Sunday 22 February 2015

Introduction

 An interview with the Honourable David Kirby, QC, BA, LLB.


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The Kyeemagh-Chullora Road Inquiry (1978-81), also known as the Kirby Inquiry, was probably the most thorough planning inquiry ever held in New South Wales.

David Kirby was a 35 year-old junior barrister when he was appointed by Premier Neville Wran to inquire into the Department of Main Roads' proposal for a south-western radial freeway.

Then, as now, freeways were highly controversial.

Four years before Kirby's appointment the Willis Liberal Government had met bitter public opposition to its plans for an ambitious set of freeways designed to funnel traffic into Sydney's CBD.

Thwarted in its inner city freeway plans, the DMR switched its focus to its thirty-year-old plan for a SW freeway.

The Kirby Inquiry's report was a model of its kind. It recommended against the DMR's preferred option for an 8-lane surface freeway through the Wolli Creek Valley (and another up the Cooks River Valley) on economic, social and environmental grounds.

The Report also recommended a scheme for the railing of a high proportion of containers to and from the newly-established Port Botany.

The Report was well-received by the Wran Government but was shelved after opposition from within the Department of Transport and from the road freight industry. It nevertheless acted as a bulwark against the DMR's plan for the Los Angelisation of Sydney.

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MORE VIDEOS

The Kirby Inquiry was instrumental in saving the bushland and open space of the Wolli Creek Valley from an 8 lane motorway. To learn more of the long fight to save the Valley, watch this series of video clips.

Saving Wolli Creek – Part 1: From Mussolini to the County of Cumberland Plan


Saving Wolli Creek – Part 2: From the Fig Street confrontation to the Kirby Inquiry

 

Saving Wolli Creek – Part 3: The Greiner Government's cruel and cynical hoax
 
 

Saving Wolli Creek – Part 4: A Tale of Two Tunnels



Saving Wolli Creek – Part 5: Looking back, looking forward


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A discussion on Public Transport between David Kirby QC, who conducted an Inquiry on Kyeemagh - Chullora Road, Terry Lee-Williams, Chief Transport Advisor City of Sydney and Professor James Weirick Producer of the Exhibition.
 Published on 10 Apr 2017


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The following article was written at the time the Road Inquiry was released.

The Sydney Morning Herald - May 15, 1981



The Sydney Morning Herald - March 2017