- NSW Government puts politics and development ahead of people's lives. Again-
Hawkesbury, NSW, 5 October 2022 – On the eve of yet another flood disaster, Hawkesbury Community Alliance (HCA) strongly condemns today's politically-motivated announcement by the NSW Government to raise the Warragamba dam wall. HCA says the Government is playing politics with people's lives and has ignored experts and the community's pleas to urgently lower the Full Supply Level of the dam before the next major flood.
Since July, the community has called for the full supply level of the dam to be lowered by 12 metres ahead of flooding to help mitigate the devastating impact of flooding on the downstream communities. The Government confirmed today it wouldn't take any action to mitigate the impact of the next flood, instead announcing a project at least a decade from completion.
"Today's announcement is a stab in the back to the Hawkesbury Community. It confirms that the Government will do nothing to help mitigate the catastrophic impact of flooding for at least the next ten years. It is not about saving people, it is about packing more houses onto the most complex and dangerous floodplain in Australia," says Hawkesbury Community Alliance flood spokesperson Samantha Magnusson.
"By declaring it a critical infrastructure project, the project will not have to go through the checks and balances we expect in a democracy. The NSW Government has confirmed today that they have no interest in what the community needs or wants," she continues.
HCA says the NSW Government confirmed its development agenda today, which will see thousands more people living on the floodplain in harm's way. Cynically, they are capitalising on the forthcoming weather/rain event and flooding risk to announce the project to raise the dam wall.
Samantha says: "What has become increasingly clear, and has been confirmed by the Premier at the press conference this morning, is that raising the dam wall by 14 metres creates the opportunity
