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Volume 4, Thursday 6th December, 2007
BOOZE ABUSE CLAMP DOWN
A
Written by Les Rochester
lcohol abuse is becoming a major concern at the Roxby Downs Area School and among young teenagers living in town. Roxby Downs isn’t an isolated case because a major conference of all state schools and service providers is being planned next year to try and address the impact of drugs but particularly alcohol on the students’ well being and learning. At a recent Alcohol and Substance Abuse Partnership meeting in Roxby Downs, acting RDAS principal, Helen Bennie said alcohol abuse is openly spoken about by students in the school yard and its ease of access. “It becomes a way of life for them,” she said. “If we as a community don’t try and change that, then we’re lost. “There’s supervision issues because parents are working a lot and there’s a lack of awareness by parents of the problem,” she said. The special meeting of the forum which was addressed by the Policy and Program Officer for the drug strategy with the Department of Education and Childrens Services, Jan Warren, tried to come to grips with the alcohol abuse problem. “We need to try and develop a whole
community strategy to address alcohol and other drug issues, but particularly alcohol,” she said. “We support schools intervention where alcohol is concerned. “We support preventative measures on alcohol abuse,” Ms Warren said. “We’ll do this because schools can’t do this alone, it doesn’t start or end at the school gate. “We need to get the messages across to the parents,” she told the meeting which was attended by about 40 concerned community representatives, police and civic leaders. South Australian Police representative from Port Augusta, Sergeant Ian Feltus from the Drug and Alcohol Team said there’s a large volume of youth just hanging around and have ready access to alcohol. “If you try and solve all the problems at once you won’t,” he said. “You have to take one step at a time, chip away at it and that way you’ll have more success,” he said. Ms Bennie said that during the local grand final in football students were drinking all week and the weekend, and were boasting about it to others. Ms Warren added that because of the large number of single young men working in Roxby Downs it adds another dynamic to the problem. Continued on Page 4
Above: The Roxby Rocket will now take its prominent place in Saturday’s Christmas Pageant after the Dirt Circuit Car Club took over it’s control.
The year that was. See photos on Pages 9 and 10.
BHP Billiton keeps EIS delays close to chest BHP Billiton has refused to comment to The Monitor on newspaper reports that the cost of its planned expansion at the Olympic Dam mine has blown out more than three fold. When the proposed expansion was first announced the company put the cost at $5 billion but the United Kingdom based Times newspaper claims sources within BHP Billiton now put that cost at $20 billion. It also announced that the cost blow out has pushed back the planned release of the company’s Environmental Impact Statement to early 2009, almost two years behind its original planned schedule. The Adelaide based Advertiser Newspaper confirmed through state government sources that the EIS would now be delayed until early 2009. The Monitor newspaper put a series of searching questions to the Company’s Adelaide based senior
spokesman Richard Yeeles to get some clarity on the newspaper reports. The company’s response was: “The questions are based on an unsourced, speculative newspaper report. BHP Billiton has no comment on such a report.” The company dismissed our questions such as: With the EIS already running 12 months behind its first announced public release date, when is it now expected to be available for public scrutiny? What has caused the hold up with the EIS ? Has it been delayed by concerns in the Spencer Gulf region regarding the barge landing site at Port Augusta and continuing concerns by environmentalists, fishers and those who rely on the marine industry regarding the desalination plant at Whyalla ? These questions are not based on unsourced, speculative newspaper
reports. They are based on the fact that the company’s own time schedule for the release of the EIS is now way over due. But the community of Roxby Downs is still being kept in the dark by the refusal of its spokesman to even answer the simplest of questions. BHP Billiton is looking at ways to reduce the cost blow out of the planned expansion and this could be one reason why it is continuing to pressure the state government to allow it to send some of the ore overseas for processing. The Monitor asked the company whether it has given thought to releasing the Roxby Downs Master Plan ahead of the EIS. The company had originally planned to release the Master Plan as part of the EIS, but has refused to answer the question.