News in brief
Greens win extra funding for Marrickville bike paths
At last week’s Marrickville Council meeting (June 24), the Greens won approval for a bid to increase funding for bike paths in the council area. “Years of underfunding had led to a short fall of more than $7 million to build the priority bike paths identified by Council,” said Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore. “Last night Marrickville Council voted to include an additional $200,000 in the annual budget for new bike paths.” This extra funding will allow the completion of a bike path that will connect Camperdown, Newtown and Enmore. “Last night our local Greens had an important win,” said Councillor Jenny Leong.
Ashfield Park saved
NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay last week announced that Ashfield Park will no longer be impacted by the construction of the controversial WestConnex tollway. Marrickville Mayor Jo Haylen commended the Save Ashfield Park community group for its efforts to raise awareness about the importance of the park to the local community. Residents are still concerned about other open public spaces in the area, and Mayor Haylen has said that the state Liberal government needs to be more transparent in its decision-making. “The current lack of information means residents across the Marrickville area are understandably fearful of losing their parkland,” she said.
Australian journalists fight for press freedom
On Monday, June 30th, a delegation of senior Australian journalists delivered a statement, jointly signed by ninety media advocacy organisations and led by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), to the Egyptian consulate on Commonwealth Street in Surry Hills. The statement called for the freedom of Peter Greste, Baher Mohammad and Mohamad Fahmy, the three Al Jazeera journalists who were sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Egypt last week.