Towers and sensitive areas

Also on 12 August, the Democrats called on the Senate to empower the ACA to “reject mobile phone towers being build near community sensitive sites such as hospitals, schools and residential areas.”

Senator John Cherry, the party’s Communications spokesperson, referred to the ongoing legal action at Oatley. “It should not take three court cases and a loophole in the Telecommunications Act for a local authority to be able to defend the right of a community, to prevent a mobile phone tower being built in a community park,” he said.

“While the recent ACIF Code requires a carrier to have regard to community sensitive sites for smaller installations, it does not go far enough in terms of requiring carriers to consider alternatives to minimise the radiation risk to the public.”

Senator Cherry further states that the amendment “builds upon the code and the recommendations of the Stewart Report in Britain in making scrutiny of community sensitive sites, a key criteria in deciding whether to approve facilities or not”.

EMR News Sept 2003, Vol 2 No 3