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POTATO HEAD ROXON
THE land on which an Islamic school is to be built in Sydney's south-west was obtained by deception so the state's education minister should take it back, the NSW Greens say.
The Land and Environment Court (LEC) gave conditional approval on Thursday for a 1,200-student Islamic school to be built, despite the controversial plan having been rejected twice by Bankstown Council.
NSW Greens MP John Kaye said the first problem was that the college would generate a lot of traffic and have a severe impact on residential streets.
"The second is the land was obtained by deception. The government was told it was going to be a residential development, Garden View Apartments was purchasing the property,'' Dr Kaye told the ABC.
"When they first signed the contract for sale, it was signed to a company called Garden View Apartments with the understanding that it would be developed as apartments, as the name would imply.
"Just before the contract was finalised, Garden View Apartments exercised their right to change the name of the purchaser and they changed it to al-Amanah College.''
At that point the government made a massive mistake, Dr Kaye said.
"The government should have said, 'No, wait a minute, we're not going to sign the final contract ... it's very clear the government was concerned about it, people within the Department of Education became concerned about it.
"But they panicked and went ahead and signed ... which meant basically they were in trouble.''
Dr Kaye urged Education Minister Verity Firth to use her powers to obtain the land, so it could be used for public schools.
"What we shouldn't do here is be distracted by the racist climate. We shouldn't be distracted from good policy by the idea there may be some people who oppose it because of the environment.
"As soon as possible, Minister Firth needs to exercise her powers under section 125 and resume the land, and then after question, well if there's demand for 1,200 students let's build a public education facility there that copes with that number of students.''
The LEC will next consider the development on December 19.
Principal Mohamad El Dana said the group would make minor planning changes requested by the court and expects full approval by December 19, with stage one - a kindergarten to Year 6 school - opening in 2011.
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"We went through hardship with the community but that is in the past," Mr El Dana said. "We're looking for better relations with . . . the community."
The original proposal submitted to Bankstown Council last year drew 1300 objections and heated community rallies attended by hundreds.
Handing down his decision, Senior Commissioner John Roseth questioned to what extent those objections were racially motivated.
It is an accusation Bass Hill and Georges Hall Resident Action Group member Peter Driessen says has "upset" the community. "We made a decision early on that race would not be a motivation," Mr Driessen said.
The main objections were about over-development of the site and that the school was beside Bass Hill High School, increasing traffic congestion and noise problems.
Resident Osi Khoury said she already dropped 14-year-old Yulita and 12-year-old Noel at the high school 20 minutes early to avoid the rush.
"Everyone in the neighbourhood is against the school for traffic reasons," she said. "Can you imagine every parent dropping off one or two kids; it's going to triple the amount of traffic.
"It is has got nothing to do with it being Muslim. I have many Muslim friends. Had it been a Catholic school, everyone would have been against it."
Bankstown Council will not appeal against the decision but some residents have vowed to continue the fight.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24786462-5001021,00.html
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