May 03, 2009

FRIENDS OF CURRAWONG TAKE A BOW!!!

(Then dust yourself off and keep fighting)

To all our Raiders, all our Friends and all our supporters and backers, in particular the hardworking Friends of Currawong Committee, congratulations, what an amazing win!!!

• There will be NO 25 lot gated community built on beautiful Currawong Beach.

• There will be NO dumping of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of infill on beautiful Currawong Beach.

• There will be NO McMansions built along the foreshore of beautiful Currawong Beach.

AND the ENTIRE site has been added to the State Heritage Register to be protected forever! A truly historic win against overwhelming odds.

With patience and persistence we have prevailed!

HOWEVER……

Although the Minister has made the correct decision, for which we applaud her, we must now ensure that Heritage protection means Heritage PROTECTION. As reported on Stateline (01/05/09), the Government is coming under increasing pressure to amend heritage listings.

Now we need letters and emails and phone calls to the Minister to ensure that the site is purchased by the Government and placed into the National Park where it belongs.

We will need to lobby the Government and monitor amendments to the Heritage act to ensure that Currawong can’t be removed from the Heritage list at any time in the future. We will also lobby Peter Garrett to have the only surviving workers holiday camp placed on the National Heritage register.

We need your help now.

We need you to email, write or ring the Minister for Planning Kristina Keneally:

Ms Kristina Keneally, Level 35 Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, SYDNEY NSW 2000

Phone (02) 9228 5811, Fax (02) 9228 5499 Email office@keneally.minister.nsw.gov.au

Congratulating her on her decision and urging her to ensure that the site is:

•         purchased by the Government

•         placed into the National Park where it belongs. 

 We need you to write or ring the Federal Minster for the Environment, Peter Garrett, urging him to:

Peter Garrett, Phone: 02 6277 7640, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, PO Box 6022, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600

"Have the only surviving in-tact workers holiday camp in Australia placed on the National register"

Please keep checking our website for current information on what you can do. Of course we will also have to wait and see what Eco Villages and Unions NSW decide to do next.

We want to share our win with everyone who is fighting to save their own beautiful and special places

It feels fantastic to have won this historic battle and hearty congratulations are in order for everyone concerned, celebrate, party, revel in the win you are all heroes but remember…..…..now we have to win the war.

In solidarity,

Shane Withington.

Proudly on behalf of the Friends of Currawong Committee.