Community Awareness

According to Section 37 of the South Australian Public Health Act (2011), that specifies the functions of Councils as a local public health authority for its area. The functions that are conferred on a Council, include:

• To take action to preserve, protect and promote public health within its area;
• Insofar as is reasonably practicable, to have adequate measures in place within its area to ensure that activities do not adversely affect public health;
• To identify risks to public health within its area;
• As necessary, to ensure that remedial action is taken to reduce or eliminate adverse impacts or risks to public health;
• To assess development, or proposed development, within its area in order to determine and respond to public health impacts (or potential public health impacts); and
• To provide, or support the provision of, educational information about public health and to provide or support activities within its area to preserve, protect or promote public health.

The Public Health Act, also extends the definition of “public health”, to protect, maintain or promote the health of the community at large, including were one or more persons may be the focus of any safeguards, action or response; or, to prevent or reduce the incidence of disease, injury or disability within the community. For the purposes of the Act, “harm” includes physical or psychological harm, or potential harm, to individuals, whether of long term or immediate impact or effect. Similarly, the Act states that a person may “cause” harm if he or she “contributes” to something happening, or …”allows or permits” something to happen.

The committee chair of the Australian Senate Inquiry (2001) into Electromagnetic Radiation suggested that the government review the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination Act 1997, and “as a precautionary measure, amend it to enable community groups to have greater input into the siting of antenna towers and require their installation to go through normal local government planning processes”.

Once again the government ignored these recommendations and has since valued the pursuits of profit driven telecommunications industries over the wishes of the general public and the warnings of EMF experts.

It is time for Australian’s to take back their community autonomy, lobby members of government to protect the health their consitutents and fight current legislation that alows Telco’s to install radiation emitting infrastructure without public consent.

Refer to our council & community checklist below to discover what you can do to protecct yourself, your family and the community at large.