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February 27, 2015
Your independent community newspaper - Ph: 4325 7369
Issue 64
Land and Environment Court conciliation conference fails to reach agreement n on-site h e a r i n g of a Land and Environment Court conciliation conference was held on Tuesday, February 17, between lawyers representing Wyong Council and the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), a Church of Scientology offshoot.
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Ya r r a m a l o n g Community Action Group media liaison Mr William Love said Yarramalong residents were given another opportunity to condemn the scientologists’ attempt to establish a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre within existing buildings in the Bertini Estate. When the plan was first submitted to Council, it caused a furore in the community and resulted in more than 80 submissions being lodged with Wyong Council by angry ratepayers. After analysing submissions from both sides, Wyong Council last year refused the application to conduct the rehabilitation clinic. ABLE appealed the decision and the matter is currently before the Land and Environment Court. Local residents who had prepared written submissions were invited into the grounds
The existing guest house which would be used as one of the accommodation buildings
of the Bertini estate for the conference to air their views to the Court Conciliation Commissioner. Flanked by barristers and solicitors from both parties, Commissioner Brown took notes while standing in the estate’s driveway as speaker after speaker presented their case. First was Yarramalong Community Action Group chairman Ron Lee who said he hoped the NSW Land and Environment Court would follow the lead given by the Victoria Court of Appeal Tribunal which recently upheld the Yarra Ranges Council decision not to approve a Narconan drug rehabilitation facility in the Victorian town of
Warburton. This plan was proposed by ABLE, the same group that had made the Yarramalong application. “A substantial reason for the Tribunal’s decision was concern for public safety,” Mr Lee said. “In a 16 page submission, Warburton police detailed scores of incidents involving patients, including extensive property damage, assaults on staff; in one instance a patient threatening a staff member with an axe, addicts escaping from the centre and being rounded up in the streets, and ambulances refusing to enter the premises without a police escort. “The ABLE security
measures had failed miserably. “There is no doubt that if the Yarramalong rehab facility was given approval, the same sort of thing would happen and this is causing enormous concern,” Mr Lee said. An immediate next door neighbour Mrs Julie Blair, whose house is within 50 metres of the Bertini Estate gates, told the Commissioner she was terrified at the prospect of the clinic obtaining permission to operate, especially with patients receiving detoxification treatment so close to her home. “My young children walk past the Bertini Estate gates every day to look after their horses in our paddocks.
“With drug addict patients wandering around the rehab clinic grounds and possibly in and out of the property there is every reason to fear for the children’s safety. “Hopefully the Court will reject the ABLE appeal.” Bill Love, a Yarramalong property owner for 42 years, said one of the biggest problems for the proposed scientology rehabilitation centre was the danger of major flooding of access roads and on the river flats that are part of the Bertini Estate. “Bunning Creek Rd is very flood prone and it is the only vehicle access into the ABLE premises. “The last big flood
in 2012 resulted in the road being closed and telephone and computer communications being cut for almost a week. “The flood waters swirled a meter deep through buildings in the Bertini Estate. “We are told that up to 50 people will be occupying the Church of Scientology rehab centre full time and part time. “In a flood, what would happen if an ambulance was required in an emergency? “Police cars, evacuation vehicles and rescue teams would not get through. “Nor would staff or supply vehicles be able to get in and out of the property,” he said. Other residents opposing the clinic put their views to Commissioner Brown for more than an hour, after which he asked the legal teams of both Council and ABLE to attend the Conciliation hearing inside the premises. The next day, February 18, the council lawyer issued a statement that the conciliation conference did not lead to a resolution of matters between the parties. The hearing will reconvene in Sydney on April 2. Media release, 24 Feb 2015 William Love, Yarramalong Community Action Group
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