HOLSWORTHY AIRPORT: CHECKING OUT THE RUMOURS AND IDEAS

NUMBER ONE

"Will aviation fuel will be brought to Holsworthy via a pipeline to be laid
along the bed of the Georges River? If not, will they try to deliver it through the port of Port Kembla?"

H.A.D. I.T. CHECKS THIS OUT WITH KERRIE CHRISTIAN, WOLLONGONG CITY COUNCILLOR.

THIS IS KERRIE'S ASSESSMENT FROM AN ILLAWARRA POINT OF VIEW:

"It has been generally assumed that fuel would go by pipeline and not by road. I'm not sure that  a pipeline would be feasible from the port up the escarpment and over to Holsworthy. At various times there have been proposals to transport coal by underground slurry (coal-oil-water mix) pipeline or underground conveyor from the mines over the mountain to the port - the reverse of this proposal. Aside from technical and economic difficulties, the conflict and safety constraints with existing underground services effectively stopped any serious considerations of this transport mode. I think that an avgas pipeline would pose more safety concerns than a coal-water-oil  slurry pipeline. Also over the last 6 months the Sydney Water Board have been doing work on underground services in Five Islands Rd Port Kembla a major freight corridor for the port area - I understand that the complexity of underground services has at times necessitated hand tunneling - the work has been laboriously slow to say the least- and we've waited ages, about 6 months to have the cycleway repaired - it had to be dug up.

I really believe that there is no way anyone in their right mind could seriously think about bringing avgas from Port Kembla to Holsworthy by road. I think that there would be uproar to send it by road from Port Kembla up Mt Ousley and along to Holsworthy.

It would be just as unacceptable to transport it across nearly the entire length of of Wollongong Council  as to send it through Sutherland Shire (Port Kembla to Helensburgh is about 80-85% of Wollongong's length and with an only slightly smaller population than Sutherland). 

To send large quantities of highly flammable fuel through the port at Wollongong would mean transporting it through, or very near to, the most populated areas of Wollongong, as well as environmentally sensitive areas like our escarpment - including State Recreation Areas, Environment Protection Zoned land, water catchment areas and would probably be strongly opposed by the resident action groups of Mt Ousley and Port Kembla, Illawarra Escarpment Coalition, South Coast Conservation Society, South Coast Labor Council, various Neighbourhood committees. It alone would probably do more to galvanize much of the rest of Wollongong against Holsworthy than the noise issue in the northern suburbs.

The RTA have recently advised Council that both Mt Ousley and Bulli Pass are both near peak capacity and will restrict potential future growth of the south east NSW region. They also advised that both also have a higher than normal accident frequency - so I can't see them being happy about road transport of large quantities of avgas on such roads."

YOU MAY LIKE TO RESPOND TO KERRIE'S VIEWS:

The home page of Kerrie Christian

OR EMAIL ME

NUMBER TWO

"Politicians turn up their noses at Holsworthy Airport"

The Engadine News (June 4, 1997) reports:

"In an amazing show of bipartisan support and backflips of mammoth proportions, every Federal politician, including Transport Minister John Sharp and Prime Minister John Howard, are turning their noses up at the Holsworthy Airport proposal. Just in time for winter, each of the nation's 223 politicians have received a brightly coloured handkerchief with a map of the site's location"

Sutherland Shire Residents Against Holsworthy Airport (SSRAHA) group have distributed the hankies in an effort to raise awareness and to stimulate reaction to the Holsworthy Airport proposal. Slogans include "Get Up Howard's Nose About Holsworthy Airport" "Holsworthy Airport: It's Not On" and (I like this the best) "Tell Howard to Pick Somewhere Else"

Novel eh? Well done SSRAHA for introducing humor to the debate! Very effective!

Not just rumour - fact!