Jo Haylen, the Member for Summer Hill, today moved a motion in Parliament calling on the Baird Government to hold an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the butchering of trees across the inner west by Ausgrid contractors.

Speculation continues to mount that the excessive pruning was allowed to make the sale of poles and wires more attractive to buyers.

Ausgrid recently acknowledged that the pruning had gone too far and promised to reduce its pruning, however, residents responded by calling out this undertaking as too little, too late.

Ms Haylen held a public meeting in September, with over 120 residents in attendance. The meeting called for alternative options to be investigated, including wire bundling and undergrounding. There were calls for Ausgrid to be stripped of responsibility for pruning trees.

Ms Haylen today moved a motion in Parliament calling for an inquiry.

Quotes attributable to the Member for Summer Hill

“The Government has been silent on the butchery of our trees and we need an inquiry to uncover if there’s any connection to the sale of our poles and wires.

“The community is sick and tired of eleventh-hour apologies for the destruction of our heritage. It’s time we had some real accountability around what’s going on.

“It’s clear this Government doesn’t care about our urban and natural heritage and that nothing will stand in the way of a developer making a dollar.”

“The community is fed up with the lack of consultation and care for our suburbs.”