Any reference to CASACIR or its directors, shareholders, owners or operators relates to pre-14 February 2024 when the company was sold. In no way can anything said relate to the company or its new owners, operators, directors, and shareholders after that sale.
Department of Primary Industries (“DPI” – as it was then), and its part in the obstruction of justice and injustice
There are a number of DPI personnel who have not acted in good faith and have thereby obstructed justice and caused part of the injustice, some to a more major extent (for example, but not limited to, Anne and Bob) and the others to a more minor extent:
Anne Bignell
Bob Duncan
John Mitas
Doug Sceney and
Ian McLeod
In addition, on 2 November 2006 I sent the following to Andrew Radojkovic:
There is a proposed quarry for the Neerim North area. As detailed below, we are extremely upset at the thought and prospect of the proposed quarry opening next door (above us – contour wise).
One of the main water sources on our property is in direct line of where they propose to be quarrying, thereby cutting it off thus affecting the ecosystem, the quality and amount of water flowing through the 30+ acres of native revegetation that we have fenced off. We also depend on a portion of this water for reticulation for our cattle, yet we could end up with a property with no water for our stock. We cannot put in dams as our land is too steep and the soil is too open. Another spring is downhill from the proposed quarry site, and we are concerned that its underground water supply/aquifer may also be destroyed. This spring-fed creek is clearly shown on maps for the area (contour maps, and the land titles’ “land.vic.gov.au” maps, for example). Further, the couple of other very minor springs that originate on our place may also be affected.
Seven years ago CSR closed the bluestone/basalt quarry at Neerim North. A local farmer, Gordon Lockett, arranged to purchase the land (which had been rehabilitated), from them. Over a period of three years, a number of people (including us) wanted to buy land that adjoined the ex-quarry land. Gordon assured all such people, ourselves included, that he would never sell the ex-quarry land as he required it for his farming enterprise, and had, in fact, been leasing it from CSR since its rehabilitation. He also assured all of us that the land would never be quarried again. The sale from CSR to Gordon and Margaret Lockett went through in November 2004.
Imagine our surprise when rumours started to get around in May 2005 that Gordon was in the process of selling that land and that there were moves afoot have the quarry re-opened. A number of the neighbours asked both he and Margaret if this was so, and were told “no” and “absolutely not”.
I started to ask around and send emails, letters and faxes to anyone that I thought might be the other party – in spite of Gordon and Margaret’s protestations of innocence. I received a reply from [man Y], General Manager of the Stabilime Group, taking me to task for broadcasting his and [man X]’s intention to purchase the land and re-open the quarry ([man X] is the General Manager of Casacir Pty Ltd, the owner and operator of a number of other quarries). The sale of land from Gordon and Margaret Lockett to [man X and man Y] went through in February 2006.
Upon pressure from me, [man X] came and had a meeting with the direct neighbours (June 2005) and told us that he and [man Y] had been in negotiations for over a year with Gordon (before the time that Gordon had actually bought the land from CSR! – and we know for a fact that he had approached others to have them re-open the quarry!). [Man X] said that there would be other meetings and that they would be consulting with us and keeping us informed. We made it quite clear that we did not want a quarry in the area and that none of would have bought here if we had known that the quarry could be re-opened.
I have sent many emails to both Department of Primary Industries and Baw Baw Shire Council, but neither of them have been very helpful and certainly neither of them have been proactive in advising me of what is happening in the process, despite repeatedly being asked to do so. The Council have also shown that they do not enforce conditions, as the Mt Speed quarry (owned by the same people) was not to open until the road into it was sealed and it has been open over two and a half years and the road still isn’t sealed! – so we cannot expect any support from Council for upholding any conditions.
It has been quoted to us that there will only be “reasonable” noise and “reasonable” dust and “reasonable” traffic (etc). We bought here with what we consider “reasonable” dust, noise and traffic – ordinary amounts of dust, since we live on a dirt road, and we can hear the birds in the silence, a few milk trucks and the garbage trucks – anymore than what we bought here with is above reasonable. Smokers used to have all the rights and now their rights are not able to infringe on the rights of others – why should this be any different?
[Man X and man Y] had, a number of times (over the past fifteen months), said that they would meet with us “in a couple of weeks” – which had not happened until recently (while my husband and I were away in Western Australia – and have only just got back). They have also failed repeatedly to respond to communications, and been of very little help in the few times they have responded. At that meeting (29th August) they apparently told the attendees that they will be applying to have the quarry run from 7am to 6pm weekdays and 7am to 1pm Saturdays. They take no consideration of the impact of neighbours (they have said that they will plant some trees and build a 3m “barrier” – big deal). I have spoken to a person who was local at the time of CSR running the quarry, and she has said that the noise and dust were horrific.
We have beautiful peace and quiet here and do not want the noise of trucks coming and going and being loaded, drilling, loading, crushing, blasting etc., nor do we want the dust, the traffic and the serious risk of water pollution from the quarrying works and the proposed site of the settlement ponds. We are running our property on a Environmental Management System, and the possible impact of this quarry goes against that. Why should we be subjected to dust, noise, loss of property value (estimated to be about 20%), possible water contamination and almost certain loss of water quantity and quality (to name just a few issues).
I have no time for people who buy close to a going concern and then complain about it. All of us bought because the quarry was closed and were told that it would never open again. None of the neighbours want the quarry and should not have to have it. To reiterate – none of us want this quarry to re-open and none of us would have bought here if we had known or even suspected, that the quarry could be re-opened. Any such re-opening will be rigorously contested.
What rights do we have to stop this, perhaps on the grounds of our water supply and “rights”, please? Or can Gippsland Water object to (possibly polluted) water going from the quarry site to the already degraded Latrobe river system.
If you could assist us in this, we would be very grateful.
Still not having had a response, on 7 November 2007 I added the following:
Further to the email below, we note that there has to be a 500m buffer zone between each of the dwellings in the area and any extraction site. According to the Review of the Extractive Industries Act 1995 and the SPPF the proponent must own or control the 500m buffer zone. This is not the current situation and will not ever be the case with at least three of the affected parties (ourselves included). Taking this into consideration there is very little land that can be quarried. I fail to see why they have bothered to put in the proposal as it cannot go anywhere as the buffer distances will be strenuously defended.
Still no response. This could be deemed to be exemplary of DPI – it is easy to see from the other DPI pages what happened as far as DPI was concerned.
There is somuch more that could be said (and some of it is said on other pages), but I’ll leave it at that for now.