Rail link will destroy communities

ON 19 DECEMBER 2006, we attended a meeting at the Cardinia Township Hall in relation to the Port of Hastings Draft.
We learned about this draft only a couple of weeks prior when it was brought to our attention by information placed in the letterbox by the LO-CCKO (locals of Cardinia-Clyde-Kooweerup-Officer).
Due to other commitments and the short notice, we were unable to attend the first meeting.
At the meeting on 19 December we learned about plans by the State Government in conjunction with the Port of Hastings to utilise Ballarto Road, Clyde and Cardinia for a Gippsland rail corridor, effectively causing the eventual destruction of our local townships, Clyde and Cardinia, our neighbours livelihoods and farms, our beautiful wildlife, our peace and tranquillity, our hopes and dreams, our lifestyle and the investment we have in our properties.
There was no community consultation in relation to the draft.
At the meeting the CEO of Port of Hastings, Ralph Kenyon, indicated that attempts had been made to notify locals of the impending rail corridor and public acquisition overlays.
He stated a small advertisement was placed in an un-named local paper and a notice of some description was placed in the library cabinet of a library in Hampton Park.
What does the Hampton Park library have to do with the residents, farms, rural properties and lives of the people living in the Clyde-Cardinia area?
And if the advertisement indicated ‘Gippsland Rail Corridor – utilising Tyabb, Clyde, Cardinia. A part of the Port of Hastings Land Use and Transport Strategy’, the community, if given the opportunity to see the document, would have immediately responded as we did when finally informed.
We believe this draft was covered up and is still being suppressed with pressure from the might of the government body; the Labor Government of Victoria and the Port of Hastings Corporation.
We understand the need for a rail corridor. It is obvious that Victoria is growing and needs to utilise another port and transport system to assist with growing industry.
We also understand that the corridor was cheaper if it was thrown onto Ballarto Road, already owned by VicRoads and therefore the Government.
Never had I imagined a government body could be so thoughtless in regards to its communities than to annihilate them without consultation and by such an unscrupulous and devious means.
The deadline for public consultation was end last November without any consultation with the community which had no hope of responding without the proper information at its disposal.
At the meeting, Ralph Kenyon was pressured to provide an answer to the lack of information given to the communities and his eventual answer was ‘well, I’m not in charge of the advertising, am I?’
This explanation apparently negated him from responsibility.
If the chief executive officer of the Port of Hastings Corporation can wash his hands of this most urgent responsibility, what faith can one have in his ability to manage the project with integrity?
I have lived in the area for a little under three years and in that time we have taken a bare eight hectare block, planted trees, dug ponds, put in fencing and removed noxious vegetation such as box thorn, blackberry bush and thistles.
What steps has the Port of Hastings and State Government taken to ensure a full economic and environmental analysis of the area, that precedes any public acquisition overlay or thought of a Gippsland rail corridor?
The houses and communities in the area of the intended overlay and those affected by the rail corridor, are an integral part of the green wedge zone.
We take pride in owning properties close to the suburbs but are free from the urban spread. We are still a little bit of country.
The intended use of public acquisition overlays on properties in the Cardinia and Clyde area, for possibly up to 30 years, for a project whose neither environmental nor economic viability has been proven, is, in our opinion, as good as a criminal act.
The 500 metre public acquisition overlay, far exceeds the requirement of a rail line and the Ballarto Road route has the most social impact of any route.
The historical importance of Clyde and Cardinia should not be overlooked either.
The Cardinia Town Hall, primary school and church are historical buildings.
Some of the local stores, homes and other dwellings throughout Clyde and Cardinia also include historical residences and buildings.
We do not want our stores taken away from us.
There was talk of putting in a rail corridor but no talk of a replacement of Ballarto Road.
How will the community cope with the removal of this road which carries the main vein of traffic between the South Gippsland Highway, Cranbourne and other areas of Pakenham and Gippsland?
The overlays also shatter the dreams, homes, security and futures of a wide variety of community and business in Clyde-Cardinia areas.
There are numerous vegetable growers in the Clyde-Cardinia area that would be significantly affected by the overlays. Victoria relies on these growers for fresh food.
We bought our first house and our dream home a little under three years ago.
We wanted to do things right such as have kids and raise them in the country with old fashioned values without moving too far from our ageing parents.
In early December 2006 we found out our entire future was at stake.
Someone who doesn’t know us, who doesn’t care about our community, thinks nothing of destroying our future and that of our neighbours and our community.
There are other alternatives to the use of Ballarto Road as the Gippsland rail corridor.
We appeal to the media to assist us in notifying the public and wider community, to ensure pressure is placed on the State Government and the Port of Hastings Corporation to find another route for the rail corridor, thus saving our future, the future of our children and that of our communities.
Armando D’Aniello and Rose Knelange
Clyde