Albany locals hang up on Robinson 5G tower proposal voicing fears for families’ health

Albany residents have voiced concerns about the potential safety impacts of a 5G tower planned for Robinson, claiming it is “untested technology” that will put their grandchildren's health at risk. The City of Albany has scheduled a special electors’ meeting for March 29 after a 146-signature petition was lodged with the City in relation to an application for a 41m tower. Councillors are recommended to approve an application on Lot 141 Allerton Street at tonight’s ordinary council meeting. The application was lodged by Visionstream Australia, on behalf of Telstra, “on the basis of improving the network services to the Robinson locality” and to “make Robinson and the greater Albany region 5G ready.” The proposal proved controversial at a council committee meeting on March 10, when nine people spoke against it in question time. Forty-two people have submitted public comments on the proposal, all objecting. Speaking at the committee meeting, Robinson homeowner Judy Hunt said residents were concerned about the “effects of the radiation” and urged councillors to “err on the side of caution until more safety tests are completed”. “We in the neighbourhood would like the respect to keep our communities as safe as we can,” she said. Ms Hunt said the existing National Broadband Network worked well. “Are you happy to put our and your grandchildren's health at risk?” Ms Hunt said. “Councils are supposed to keep us safe.” Fellow Robinson resident Annie Matheson said a tower would reduce property values and locals would “lose significantly” if the proposal was approved. “This imposes a financial loss upon us without fair compensation,” she said. City of Albany planning services manager Jan Van der Mescht told the meeting electromagnetic emissions, financial matters and property values could not be considered when approving a development application. Cr Tracey Sleeman was the only person to vote against the recommendation because many residents “do not feel safe”. She urged councillors to defer the decision “until the proponent has explored other sites for telecommunications towers”. In a report put to the council ahead of tonight’s meeting, officers noted the potential health impacts of the tower had been “consistently raised, particularly 5G”. The report stated that the Australian Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency was the Federal body that enforced maximum exposure limits for electromagnetic energy. ARPANSA’s position was that there were no established health effects that could be attributed to electromagnetic energy exposure from mobile phone base station antennas, the report said. “The (electromagnetic energy) report submitted by the applicant states that the maximum calculated EME level from the site will be 1.65 per cent of the maximum public exposure level,” the report said.