Optus phone tower concern grows

Craignish residents make their feelings known during a protest meeting with Optus Project Manager of Mobile Deployment, Peter Ballas.

Valerie Horton

Related links

• Residents resist mobile tower
• Wide Bay Water tells Optus 'no'

CRAIGNISH residents have gone all the way to federal parliament in an effort to stop the installation of an Optus phone tower only metres from their tight knit community.

Federal Member for Hinkler Paul Neville will table a petition in parliament against a low impact tower Optus has planned to install on a 25-year-old water tower.

Optus advised Fraser Coast Regional Council more than two weeks ago they had proposed to install the low impact facility on land owned by Wide Bay Water.

Under federal law, low impact facilities are exempt from town planning legislation and do not need approval from local council or private land owners.

About 40 residents gathered on Saturday to present their concerns to Mr Neville, Fraser Coast councillors and Optus project manager Peter Ballas.

Resident Mike Frost has lived in Craignish for the past eight years and helped more than 70 residents organise the petition against the tower.

Mr Frost said residents were predominantly concerned about the long term impact the electromagnetic energy exposure would have on their health.

“This is really the electronic form of asbestos,” he said.

“People will be living right next door to this.”

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency guideline states radiofrequency electromagnetic (RF EME) energy in high doses can heat human tissue, but levels emitted by towers have not been proven as harmful.

Mr Ballas said on Saturday the tower would be below federal requirements for RF EME exposure.

Residents opposed to the tower's installation also argued that a local real estate agent had told Mr Frost housing values in the area would decrease by up to 15% if there was a visible phone tower.

Mr Ballas told residents on Saturday there was no evidence to support such a drop and values were just as likely to decrease due to a lack of mobile phone coverage.

Submissions on the tower's installation have been extended due to the petition.