A bill to be introduced into the NSW Parliament allowing the flooding of Blue Mountains National Park for the raising of Warragamba Dam's wall has been condemned by conservation groups.
The bill is due to be introduced into the NSW Upper House by the government today (Tuesday), changing the National Parks and Wildlife Act to allow the flooding of the national park.
But conservation groups have strongly condemned the bill.
“This bill is an existential attack on the National Parks and Wildlife Act, World Heritage, the Blue Mountains, wild rivers and wilderness,” Colong Foundation for Wilderness campaign manager Harry Burkitt said in a statement. “It is unprecedented in modern times.
“Not since the Franklin Dam proposal have we we seen such a blatant disregard for a World Heritage site in Australia.
“Over 65km of wilderness rivers and thousands of hectares of World Heritage-listed wilderness would be submerged under the equivalent of two Sydney Harbours if the dam wall was raised.
“The NSW Government have themselves said the dam raising is being driven by developer interest to allow over 130,000 additional people to settle onto western Sydney floodplains. It’s just madness.”
Oisin Sweeney of the NSW National Parks Association said it was “deeply concerning” Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair was amending the Act.
“Why is Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton not defending our national parks?” he said.
“There has been no EIS or expert consultation on this proposal. Now the government is asking the parliament for consent to flood one of Australia’s most iconic national parks.”
Nature Conservation Council of NSW chief executive Kate Smolski said it was “the second time this year the Coalition has white-anted the National Parks and Wildlife Act with anti-environmental amendments.
“In May, the government ignored the advice of scientists and its own experts to give feral horses in the Snowy Mountains special protected status,” she said.
“That decision increased the extinction risk for more than 30 uniquely Australian species, including the Corroboree Frog.
“Changes to the act proposed by the Berejiklian government this week would legalise the destruction by inundation of almost 50 species of threatened plants and animals.
“This dangerous precedent is completely unacceptable. We call on all MPs to vote against this environmentally destructive legislation.”