Oil slick on Bondi Beach!

Date: 01 November 2001

Graphic re-enactment of shipping disaster on our coast

In a dramatic demonstration of the devastation a shipping disaster would cause on our coast, the Maritime Union is staging an oily protest on Bondi Beach this Saturday.
The Federal Govt policy of deregulating our coast and permitting rustbuckets to carry our domestic coastal cargo is a disaster in the making.
So the MUA is joining local surfers to drive the message home to the public with a reenactment that leaves nothing to the imagination.
A surfer will emerge from the water
covered head to toe with slick
to show how a major oil spill
would impact on our beach.

Don't miss this dramatic picture opportunity
Bondi Beach - outside the North Bondi Surf Club,
10.30 am, Saturday, November 3rd

"No-one forgets the big slick in Sydney Harbour two years back," said national shipping co-ordinator Sean Chaffer. "Just imagine another Laura d'Amato disaster happening off Bondi -- our national icon. Imagine going for a swim or a surf and coming out covered in oil."
Since it came to office the Howard Government has removed all funding from Australian shipping while relaxing restrictions and checks on foreign vessels on our coast. More than 20 Australian ships have vanished from the coastal trade.
"Foreign ships, the majority of which are flagged in tax havens to avoid international safety and labour regulations, can now get coastal permits to carry domestic cargo over the internet for a few bob and without any mandatory safety checks,"said Sean. "And Australian freight forwarders are favouring them because they are dirt cheap."
The beach protest is being run in conjunction with sponsorship of surfing competitions nationwide, ads in marginal electorates and major dailies, $20 million in give-away money as phoney as the Howard Government's election promises and a billboard campaign. The billboard featuring the oily surfer image is now located at Bondi Junction Railway Station. Maritime Workers will be giving away the $20 bills and leafleting the station over the weekend.

For further information: Sean Chaffer, 0418 215 079

For further information

Contact:	Zoe Reynolds
Union:	Maritime Union of Australia
Phone:	0417 229873
WWW:	http://mua.tcp.net.au/

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