The No Ship Action Group is once again calling for the state government to abandon its plan to scuttle the former HMAS Adelaide off the coast of Avoca.
It comes after Victorian authorities warned Adelaide’s sister ship, the former HMAS Canberra, which was scuttled in 2009, is now breaking up.
The group fears structural problems could be common to both vessels and warns the Adelaide would be sunk closer to shore and in rougher seas than the waters off Point Lonsdale.
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I am so tired off this group.
They didn’t seem too concerned when they spray painted graffiti on the roads around Avoca trying to stop the ship originally:
http://express-advocate-gosford.whereilive.com.au/news/story/mystery-campaign-against-scuttling-ex-warship-adelaide/
You had your day in court, now move on.
@ Francis. Democracy can be so tiresome, you poor thing you must be exhausted. May I suggest you consider moving to a country where people have no right to protest and stand up for what they believe in.
Sharon,
Democracy is one thing, and a clear benefit of what Australia has to offer.
However militant opposition to an event that will have minor ecological impact compared to all the other anthropomorphic impacts (shipping waste, stormwater runoff, global warming, effluent discharge etc) up and down the coast is simply ill informed.
The ship will provide habitat for some fish species, it will not measureably effect waves/erosion, and its “contamination” over time will be no worse than on shore and off shore sources (see all those vessels lined up to visit Newcastle Port? What is their contribution to deeper current and surface pollution?). Plus the cost of recycling the ship in Australia is probably greater than its recycled benefit.
Do some extra research, please. You may find a shift in perspective.
Find something useful to champion – those less-romantic/less-emotive things like energy efficiencies, waste recycling, change consumer behaviours.
Militant opposition to a warship dumping Grahame?
Let’s remember this is an old piece of military hardware being disposed of where it clearly does not belong – next to a very popular family beach.
It seems the “S” & the “G” in NSAG stand for “Sour Grapes”! Their 11th hour protest about an event that Central Coast residents had been looking forward to for over a decade got them their day in court, all concerns were addressed and were either found to be non-existent or of minimal impact. The amount of PCBs in the ship were found to be less than what would be contained in four fluorescent light starters, the lead in the paint was found to be in a form that is environmentally stable and any toxic components of the anti-fouling paint were found to have been exhausted several years ago. If this group of protestors were truly as moral as they make themselves out to be & not just a group of NIMBYs & whiners then they’d move on and let the 99.9% of Central Coast residents who want the ship scuttled have their day.
Rob, seems that you should have a “B” and an “S” in your name. The AAT hearing was between NSAG and the State and Federal Government, and if you’re not in any of those groups then you would not know how much PCB’s were and are present. In fact no-one knows because there is no NATA approved laboratory in Australia that can test for PCB’s in electrical cabling. The lead paint is not “environmentally” stable – what a joke – it will just take a long time to be released in the environment – something for our future generations to deal with. Not all concerns were dealt with at the AAT, community raised funds can only get you a minimum of experts and reports, in fact, NSAG only had experts in PCB’s. 99.9% of Cental Coast residents are as ignorant as you? Big call.
It seems that ignorance has a name & that name starts with the letter “D”. The AAT findings are publicly available & the Sour Grapes group agreed with them. All the arguments were based on false premises & even the NSAG have now abandoned them! The lead paint IS environmentally stable as you’d know if you had any basic understanding of chemistry. The lead is in the form of Lead Dioxide which is insoluble in water & does not bio-accumulate. I’m just waiting for this group of NIMBYs to complain about all the flammable hydrogen containing Dihydrogen Monoxide (water) & explosive sodium containing Sodium Chloride (salt) in the ocean next! Just because a compound contains an element that is dangerous in one form it does not mean it is dangerous in all forms. This group of whiners has had their day & they should graciously move on to some other discredited crackpot campaign such as fluoride in water or childhood vaccinations & leave the Central Coast alone.