By Jo Brown
MELBOURNE—A July 16 public meeting of about 500, mostly local, residents at the Williamstown Town Hall rejected the planned expansion of the Mobil Altona refinery.
The meeting was called by Mobil and the government in response to a recent rally protesting against Mobil's expansion plans. It was attended by Victorian premier and local MP Joan Kirner and was the latest in a series of "community consultations" which have amounted to little more than public relations exercises for Mobil. But this meeting backfired on Mobil and Kirner.
Speakers from the Environmental Protection Authority and Mobil tried to present the proposal as environmentally and socially beneficial, but the meeting voted overwhelmingly to reject the "modernisation" proposed by Mobil on the grounds that there had been inadequate community consultation, a lack of information about the plans and no study of possible impact on the local environment and community.
Kirner insisted that new technology would improve the environmental performance of the plant. She also talked of the need to find a balance between jobs and the environment, but Mobil admitted that no new long-term jobs would be created by the expansion.
Local residents and members of the Coalition Against Refinery Expansion (CARE) protested that no environmental impact statement, health studies or risk assessment had been carried out for the existing refinery or the proposed expansion.
Several older residents also described the lack of interest shown by the EPA and local MPs when they had complained about pollution from the refinery over the 50 years of its operation.
A student from Paisley High School in Williamstown spoke on behalf of the Environmental Youth Alliance in condemning government and industry for treating the western suburbs as a dumping ground for toxic chemicals, dirty industry and air pollution.
CARE spokesperson Julianne Scott told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that local residents were "very concerned" about the expansion. "There seems to be community support for the campaign against the expansion, and I think this was shown clearly at the public meeting", she said.
Kirner told the meeting that a decision on the proposal would be made in the next couple of months, although the government has already expressed support for the expansion. CARE plans to intensify its campaign and to ensure that community concerns are addressed.
The Coalition Against Refinery Expansion can be contacted c/- 23 Mason St, Newport. Phone: (03) 391 2244.