MCU15/0095 & REC15/0022 PM Submission Object - Nadine Love

disruptive and inappropriate for children, at worst these unwelcome visitors may cause harm
through criminal and unlawful activity. Unwanted people walking around the school during
break-times will be extremely difficult for the school to manage and monitor. Students enjoy
some freedom of movement in their designated recess areas. School staff already has a high
level of responsibility overseeing students during these times.

The school swimming pools have changing areas that are exposed and easily accessed by
unwanted members of the public, posing a threat to the safety of children who have, to date
enjoyed a peaceful, safe space to shower, change and relax before or after swimming classes.
The changing areas serving the school swimming pools and Health and Physical Education
Centre remain open from 5 am to 7 pm open so that children can make use of these facilities.
They are within very close proximity to the pools and sports complex. These are extremely high-
risk areas in terms of vulnerability and exposure as children are showering, changing and
naturally focused on their sports activities.

It is unthinkable to put children at risk of being interfered with, abused or abducted because of
the close proximity of the service station and the threats posed to their privacy and entitlement
to safe, secure facilities. The changing facilities and showers are currently unsupervised as well
as unlocked. The safety issue would warrant these spaces to be policed at all times throughout
the day - from 5 am to 5.30 pm daily. The toilet facilities for students and staff of GSLC remain
open during the day for use as required. Unwanted trespassers from the proposed service
station could easily access these essential facilities, which makes our children and school staff
easy targets and unnecessarily vulnerable to aberrant abuses, attacks and criminal activity.

Temptation for children to duck out of school and purchase food and drink, to play truant and to
innocently and unwillingly expose themselves to the raft of dangers as mentioned above, posed
by accessibility to a retail outlet and random members of the public frequenting the service
station.

Queensland is far from immune to the Australia wide drug supply and trafficking problem. Such
close proximity of a service station, with open public access could make our children an easy
target for drug supply and trafficking.

The service station is not wanted near our students who would be made vulnerable by easy
access. This issue can be avoided by rejecting the proposal for the service station in such close
proximity to the school.

Children and GSLC teachers will be exposed to the increased risk of fire, which can be
triggered as easily as by dropping a mobile phone. Shell Australia Health and Safety
documentation says: "Dropping a mobile phone or switching it on or off can cause sparks, which
may ignite petrol vapours".

Unlawful behaviour is all too frequent around service stations. November 2014 just down the
road in Eumundi,s Noosa gunman stole a Channel 7 television news car at gunpoint and
crashed it into a large gas tank at Eumundi Petrol Station.


5 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/gueenslandfsunshine-cQast-aunman-f1ees-in-stolen.news-car-201411   05-
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