s notions. Conflict and resolution in the stars and planets perhaps?
A couple from overseas even chose the moment to exchange wedding vows in the rotunda - why not? What a view!

Photo from Mt Coot-tha 21/12/10 ICEINSPACE Australian Amateur Astronomy

Same old spin

Last night on Channel 10 News, Monday, 20 December, 2010, was Graham Quirk, Deputy Mayor, Chairman for Infrastructure, explaining how the BCC had just ‘saved’ a heritage listed house from being demolished for a ‘car park’ in West End. Read the story HERE Also see post on this blog ‘Hall of Shame’ HERE

When the Westside News had our Anzac Park story on the front page on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, ‘Hands off our park’, featuring Toowong RSL Sub Branch president Kerry Gallagher, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman went on ABC News that afternoon announcing the tunnel was renamed ‘Legacy Way’ and the donation of 1 cent per toll. See post on this blog ‘Time for some entertainment - The Lord Mayor giveth and the Lord Mayor taketh away' (God TV) HERE

When Diggers’ Drive was annihilated by Airport Link, the BCC had a media launch on April 22, 2009 announcing the new Avenue of Honour Project (Anzac Park is on this list of Avenues even though Cr Peter Matic falsely said, "While Anzac Park began life as a memorial park, it is no longer recognised as such and no memorial exists." HERE)

Didn’t we just tell the BCC that their proposal for the car park within BCC Heritage Register listed Anzac Park would breach many of their codes and the BCC Heritage Place Code (3.2.1 Development of or in a heritage place or heritage precinct and 3.2.2 Development on land adjoining a heritage place or heritage precinct) but they ignored us and we were forced to file in the Supreme Court? With the Coordinator-General's refusal of the car park proposal Friends of ANZAC Park 'Save Anzac Park' have legally achieved, with our Application to the Supreme Court, what we wanted and the Hearing listed for 23 December 2010 will therefore not proceed. We are certainly ready for further action if required.

MEDIA: Westside News, Wednesday, December 22, 2010, Anzac Park victory

Front page - "TOOWONG people power has done it again. The Coordinator-General has blocked Brisbane City Council from building a 300-space car park for tunnel workers in the much-used Anzac Park, sending council back to the drawing board." HERE Also on Page 5 'Workers' carpark rejected' and page 8 SPEAK UP for comments from locals John Rowell and Glenn Townson.

Seasons Greetings and Thank You

Members of Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong; Applicants - Barley and Others v The Coordinator-General and Brisbane City Council; Paul Freeburn SC; Joanna Freeburn, Geoff Murray - Experteyes; Deanne Morrison; Ann Mowles; James Conomos Lawyers; The community of Toowong and surrounding suburbs; Children and teenagers of Toowong with pre-occupied parents; Mt Coot-tha Residents’ Group; Normanby Action Group; Andrew Fraser - MP Labor State member for Mt Coot-tha; Ray Smith – Labor Lord Mayoral candidate for the next Brisbane City Council election March 2012; Westside News; The Courier-Mail; 612 ABC Brisbane; The Shire of Toombul History Group; Arthur Palmer - West Toowong Community Association Inc.; Sue Wickenden; Toowong and District Historical Society Inc.; West Toowong Bowls Club; Kerry Gallagher - Toowong RSL; Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland; Gecko - Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council; Pamphlet deliverers; Banner team; and anyone who spoke up and took action to help save our park in anyway.

Legacy Way Community Liaison Groups

December 2010 Community Liaison Group nominations now open
Northern Link Newsroom HERE

Transcity, appointed by Brisbane City Council to design, build and operate Legacy Way is now calling for nominations to join two Community Liaison Groups (CLG). Applications will be reviewed by Legacy Way’s independent community liaison representative. Members for each CLG would need to have existing networks to enable them to represent a range of community viewpoints and concerns to Transcity and disseminate project information back to the community. Selection criteria will be based on the following attributes:
• Live, work or represent a community group within the suburbs of Mt Coot-tha, Bardon, Toowong, Auchenflower, Milton, Paddington, Red Hill, Kelvin Grove, Herston, Brisbane or Spring Hill.
• Demonstrated communication networks with the community.
• Membership of/affiliation with community or business groups.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the project.

Applications close at 5pm on Monday 10 January 2010 (EXTENDED - NOW CLOSES Friday 14 January 2010). Contact and ask for a nomination kit: Community and Stakeholder Officer
Phone: 1800 778 772 Email: info@transcityjv.com.au

Santa delivers 'secret document'

'Further Information to Application for Project Change' document now available HERE.
Friends of Anzac Park asked Northern Link for this document back in the first week of December 2010 when we found out that the Northern Link may have given the Coordinator-General a ‘revised scheme, or an ‘amended plan’ for the car park proposal, in addition to the 'Application for Project Change' document, which we based our submissions on. Instead, all we got were a few lines posted on Northern Link’s Newsroom website ‘December 2010 New information on workforce parking arrangements’ .

Under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971, after receiving the 'Application for Project Change', the 35F Coordinator-General may 35F(1)(b) ask the proponent for further information about the proposed change, its effects on the project or any other related matter.

The 'Further Information to Application for Project Change', document is hardly ‘further information’ about the construction workforce car park. It is more like a revised scheme produced as a result of our submissions and contact with Northern Link. Read it for yourself. The document appeared on Northern Link's website at the same time as the 'Coordinator-General's Change Report'. This is not the proper process and the reason for our Supreme Court Application.

In 2011 Northern Link, as advised by the Coordinator-General, will be fully exploring other options for the project’s parking proposal and in doing this will find that other options will satisfy the Coordinator-General’s condition for workforce car parking, rather than having to destroy our beautiful Anzac Park.

What is written in the 'Further Information to Application for Project Change' regarding the cultural heritage of Anzac Park indicates that the BCC Northern Link/Major Infrastructure Project Office still don't understand what cultural heritage means. They should read the submission made to the Coordinator-General objecting to the proposal, by Deanne Morrison, in full and in particular at item 33 - While the remnants of the palm avenue remain and must be preserved and conserved, whether the car park affects the actual remnants of the palm avenue is beside the point. Anzac Park was listed on the BCC Heritage Register because it satisfied the above criteria, therefore any use of the park in part or whole, under the Burra Charter must be compatible with the park’s cultural heritage significance. A car park for a construction workforce is not a compatible use. Northern Link cannot just construct a car park in a heritage listed park because it says that, in doing this, it will not interfere with memorial plantings or any other trees.Comprehendo!

MEDIA: The Courier Mail, page 7, Monday, December 20, 2010

Our Save Anzac Park campaign is mentioned in 'Link camera on the blink', last two paragraphs:
"...Meanwhile, Toowong residents fighting to stop their memorial park becoming a car park for the $1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel are cautiously claiming victory following a ruling by the State's Coordinator-General refusing its plan to create a temporary car park in Anzac Park Toowong."

Also see page 14 'Seeds of doubt over tree target'. The one millionth tree in this project was planted in Anzac Park, opposite the site of the refused proposal for the construction workforce car park.

a few more songs for the festive season

k.d. lang - Hallelujah HERE
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah – Christmas 2010 HERE
Andrea Bocelli - Angels We Have Heard On High HERE
Perry Como - White Christmas HERE

Selected Christmas songs from Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman - Annie Lennox HERE

Andrea Bocelli - Adeste Fideles (0 Come All Ye Faithful) HERE

Christmas Song- Happy Xmas (War is Over)- John Lennon & Yoko Ono HERE

Aretha Franklin Joy To The World Live Christmas HERE

Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas HERE

Elvis Presley Here Comes Santa Claus HERE

Frank Sinatra - Jingle Bells HERE

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong, 'Hall of Shame'

Proponent advised to consider Sir Samuel Griffith Drive as part of parking solution

Change Report, page 51: "Similarly, as the RD noted parking areas along Sir Samuel Griffith Drive may be areas used for workforce parking, this is also excluded from this assessment of changes. This area may therefore also be useful as part of the parking solution, as may parking within the western worksite."

BCC Northern Link Newsroom - surprise, surprise, they still don't get it!

Northern Link Newsroom HERE announces:
December 2010
Coordinator-General's Change Report released
Workforce parking
The Coordinator-General has refused the current proposal for workforce parking in Anzac Park. Council will undertake a detailed study of this location and alternative options early in 2011. The report confirms the existing approval of workforce parking arrangements detailed in the EIS, and approved in the Coordinator-General’s report of April 2010.

No, No, No, Northern Link. What the Coordinator-General said in the Coordinator-General's Change Report prepared as a requirement under Section 35I of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971, released just yesterday, and what you will be doing in early 2011 is:

CG Change Report: "Note that the Anzac Park proposal may be reconsidered in the subsequent assessment as a part of the project’s parking proposal, however the proponent is advised to consider this option only after other options have been fully explored. Additionally, it is recommended that it be considered as being used in conjunction with other parking solutions not provided in the RD."

"...the proponent is advised to consider this option only after other options have been fully explored; the proponent is advised to consider this option only after other options have been fully explored; the proponent is advised to consider this option only after other options have been fully explored..."

So in early 2011 Northern Link will be fully exploring other options. There are other options which will satisfy the imposed condition for workforce car parking - FULLY explore them and keep your hands off Anzac Park, Toowong. Pay attention Northern Link, the Coordinator-General is the decision-maker here. Take a hint Northern Link, like us, the Coordinator-General does not want a workforce car park in Anzac Park either.

(Will Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong need to do a 'WikiLeaks' in early 2011 to keep Northern Link out of our park?)

WikiLeaks here

Can-Do 'renamed' Can't-Do - Ministerial Media Statements

Minister for Infrastructure and Planning
The Honourable Stirling Hinchliffe
Friday, December 17, 2010
Ministerial Media Statement: Changes to Brisbane City Council’s Legacy Way Project HERE
"......refused plans for a temporary workers’ car park at Anzac Park, Toowong."

(Freeburn SC scores. It's about time someone pulled those Brisbane City Council boys into line.)

Our firm - James Conomos Lawyers HERE

NO CAR PARK in Anzac Park Toowong for Northern Link renamed 'Legacy Way'

NO CAN DO, CAN-DO! Messages of Congratulations to Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong pouring in

Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong wish to thank everyone for your messages of congratulations which are pouring in now after the release of the Coordinator-General's Change Report this afternoon, which refused the BCC car park proposal. Refused, refused, refused, Can Do!

A six week community campaign which saved our park from being destroyed. What a kick-arse community we have here in Toowong and surrounding suburbs.

Theme song HERE
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot - oh no they didn't.

NO CAR PARK IN ANZAC PARK - Coordinator-General's CHANGE REPORT

Coordinator-General’s Change Report HERE
(Note that this Report is prepared as a requirement under Section 35I of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971)

Page 50 - "The part of the project changes application that relates to the request to locate temporary car parking in a section of Anzac Park as provided in this change process is therefore refused." Page 51 - "Note that the Anzac Park proposal may be reconsidered in the subsequent assessment as a part of the project’s parking proposal, however the proponent is advised to consider this option only after other options have been fully explored. Additionally, it is recommended that it be considered as being used in conjunction with other parking solutions not provided in the RD."

The Coordinator-General has refused the proposal based on BCC Northern Link Application for Project Change and the community's respose to the proposal.

We have won, unless the BCC ignores the Coordinator-General's above advice. But let's celebrate for now!

4.7.2 Community response
One hundred and twenty-nine submissions were received on the construction
workforce parking proposal. A petition was also tabled to Parliament, with 591
signatories. Key issues raised in submissions included:
􀁹 increased traffic from construction workers’ vehicles posing an unacceptable risk to public safety, particularly children accessing play areas and amenities
􀁹 Council should undertake a risk assessment of the temporary workforce car park
􀁹 traffic and speed issues and associated risk to users of the park for recreation and exercise
􀁹 cyclist safety
􀁹 noise from construction workers
􀁹 construction workers should use public transport
􀁹 consideration should be given to alternative sites
􀁹 slope of the land not suitable for a car park
􀁹 impacts on flora and fauna, in particular loss of large mature trees
􀁹 lack of community consultation
􀁹 loss of park space for four years
􀁹 contaminated land
􀁹 impact on aesthetic and social amenity of the park
􀁹 inconsistency with planning codes and the EIS
􀁹 heritage issues—the park is a memorial to fallen soldiers from the Great War.

The Who's Who of Infrastructure

 

 

The current Coordinator-General for the QLD State Government is Mr Graeme Newton. He presided over Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd before moving into this position.See 'Save the Mary River' HERE
The immediate past Coordinator-General for the QLD State Government is Mr Colin Jensen. He is now the CEO of Brisbane City Council.
Is that what they really mean by ‘recycling’ in Brisbane? Got it covered from all angles, haven't they?

The Coordinator-General is the decision-maker, not the BCC

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, Deputy Mayor Cr Graham Quirk, Cr Peter Matic, and BCC Northern Link Road Tunnel Project ‘Legacy Way’, should know that it is the Coordinator-General who is the decision-maker with regards to whether their proposed construction workforce car park for 300 vehicles to be located within ANZAC Park, Toowong, satisfies the Coordinator-General’s imposed condition for workforce car parking (Coordinator-General’s Report evaluating the Environmental Impact Statement 18(k): The construction workforce must not park in local streets. A dedicated and adequate construction workforce off-street parking area must be provided). That the Coordinator-General is the embodiment of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 and this person makes the evaluation on the Application for Project Change. The BCC don’t tell the Coordinator-General how things are going to be, he tells them!

Under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971, the Coordinator-General releases a Coordinator-General’s Change Report which is the evaluation of the Application for Project Change – the evaluation may refuse to allow the proposed change and if the evaluation refuses to allow the proposed change, it must state reasons for the refusal.

For the BCC to even propose to use the community’s park, our ANZAC Park, as a construction workforce car park, is completely disgusting.

Hearing date for our Application - 23 December, 2010, Supreme Court of Queensland

The decision by Friends of ANZAC Park to institute proceedings was not a decision we made lightly. If a community group feels that litigation is the only way it can engage in communication with the Brisbane City Council in relation to a project which will affect a public park, it is very unfortunate indeed.

A week, or so, before Christmas and BCC still bloody-minded about destroying our park

Perhaps this comment sent in to our blog post 'MEDIA: Carpark battle lands in court' back on Saturday, December 11, 2010 says it all.

"The Parks and Environment Committee Chairman, Cr Peter Matic, doesn't care about parks and green space at all. His callous disregard for his own constituency is reflected by The Lord Mayor Newman and his deputy Cr Quirk. Together they form an unholy trinity hell bent on destroying recreational space to further their own agenda. They are like a plague of locusts, obliterating anything green in their path..."

MEDIA: Westside News

Our story on front page and page 3.
Have a cyberspace flick through this week's paper HERE
Direct link to story HERE

Our Firm - James Conomos Lawyers - Adelaide Street, Brisbane

Website HERE

The BCC not concerned about breaching their very own codes, it seems

The proposed construction workforce car park in ANZAC Park will breach many codes and Acts. For example, read the BCC Heritage Place Code HERE

Heritage Register, Heritage Places of cultural heritage significance Schedule 1, Heritage places and heritage precincts of cultural heritage significance: Anzac Park 170 Mt Coot–tha Rd, Toowong 1 (part) RP18899 01/01/2004

Read:
3.2.1 Development of or in a heritage place or heritage precinct
and
3.2.2 Development on land adjoining a heritage place or heritage precinct
Operational work or changes to buildings

Performance Criteria 1: Views of the heritage place or heritage precinct identified as significant in the Heritage Register citation must not be impaired by any aspect of the proposal, including landscape and building elements

Acceptable Solution 1: No Acceptable Solution in prescribed

Development of or in a heritage place or heritage precinct and Development on land adjoining a heritage place or heritage precinct!! We suggest that BCC take their proposed construction workforce car park well away from Anzac Park Toowong (part heritage listed) and adjoining land.

MEDIA: WESTSIDE NEWS, page 8, Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - 'Parks must be protected'

“THE BCC seemed to have overestimated their position for using parklands for construction purposes. The BCC do not own public spaces, these are owned by the City of Brisbane, i.e. the community. The BCC are nothing more than the management arm. If they wish to construct a commercial venture then they must do what they would expect any other commercial entity to do. Find suitable premises in an area zoned for light commercial, and submit their plans for approval. Parks are not zoned for any commercial development, and to do so would breach the council’s own dictates. Rob Waller, Kenmore.”

Thank Rob and all others who have written in to the media regarding Save ANZAC Park and Save ADA Park.

MEDIA: WESTSIDE NEWS, page 8, Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - More support from Ray Smith

Continued support from Ray Smith, Bardon, ALP Candidate for Mayor, for Save ANZAC Park campaign. Not only did he come to our picnic in the park a few weeks ago, he has now taken the time to write into 'Speak Up':

People power wins for parks
"CONGRATULATIONS to all the Toowong residents who joined in the fight against City Hall over the planned destruction of Ada Park. Campbell Newman's decision to destroy this lovely park with a 100m industrial shed was "set in concrete" until locals rallied. The next challenge is to get a better outcome for Council's plans to turn Anzac Park into a car park." RAY Smith, Bardon ALP Candidate for Mayor

Thanks Ray. We'll remember this in March 2012.

Another banner goes up in Toowong today

Thanks troops for organising this and thanks very much to the supportive resident.

MEDIA: 'Battle for Anzac Park' - Front page and page 3, 'Protest seeks court order', WESTSIDE NEWS, Wednesday, December 15, 2010

"TOOWONG residents are hoping for an early Christmas present but it's not Santa they are appealing to - it's the Supreme Court. A team of westsiders has sought an injunction against a Northern Link proposal to build a 300-space car park in the popular Anzac Park, hoping to have it halted before Christmas." Read online version HERE

Anzac Park Toowong - A Colourful Past (and Present)

TROVE Digitised newspapers and more HERE
In 'Find an article' enter anzac park toowong, click 'search articles' then read about the history of our park through newspaper articles.

ANZAC PARK—TOOWONG. TO THE EDITOR
The Brisbane Courier (Qld: 1864-1933) Monday 27 January 1919 p 5 Article
Sir,-Soon after the outbreak of the big war Mr Walter C. Harding, solicitor, initiated the idea of planting trees in Anzac Park, Toowong, the first place in the world to bear that historic title, it is understood. This he did at his own expense, and at the present time over 3000 trees have been planted, 1600 of which are in memory of fallen sailors and soldiers...

CLAIM FOR £3777 PARK DAMAGE
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld: 1933-1954) Saturday 25 January 1947 p 3 Article
Claims totalling £3777 on the Department of the Interior are to be lodged by the Brisbane City Council for damage to Mt. Coot-tha Reserve and Anzac Park, Toowong following evacuation by the military authorities...

FOUND DEAD IN PARK
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld: 1933-1954) Wednesday 27 July 1938 Section: Second Section. p 4 Article...

Dispute Over a Park
The Brisbane Courier (Qld: 1864-1933) Friday 3 July 1931 p 12 Article...

Death Note Told Daughter To Be Married
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld: 1933-1954) Saturday 2 December 1939 p 14 Article...


It really is fascinating reading. Why Anzac Park is listed on the BCC Heritage Register and not also on the QLD Heritage Register, is a mystery, as is why Northern Link are set on destroying our park for, of all things, a car park.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Time for our theme song again

Big Yellow Taxi

Joni Mitchell version HERE
Sarah Mclachlan version HERE
Counting Crows version HERE
Amy Grant version HERE


They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Alternative site for car park

Take the Link at the right to Friends of Anzac Park Toowong group submission and see page 55, Section 10: Other Options.

We have suggested alternative sites in our submission. No other options are provided by the proponent/council (in the Application for Project Change). And so there is no explanation as to why the use of Anzac Park as a construction car park is the best alternative.

Sir Samuel Griffith Drive is the smart alternative. See Google map HERE

The proposed site for the construction workforce car park within Anzac Park is unsuitable from a practical engineering viewpoint alone. Need we say more.

James Conomos Lawyers

James Conomos has agreed to act for us.
Website HERE

ANZAC Memorial Park Internment & Scattering of Returned Soldiers Ashes by Family 1950 - 1977

Read Arthur Palmer's statement, ANZAC Memorial Park Human Remains HERE

Listen to Breakfast with Spencer Howson - Arthur Palmer witness to urns buried and ashes scattered in Anzac Park HERE

Friends of Anzac Park now on FB

We're now on Facebook! Have a look and 'like' the page here.

It's not too late to join as an Applicant

To join as an Applicant would be your decision. To have standing you must have sent to the Coordinator-General a submission in relation to the Northern Link Road Tunnel Project, Application for Project Change, Section 4.2.2 Workforce Car Parking, Construction car parking at Anzac Park or those sections which refer to the construction workforce car park in Anzac Park in that document. If you signed or endorsed the Friends of Anzac Park group submission you will have standing as well.

The more the merrier, and the more diluted the risk:
Applicants and First Respondent: THE COORDINATOR–GENERAL and Second Respondent: BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL

If you would like more information, contact us at: saveanzacpark@gmail.com

MEDIA: Carpark battle lands in court

The Courier Mail WEEKEND EDITION December 11-12, 2010 NEWS Page 19 Sarah Vogler Council's Reporter

We have two copies of The Courier Mail WEEKEND EDITION December 11-12, 2010. One copy has as the first story on page 19 Carpark battle lands in court the other copy has as the first story on page 19 Man charged over shooting. The below is the story whether you got it in your copy of today's Courier Mail or not.

(Note at this stage, we have filed an 'application' for declarations and an injunction.)

BRISBANE City Council has been slapped with an injunction in a heavyweight battle over plans to turn part of a heritage register-listed memorial park in to a carpark for its $1.5 billion Northern Link tunnel project.
On one side is the council, which claims there is no alternative but to use part of Anzac Park at Toowong as a carpark for tunnel workers.
On the other is the Friends of Anzac Park community group, complete with a Queens Council, barrister, solicitors, engineers, academics, and environmental scientists, which claims council is being bloody-minded in not finding a better option.
They are well-resourced, determined and yesterday group spokesperson Joanna Freeburn said they were lodging an injunction in the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop council in its track.
"The injunction is about a failure to comply with the requirements of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act, " she said.
She said while residents were invited to lodge a submission over initial plans to place the carpark in Anzac Park, they were not allowed to do so after council made more changes.
"The Coordinator-General is making a decision on a document that we have not had an opportunity to respond to, which is contrary to the Act,"Ms Freeburn said.
"Its like playing on a soccer field, scoring a goal and then being told by the ref 'actually just before you scored that goal we moved the soccer field to a secret location and we are not telling you where it is'."
A council spokeswoman said council believed it had met all requirements for the application for project change under the relevant law.
Deputy Mayor and Infrastructure chairman Graham Quirk said council was committed to keeping local street free of workers' cars.
"This carpark will only be temporary, and it will take workers cars off local streets so we don't see the same problems that occurred with airport Link," he said.
Ms Freeburn said the park had heritage and environmental significance and it was common for the ashes of returned servicemen to be scattered there. She said having 900 cars moving in and out the park on a daily basis would also prove dangerous for the children that frequent the area.

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong reiterate that there are alternative sites for the car park to be located and want the proposal retracted from the BCC Application for Project Change. We know that the Coordinator-General’s Condition Appendix 1, Schedule 3, 18(k), The construction workforce must not park in local streets. A dedicated and adequate construction workforce off-street parking area must be provided, must be satisfied. We, of course, want local streets free of construction workers’ cars and have suggested alternative sites. Even if it is temporary (4 years), a car park within a heritage listed park is not a compatible use of the park for many reasons. Four years is not very ‘temporary’ and there are no guarantees the park is really going to be 'temporary'. We have already been misinformed and misled by our local councillor Cr Peter Matic over this proposal. 'Temporary' or not, once you make changes to a heritage park like this there can be no going back. We want the park conserved the way it is.

If readers and Graham Quirk want to see a real 'problem' that occurred with Airport Link then have a look at our earlier blog posting Monday December 6 2010 - Do you want Anzac Park, Toowong, to look like Diggers' Drive, Kalinga Park, Toombul - annihilated by Airport Link? Save Diggers Drive. It's too late! It's been annihilated by Airport Link. What happened to Kalinga Park is what will happen to Anzac Park if the Coordinator-General approves the proposal as satifying the condition for workforce car parking.

They really just don’t get it do they? That they just can’t ride roughshod over the law and the public just because they want to build a tunnel! We've had to take legal action to make them see this. The Coordinator-General was served today and the BCC will be served on Monday. The BCC knows they have it coming to them. The Application was filed on Friday and is a public document.

Injunction application filed in the Supreme Court of Queensland

A brave group of 18 concerned people have filed this afternoon an application for an injunction against the Co-ordinator General and the Brisbane City Council.

Why we are doing this?

One of our team put it this way:

"all last night I had that phrase 'all that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men (or women) do nothing' repeating over and over in my head together with the song lines 'they paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

We are concerned that in the future, when Kalinga Park or Anzac Park or Ada Park or the next local park is slated for destruction, the proper process is followed. A proper analysis of the impact on the park is made, the public asked to comment and the decision made on the basis of those things. The decision should not be based on some other proposal, made in secret.

In this case there has been hardly any analysis - woeful is the word we would use - on important issues of safety and the myriad mentions of the environmental importance of Anzac Park in the Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

After making a 108 page submission on one car park scheme, we stumbled by accident across the information that, not only had the council put a different scheme to the Co-ordinator General, but that he was going to consider that different scheme when making his decision.

Worse, he was not going to show it to us, or ask us for our views. We eventually, after a delay of more than 2 days, coaxed a one page description of the changed scheme from the Council, but were told we had no right to comment on it.

That goes against basic principles underpinning all of our rights in the legal system, and the principles underpinning the act under which the Co-ordinator General operates. The public have a right to comment. The legal system is here for a purpose.

We figured that, as we had the collective expertise to require the Council and the Co-ordinator General to properly analyse and consider safety and environmental issues, we should do so.

We should do it to assist those who, now or in the future, feel affronted when they are treated like this, but don't realize it has a legal name: a breach of the rules of natural justice.

We realized this when an eleven year old child said when we described what happened "but they can't do that, can they?". They are called the rules of natural justice for a reason.

But we did this at considerable risk. There are costs involved, and, if we lose, we might have to pay the legal costs of the Council and the Coordinator General, and that could be a considerable sum.

Despite that risk, 18 brave people thought the issue was too important to ignore.

It is not too late to join as an applicant. The more the merrier, and the more diluted the risk. If you would like more information, contact us at saveanzacpark@gmail.com.

We need to pass the hat around as well, as there are some costs involved in this.

SAVE ANZAC PARK THEME SONG HERE

Counting Crows – Big Yellow Taxi HERE

Cr Peter Matic and his very own "MISINFORMATION" for his constituents - Anzac Park listed on Avenues of Honour Project in 2007

The community were informed in a letter from Cr Peter Matic dated 3 November 2010, "There has been considerable misinformation circulating within the community regarding this proposal. Here are the facts: While Anzac Park began life as a memorial park, it is no longer recognised as such and no memorial exists." What he has written in his letter to us is UNTRUE. Here are the actual "facts": Anzac Park Toowong was recently listed on the Avenues of Honour Research Report Produced for the National 2015 Avenues of Honour Project, Brisbane City Council 2007. This report was commissioned by the Natural Environment and Sustainability Branch, Open Space Planning Section of Brisbane City Council as part of the 2015 Avenues of Honour project. The project, which is a national initiative coordinated by TREENET in South Australia, aims to honour the memory of every individual who has made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of all Australians. TREENET intends to do this by documenting, preserving and reinstating the original tree plantings and establishing new Avenues of Honour by the Centenary of Anzac in 2015. The cultural heritage significance of Anzac Park has been widely documented and the park is known to the locals as a memorial park. Anzac Park was listed on the BCC Heritage Register in January 2004 under - Schedule 1, Heritage places and heritage precincts of cultural heritage significance. Read how Anzac Park is listed on the Avenues of Honour report for yourself HERE TREENET HERE Read CR PETER MATIC'S misinformation to his constituents in his letter HERE ‘Lest We Forget’ March 2012 BCC Elections

MEDIA: Ada Park victory boosts troops

There's a great article in this week's Westside News, except that Councillor Peter Matic is still talking up the proposed car park. Check it out here.

Retract proposal - NO CAR PARK

We request the proposal for the Northern Link/Legacy Way construction workforce car park be retracted from the Application for Project Change. We have not objected to the tunnel project which we will have to live with on our doorsteps for the next 4 years. We just want the use of our park in full and the complete conservation and preservation of our BCC Heritage Register listed public park. There are other sites that would satisfy the Coordinator-General's condition for workforce car parking.

Anzacs in the Trenches

It's almost Christmas and New Year. We have sent our submissions to the Coordinator-General objecting to BCC Northern Link/Legacy Way's proposal to locate a 300 vehicle construction workforce car park within Anzac Park as proposed in the BCC Application for Project Change. While the Coordinator-General can ask the BCC for 'further information' under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (the Act) in relation to the 'proposed change', we have been informed that the BCC have given the Coordinator-General a Revised Scheme which has significant changes to what was in the BCC Application for Project Change. We have asked to see a copy of the Revised Scheme but have been refused. We have questioned the validity of this Revised Scheme under the Act. We have been informed that the Coordinator-General may or may not consider this Revised Scheme in the assessment to allow or refuse the proposal to be released in the Coordinator-General's Change Report at the end of the year.

We have offered our suggestions for alternative sites to satisfy the Coordinator-General's condition to provide workforce car parking, in an effort to conserve our BCC Heritage Register listed public park. (Coordinator-General’s Report Northern Link Road Tunnel Released: April 2010 - Report evaluating the Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to section 35(3) of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971. Appendix 1, Schedule 3, Condition 18(k) The construction workforce must not park in local streets. A dedicated and adequate construction workforce off-street parking area must be provided.)

As residents of Brisbane, when we are not being treated with contempt we are ignored by our councillors. We think there are important principles involved, not just about preserving parks, but also about transparency, proper process and ensuring that the community’s right to have a say is not circumvented and replaced by a private negotiation between the BCC and the Coordinator-General. They have left us with no other alternative. Proceedings seeking an injunction have been drafted. Xmas Greetings from the Supreme Court are not the type of seasons greetings we would really like to be sending.

Northern Link 'Legacy Way' not to be trusted - arborists in Anzac Park on Monday tagging trees

On Monday 6 December 2010 all the trees in the blue area of the map on page 118 of the Northern Link Application for Project Change were surveyed and tagged by arborists from Transcity/BMD Group.

This and Pacific Survey's surveying and staking out of the blue area on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 2010 are not the ecological surveys the community were told were to be carried out by letter to Residents, 22 November 2010 from Peter Livesey, Project Director, Legacy Way. See blog post Wednesday, November 24, 2010. They are specific to the destruction of our park by the car park proposal WITHIN Anzac Park.

If you don't want our park to be annihilated like Diggers' Drive, Kalinga Park, Toombul has been by Airport Link, you'd better act now.

In their proposal for the construction workforce car park, which we found buried in the BCC Northern Link Application for Project Change, BCC Northern Link have already ignored the EIS documents completed for Northern Link (Legacy Way) and therefore cannot be trusted:
EIS Document Volume 3 - Technical papers - CHAPTER 12. Cultural Heritage Report for the Proposed Northern Link Project, The University of Queensland Archaeological Services Unit Report No. 423b September 2008, states:

10.2.3 Construction Access
Any vehicles involved in construction activities must not use Anzac Park as a means of access to the project area nor can it be used for the storage of construction materials.

Friends of Anzac Park meet with Deputy Coordinator-General today

We met with the Deputy Co-ordinator General this afternoon. He said:
* the Council have submitted a revised scheme for Anzac Park to the Co-ordinator General to address the issues we raised in our submissions
* the Co-ordinator General will not provide us with a copy, publish it or make it available to us
* however, the Co-ordinator General will take that document into account when making his decision
* if we would like a copy of the document, we must ask the Council.
The Council has not told us this document exists. We have asked the Council for a copy today. (JF feels like she has inadvertently stumbled into a Kafka novel)

Can-Do Campbell a Backwards Thinker

How did our Mayor and his henchmen get to be so backwards when the people of Brisbane are not? They wouldn't do this to a park in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, or London. Just ask around Can-Do.
Look at this wonderful photo of Anzac Park taken in 1967 showing rows of trees, thought to be part of the 1918 memorial plantings. (Brisbane City Council Park History Files).

We repect our cultural heritage without being backwards thinkers and we don't want your soul-less, concrete landscaped vision for Brisbane. Get with the times Can-Do.

Aborists in Anzac Park, Toowong, Today, Monday, 6 December, 2010

Arborists were surveying trees this morning in the area of Anzac Park where the proposed car park is to be located. The Coordinator-General has not even released his Change Report assessing the BCC Application for Project Change, and whether this car park proposal satisfies the condition for workforce car parking. So why is Transcity/BMD even doing this surveying now? Why is BCC allowing them to do this surveying? These megalomaniacs and their tunnel projects are destroying Brisbane and must be stopped now. They are walking all over the community!

Do you want Anzac Park, Toowong, to look like Diggers' Drive, Kalinga Park, Toombul - annihilated by Airport Link?

Save Diggers Drive. It's too late! It's been annihilated by Airport Link
This path winds its way through an avenue of mature hoop pines on Remembrance Day (November 11) 2008 at the eastern end of Diggers' Drive in Kalinga Park. All these trees were removed within days of this picture being taken. © 2009 Peter Collins






View of the eastern end of Diggers' Drive on March 8, 2009


Do something to stop this happening to Anzac Park, Toowong!

Google SAVE DIGGERS DRIVE and see for yourself

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong are sorry this happened to your beautiful park.

Ray Smith and Andrew Fraser both at Save Anzac Park picnic today

Ray Smith, Labor's Lord Mayoral candidate for the next Brisbane City Council election in March 2012 and Andrew Fraser MP, Labor State Member for Mt Coot-tha both attended the picnic today and were very generous with their time. Unlike the incumbent Liberal National Party who treat the locals with contempt, Andrew Fraser and Ray Smith actually listened to us and gave us their support. Obviously Cr Peter Matic and Lord Mayor Campbell Newman have not heard the saying ‘politics is a victory chased by defeat’.

Ray Smith was taken for a walk around the park by Friends of Anzac Park and shown the location for the car park. He was appalled by the proposal and said that a car park within Anzac Park will destroy the park.

Also attending were the Normanby Action Group and Save Ada Park-Mt Coot-tha Residents Group who have also been given the run around by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and his henchmen with the Northern Link Road Tunnel Project. We all agreed that we just won’t stand for this sort of treatment anymore.

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong would like to say thank you very much to Andrew Fraser and Ray Smith who can be assured that we have very good memories in this neck of the woods around election time. Ray Smith will be the next Mayor of Brisbane. Even the staunch Liberals around here have their noses out of joint over this proposal. Thank you to everyone else who came along too.

The park is for the use of the community. Many of the locals who use the park give their time to the community with volunteer work and we use the park to relax and recharge. The park is essential for our health and happiness. It's a beautiful public park and everyone is welcome here.

PICNIC IN THE PARK Today Sunday 5 December 2010 at noon

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong - Save Anzac Park - PICNIC IN THE PARK

Come along rain, hail or shine.
Starts noon at the pergola near the duck pond.
BYO picnic or just come to meet and chat.


Ray Smith, Labor's Lord Mayoral candidate for the next Brisbane City Council election in March 2012 has confirmed he will meet with Friends of Anzac Park Toowong at 1:00pm at the picnic.
Ray Smith ABC News here

Many fingers in the 1.8 billion dollar tunnel pie of ANZAC desecration

BCC Lord Mayor Campbell Newman; BCC Major Infrastructure Projects Office; Northern Link/Legacy Way - Joint Venture SKM (Sinclair Knight Merz) and Connell Wagner; Transcity Consortium - the contractor for the design, construction and operation of Legacy Way includes Brisbane based BMD Group (BMD Constructions, BMD Consulting, Urbex, JMac Constructions), with Ghella (Italy) and Acciona (Spain)

Waiting for Request to be Retracted

Friends of ANZAC Park Toowong wait for Lord Mayor Campbell Newman to do the right thing and to announce the BCC request to locate a Legacy Way 300 vehicle construction workforce car park within heritage listed Anzac Park Toowong, is to be retracted from the Application for Project Change Report.

See Ada Park's People Power here

Ray Smith will be at Anzac Park Toowong 1pm Sunday 5 December 2010

Ray Smith, Labor's candidate to topple Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has confirmed he will meet with Friends of Anzac Park Toowong at our picnic in the park Sunday 5 December 2010. Come along rain, hail or shine! Picnic starts at noon. BYO picnic.

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong - email inbox explodes with messages of disgust

Arriving from all over Australia are messages from individuals and organisations expressing their complete disgust and anger over Lord Mayor Campbell Newman's proposal to desecrate an ANZAC memorial. Does he want the whole world to know about what he is doing to our park? Friends of Anzac Park are working on this!

Surveying not consistent with 'Topographical' Friends of Anzac Park Toowong "Smell a Big Fat Rat"

Friends of Anzac Park Toowong - Save Anzac Park, were told yesterday that BCC Major Infrastructure Projects Office approved a topographical survey to be done by Transcity.

We know that the surveying being done in the park is not consistent with “Topographical”.

We think Brisbane City Council might be hiding something from the public. Why would they be doing the surveying at this stage when the Coordinator-General has not released the Coordinator-General's Change Report which would refuse or allow the car park? Any information about the changes to the project should have been included in the BCC Application for Project Change Report, which we based our submissions on. Are they gathering more information for the Coordinator-General or starting on the design phase? Perhaps BCC have given the Coordinator-General a scheme for the park that the public don't have access to? Unethical?, Corrupt?, Illegal?

We smell a rat, a disgusting, putrid, devious rat, and we don't like this smell at all!

We are also wondering how independent is the independent umpire, the Coordinator-General, in all of this.

Thursday's staking a topographical survey by Transcity

Friends of Anzac Park emailed Cr Matic yesterday and he replied he was informed that the Major Infrastructure Projects Office only approved a topographical survey by Transcity in the park and the survey pegs would be removed by the afternoon.

Last night most of the stakes had been removed.

Surveyor's stakes driven into Sacred ANZAC PARK today

The surveyors stakes driven into our park today show us how huge the car park really will be, but what a disgusting act of vandalism to do this to our park. Go along and have a look at what Can Do Campbell is prepared to do to sacred Anzac Park. We want everyone to take a look and take some action in opposing this car park proposal.(Surveyor - Pacific Survey)

Picnic in Anzac Park - Sunday 5 December 2010

At the pergola by the lake - noon or thereabouts. BYO picnic. Meet other members of Friends of Anzac Park Toowong. Hope the sun rises for the occasion. See you there.

"Can Do Campbell, This is Your Life"

"You were elected as Lord Mayor of Brisbane in 2004. During your time as Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and having spent 13 years previously in the Australian Army yourself, you were content to dump your Spanish and Italian Northern Link Road Tunnel Project construction workforce car park for 300 vehicles on sacred ground in Anzac Park, Toowong, that was ANZAC, the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, PARK. As well, you promised to donate 1 cent of every toll from your renamed 'Legacy Way' to the families of veterans. In March 2012 you were not re-elected as Lord Mayor of Brisbane."

Letter from Peter Livesey Project Director Northern Link

Dear Resident

LEGACY WAY (FORMERLY NORTHERN LINK)
TUNNEL CONTROL CENTRE LOCATION AND WORKFORCE PARKING HERE

Queensland Labor Party here

Queensland Greens here

Liberal National Party of Queensland here

Brisbane City Council here

Toowong Ward Councillor Peter Matic here

Cr Peter Matic - pack up your office!

Cr Matic today sent an email to the locals concerning the Legacy Way Tunnel Control Centre and announced that a new location will be found for the facility. However the letter also stated:
As part of this announcement I am also pleased to inform you that we can reduce the number of construction workforce car parks in Anzac Park by about one third. The overflow car park on Mt Coot-tha Road previously earmarked for the TCC could be used on a temporary basis for construction workforce parking.

He just doesn't get it, does he! We just don't want a construction workforce car park in Anzac Park, whatever shape or size. It will be dangerous and will destroy the park.

Deliver on this one Cr Matic - no car park, get it! Remove the car park proposal from the Application for Project Change Report, and stop wasting everyone's time and resources in the local community who are opposing this insane proposal.

Read Cr Matic's letter HERE

Picnic in Anzac Park - This Sunday 5 December 2010

At the Pergola by the lake - Noon or thereabouts

The Ada Street group has won back their park!!!
Lets see if we can do the same.

Thank you for your support - Friends of Anzac Park

Hands Off ANZAC PARK as well as ADA PARK Northern Link, thank you very much!

Anzac Park, Toowong - no place for a construction workforce car park for 300 vehicles for the Northern Link Road Tunnel Project - a peculiar, incompatible and dangerous proposal - right next to a playground; in a heritage listed park; a memorial to the fallen; a much loved and used park; a haven for our fauna...and much, much more. (Blue area indicates where proposed car park will go - inside the circuit track and up behind the playground). Hands off please! Hands off or lose the next election for sure - even the staunch liberals around here are planning on changing their vote over this Brisbane City Council proposal to desecrate our park!

People power has led to a BCC backdown over Toll Control Centre

Congratulations to Ada Park over the back down on constructing a Toll Control Centre in Ada Park. Campbell Newman has admitted the proposed parkland site is the wrong location. It must be a fabulous feeling and the champers flowing during tonight's Channel 7 News coverage is well deserved.

It gives our Anzac Park group so much hope that Brisbane City Council will realise that Anzac Park is the wrong location for a car park.

One millionth tree planted in Anzac Park - a park not a car park

Read 'Friends of Anzac Park Toowong' - 'Save Anzac Park' - Group Submission objecting to BCC/Northern Link's construction workforce car park for 300 vehicles within Anzac Park. Take link on right about BLOG ARCHIVE.

Jack's Gully Anzac Park

“Jack’s Gully”
"Pause at this corner of Anzac Park and enjoy ten years’ work by Ansis Paul (Jack) KALNINS, who was born in Riga, Latvia, 17 May 1921 and died in Brisbane 21 December 1998. From his own slender resources, and single handedly, Jack planted and tended countless native trees and shrubs in this area between 1989 and 1998. A meeting of his friends placed his ashes here, as he wished. On Sunday 31 January 1999. If you are seeking Jack’s memorial it is all around you."