Community Alliance Party

News that the Deputy Chief Minister has aborted the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) for the Tuggeranong Data Centre and Gas Fired Power Station has led Community Alliance Brindabella candidate, James Sizer to ask, "what is she hiding now?"

"Aborting the independent Health Impact Assessment only days before it was originally meant to be finished suggests the government is desperate to bury its findings, including no doubt, the results of community consultation," Mr Sizer said.

"In defending the hiding of another report, the Deputy Chief Minister gave the excuse that the Environmental Impact Statement would pick up the health impacts and also allow for public representations," Mr Sizer said.

"It seems highly secretive and senseless to waste the work and money invested in the HIA, particularly at such a late stage. Surely it would have been better to release the HIA as completed thus far so it could better inform the public and formally feed into the EIS."

"Here we have a government, known for its miserable track record on consultation and transparency, desperately trying to convince us that they will do better, only to mess up again at the first opportunity," said Mr Sizer.

Despite new promises of community engagement, not one Labor MLA or candidate has any of the public meetings on this issue. In contrast, Mr Sizer has been intimately involved in the fight to obtain answers on this proposal, working closely with Canberrans for Powerstation Relocation (CPR), attending all public meetings related to the development and the HIA, even meeting with Technical Real Estate (the developers) to obtain direct answers free from the government spin.

"The people of Canberra have worked hard to find the answers that the government claims it is not hiding. What was so damaging to the government and its election campaign that the findings of the HIA have to be hidden from the public?" he said.

According to Mr Sizer, the Community Alliance has no interest in playing such games.

"We stand for an open and accountable government that will keep the public informed and consult properly on all issues."

Contact: James Sizer, 0416 147 880