February 21, 2023
About 60 people braved the rain on Tuesday evening in Kingaroy to rally against a proposed Telstra 5G mobile phone tower planned to be erected at the South Burnett Pistol Club.
The hour-long rally, organised by local resident Michelle Anderson, was also attended by South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto, Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones, councillors Kathy Duff and Jane Erkens and SBRC General Manager Peter O’May.
Michelle has become well-known over the past few years for her community activism, including promoting the “end all mandates” freedom rallies in Kingaroy’s Memorial Park.
Tuesday’s event was chaired by another local resident, John Holden.
He said the government was trying to make every community “conform”.
Several guest speakers addressed the crowd, expressing their fears about the alleged health risks from the proposed tower, ranging from eye “floaters”, stomach upsets and back aches to cancer and childhood leukaemia.
Michelle said she “did not consent” to the exposure of herself and her family to electromagnetic radiation in her home.
She claimed this exposure, and the threat of exposure, was “assault” and the councillors and South Burnett Pistol Club members would be held liable for the consequences.
The rally heard this was the last opportunity to convince councillors to vote against the proposed 5G tower.
A recommendation from Council officers that the development be approved, subject to certain conditions, will be put to Wednesday’s Council meeting.
Mayor Otto told the crowd that councillors did not have to accept the Council officers’ recommendation, and he invited concerned residents to attend the meeting, either in person or via livestream.
According to the Radio Frequency National Site Archive website, the South Burnett already houses an Optus 5G tower, at Quarry Road, Memerambi. More proposed sites include Lewis-Duff Road, Ballogie (Optus) and Reservoir Street, Kingaroy (Telstra).
The technology, which promises higher peak data speeds, low latency and increased network capacity, is not new in Queensland. There are multiple 5G sites across the State, including in Brisbane, Logan City, the Gold Coast, Caboolture, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Warwick.
The World Health Organisation has stated that “despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health”.
- Download: Extract from the Agenda for Wednesday’s Council meeting (1.98Mb)
External links:
- Search 3G, 4G and 5G tower locations in Australia
- EMF Explained
- Radiation: Electromagnetic Fields (World Health Organisation)
- We Are Not Sam (Boycott 5G campaign)
If only they were as worried about road safety as they were about 5G. Nearly ran over a number of people (including councillors) standing on the road in the 80km/h zone.
I’m all for it. Kingaroy needs progress, and having access to adequate internet speeds and mobile reception is a must.
There’s a gun club in Nanango they can go to.
We don’t believe the Pistol Club is opposing the tower.
I know this comment is probably a little naughty but would not be surprised if many in attendance are anti-vaxxers. There seems to be a strong correlation between many of these conspiracy theorist groups especially when scientific studies clearly show the technology causes no harm – the stronger the evidence the greater the outrage. Next they will be claiming the solar farm is stealing all the sunlight.
I can’t believe this was knocked back because of the opinions of a group of conspiracy theorists. Maybe these people and the council would like to make up the money that the South Burnett Pistol Club lost.
I wonder how many of these “theorists” enjoy their TV at night, cook in their microwave ovens, get their emails on their computer through wi fi, and talk on their mobile phone, all of which emit EME in small doses?
So Michelle, are you against high voltage overhead powerlines, 4G towers, TV broadcasting towers?
Do you currently use a mobile phone or a microwave?