LinkUp The GREENS
MEDIA RELEASE
Saturday Morning 13 Sept. 1997
Anti Distributor Protest At Moore Park
9.00am
, northern end of More Park (West side of Anzac Parade near Moore Park Road intersection)More civil disobedience is expected at the Eastern Distributor site in Moore Park this morning after a protest organised by the Greens and the anti-motorway group LinkUp starts at 9.00am.
A week of disturbances at the site has already seen 14 arrests including those of two local Green Councillors. Councillor Murray Matson said this morning,
"The RTA's motorway strategy is dooming Sydney and must be stopped. In 1992, the RTA's own 'Future Directions' report revealed warnings of a 600 percent increase in traffic congestion and a decline in air quality of 36 percent. Since then the M2 and the Eastern Distributor tollways have been blindly pushed through."
LinkUp spokesperson Mr Greg Archer claimed that non-violent protests against motorway projects were justified. He said,
"We have tried lobbing both sides of State Parliament and we wrote submissions when the plans for the Eastern Distributor were first announced. Civil disobedience is the next logical step. We feel it to be acceptable to defend our communities health through non-violent direct action. We need a vision that looks one hundred years ahead and not fifteen as with this RTA Eastern Distributor project."
Mr Archer discredited a popular justification for the project. He said,
"This motorway is being touted as the solution for our traffic problems for the 2000 Olympics. But the obvious reality is that none of our overseas guests will be bringing cars with them. They are all going to want public transport."
Mr Archer claimed that the Eastern Distributor was a bad reflection of Australia's perceived weakness on Green House gas emissions. He elaborated,
"With our Prime Minister now standing virtually alone in the world in his profit before health policies in regards to Green House gas emissions, we must take action now to reduce these emissions ourselves."
Contact: Randwick Greens Councillor Murray Matson
or Mr Greg Archer of LinkUp