Actions taken by the Government: Where the Government stands
The government has proposed the building of the intermodal. They are standing by the proposal and have not only decieved and concealed the truth from the public, but continue to persist with the building of the intermodal. Their main argument is that it will bring profit and financial benefit to the country
Actions taken by the community
The community, as a whole, does not want the intermodal at all. There are many people with strong opinions about it and many people dedicated to fight against it. On many online forums, they have stated they will not stop fighting until the government gives in and does not go ahead with the building of the intermodal.
Traffic modeller Narelle van den Bos will speak in Canberra about the intermodal and its effects on the community in a few weeks time.
Actions taken by our group as active members of the community
The actions we as a group have taken is raising awareness about the intermodal and all of the negative outcomes if the intermodal is to go ahead throughout the community and also passing on this information to others outside the Moorebank/Liverpool vicinity. Our group also decided to send a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Anthony Albanese (see below). We hope these actions will help and benefit the community in the future. This is the letter we sent to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport:
Dear Mr Anthony Albanese
I write this letter in hope of convincing you to stop the building of the Moorebank Intermodal. This intermodal definitely should be built; it will definitely help boost our economy, and will be of great use in the future. However, Moorebank is the wrong place for it to be built and it is going to destroy the lives of many Australian families residing within the area. The majority of the community either disagrees or strongly disagrees with Moorebank being a suitable area to build the intermodal. This shows the community are actively against the building of the Intermodal in Moorebank.
During our interview with traffic modeller Narelle van den Bos, she stated that although the only benefit of placing the intermodal in Moorebank is it is quicker to ship to places in Melbourne and areas further south, the intermodal would be more suited to an area like Eastern Creek, which is already an industrial area, compared to residential areas like Moorebank.
Mrs van den Bos also stated that the intermodal will help bring traffic to an absolute standstill. Australia has poor infrastructure as it is, and roads like the M5 and M7 and the Hume Highway with only two lanes going to and back is not going to be enough to help traffic flow smoothly while handling the constant flow of trucks. Trucks moving in and out of the intermodal and onto the already traffic congested roads of the M5 motorway and the Hume Highway is just absolutely ridiculous.
The intermodal is going to be a serious health issue as well. With the building of the intermodal, there will be high amounts of diesel emissions. It has been recently discovered that diesel emissions are carcinogenic. Our country has not accepted and will not meet the World Health Standard of diesel emissions. Also, building the intermodal will mean the government will have to clear away 600 adult trees, and the site it is being built on, is home to many threatened and endangered species. Is this really necessary when the intermodal, with better planning, can be moved up to Eastern Creek, where it will actually be of benefit to our society?
Another factor in this is that you have stated that the intermodal will bring 10 billion dollars’ worth of benefits to the community. What you haven’t told us is that this is what it will be worth in thirty years’ time. Currently, it will only bring 2.3 billion dollars’ worth of benefits. This is going to be greatly reduced with the relocation of the School of Military Engineering and the building of the rail spur.
I hope that this letter will be enough to make you reconsider this poorly planned project and think more about the effects it will have on the younger generations of Australians to come.
Yours sincerely
Kashif Sheikh
