NEWS
In case of emergency BY MARIA TAN
R
edland City Council is in the process of applying for government funding to build a community centre for disaster education and training on North Stradbroke Island. RCC’s acting chief executive Mike Hyde told SIN that council was also “identifying a number of community halls that will be used as either temporary evacuation shelters or staging areas for on-movement of residents in the event of an evacuation off the Island”. My Hyde’s comments came following the launch of a new plan that outlines the emergency response to disasters on Straddie and throughout the region. The Redland City Disaster Management Plan (RCDMP) outlines how local emergency services must respond and coordinate in crisis situations, for possible evacuations, public health, community recovery and communication. The plan was created in response to the Disaster Management Act (2003), state legislation that shifted the responsibility of disaster management to local councils. Under this legislation a threetier system operates where councils can escalate their need for assistance in the event of a disaster to district and state levels, if required. “Everything our city needs to be better prepared for disasters is in here,” Mayor Melva Hobson said at the RCDMP’s launch, where she also unveiled a new caravan that will be used as a mobile operations centre (pictured) by the local State Emergency Service (SES). With bushfire danger at its highest this time of year and cyclone season fast approaching, the council’s “over-arching plan” for disaster management contains further sub-plans and operating procedures “that provide all agencies with a clear direction of response when activated”. Mr Hyde said safety initiatives already run by council on North Stradbroke Island included back burning operations, supporting the local SES group at Dunwich and liaising with Surf Life Saving and police and other emergency services on disaster management issues. The plan is not available to the public however a council spokesperson said there was a proposal for a public “synopsis” of the plan to be displayed on the council’s website.
SPRING 2010
Unimin loses appeal BY MARIA TAN MINING COMPANY UNIMIN AUSTRALIA has lost their legal battle to remove and sell building sand from North Stradbroke Island. The court decision vindicated a unanimous Redland City Council decision in 2008 to refuse a Unimin subsidiary’s application to remove sand from the Island for sale to the building industry. The court held that the miner’s application to the council was defective in a number of respects and dismissed the appeal. Used in the construction industry for white mortar and renders, the lower grade form of silica sand that Unimin had been removing from the Island was a by-product from mining for a premium grade silica sand, commonly used in glass manufacturing. As such, the building sand needed to be classified as a mineral under the Mineral Resources Act 1989 in order for it to be legally mined. Concerned residents, Indigenous leaders and local environment groups backed the Redland City Council in the Planning and Environment Court, and then took the case to the highest court in Queensland to achieve this result. In a media release the Stradbroke Island Management Organisation (SIMO) said: “[The] win is a reprieve for the Island’s seaside township of Dunwich. Residents will not have to put up with increased truck movements, escalating to a truck every minute through the middle of their town, which would have been the case had the sand export business been permitted.” In a statement Unimin Australia said it intended to pursue the project “which we believe generates a sound economic return from existing sand mining tailings in an environmentally and socially acceptable way”. STRADDIE ISLAND NEWS 7