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
Go for it!
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