Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to draw the attention of the House to further negligent policy making by the New South Wales government in relation to its proposed desalination plant on the Kurnell Peninsula. My electorate of Cook is to be the home of this proposed plant, and just a few days ago the arrangements for its construction became public knowledge. The state government is effectively going to dig trenches down the middle of the Sutherland Shire and run pipes for the carriage of water from Botany Bay to the inner suburbs of Sydney. These arrangements are very bad news for Sutherland Shire residents. We are being used as nothing more than a thoroughfare for the water supplies of inner Sydney. The plans have confirmed what most of us feared about a desalination plant in Kurnell. Not only will the plant’s construction cause mass disruptions to shire residents over a two-year period; it will also contribute to the further decline of Botany Bay—all this for a plant which will produce a relatively small volume of water for the inner suburbs of Sydney.

Sutherland Shire residents have a long history of doing their bit for the benefit of greater Sydney, but the desalination plant is taking our generosity too far. The lack of community consultation about the construction of this plant, especially at local council level, has been entirely inadequate. When residential driveways are blocked, local car parks and parklands begin to close and noise levels from the pipe’s construction reach severe levels, the shire will be fully aware of the raw deal we got from the New South Wales government.

Whilst residents will be inconvenienced by these disruptions, a larger concern for us all is the permanent environmental damage the desal plant will cause to Kurnell and Botany Bay. The environment in this region, which is of course the landing site of Captain Cook and the birthplace of our modern nation, has suffered enough damage over the years through overdevelopment and sand mining. Surely now is the time to say enough is enough.

The desal pipelines outlined in these plans will stretch eight kilometres from Kurnell to Kyeemagh. In order to lay these pipelines I understand a four-metre deep trench will be dug across the bottom of Botany Bay. More than a million cubic metres of sand will be dug from the floor in an eight kilometre arc. Whilst most of this sand will be used as backfill, this process will have a detrimental effect on our bay. The most recent environmental study of the effects of the desal plant on the environment tells us that Botany Bay will lose a further 2.6 hectares of seagrass. Whilst this only amounts to approximately one per cent of the Botany Bay area, it shows us that, rather than finding ways of preserving the environment in our region, the New South Wales government feels that it is okay to just take a little more. And what will replace this seagrass? Eight kilometres of pipelines, covered in concrete. Kurnell is of course a place of major historical significance, but it is also an environmentally noteworthy site. It is home to a variety of rare birds and marine life and is a Ramsar site. I still wonder what effect the 750 million litres of hot concentrated brine will have on this wildlife once it is sent off the coast of Kurnell every day.

The desalination plant is strongly opposed by many constituents in my electorate. After watching several weeks of solid coastal rain lost out to sea, many of us are wondering why the New South Wales government is unable to invest a small amount of the $1.8 billion being spent on the plant in other water saving strategies. As announced by the Treasurer last night, the Australian government is offering substantial initiatives to encourage people to install rainwater tanks in their homes. The message is clear for all jurisdictions responsible for the provision or management of water resources: we need to catch and use more rain. This is an obvious and sensible solution. It is a solution far superior to digging up suburbs to send desalinated seawater halfway across Sydney. Furthermore, it is an environmentally sustainable approach.

The desalination plant was a major issue for shire residents in the recent New South Wales state election. With the election now over I call upon the New South Wales government to cancel the construction of the desalination plant in Kurnell. I ask that they revisit more effective strategies in water management that are more environmentally responsible.