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

I would like to inform the House of a public meeting in my electorate of Cook last Friday night. Residents of Kurnell turned out in large numbers to voice their anger and frustration at the continuing disaster that is the New South Wales government’s desalination plant. It has now been revealed that, while the people of Kurnell are having a desalination plant built on their doorstep and against their will, none of the water that the plant will desalinate is intended for them at all. Instead, the government would dig trenches four metres deep right through their town and pipe the water to Sydney’s eastern suburbs. This is truly a shocking example of the state government treating the people of Kurnell with utter disdain.

The New South Wales government claims, with nauseating humility, that it is heading in the right direction. The people of Kurnell and residents of the whole Sutherland Shire do not believe that Sydney’s eastern suburbs are the right direction for water from Botany Bay, particularly when they are going to turn Kurnell into Stalingrad just to get it there. You can imagine the outrage going around the shire. After months of pretending to be the best friend of the Sutherland Shire in order to save the skin of serial underperformer Barry Collier, the state government is now using us as a thoroughfare for Maroubra’s drinking water. It simply beggars belief that Mr Iemma thinks the answer to Sydney’s water crisis is to dig four metre deep trenches across the Sutherland Shire to pump water from Botany Bay to the eastern suburbs. At last Friday’s meeting, residents were rightly asking how any of this makes policy sense. Why would you build a desal plant at Kurnell when the water is intended for other parts of Sydney? Why would you build it at Kurnell when there is ample space at Malabar, right next to the suburbs the water is actually intended for? This would be a far more viable solution.

The New South Wales government is trying to score political points on climate change by criticising the federal government. If you look at the environmental degradation this desalination disaster is going to cause, its gross hypocrisy is bared for all to see. It has given no thought to the further decline of the Kurnell Peninsula, with its precious marine life and rare birds. It does not seem to care about the historical significance of Botany Bay, where Captain Cook landed for the first time, the birthplace of the modern nation.

Just in case Sutherland Shire residents were not incensed enough at this environmental vandalism and blatantly ineffectual policymaking, the state government now intend to make their suburbs like a scene from All Quiet on the Western Front. In fact, once the natural beauty of Kurnell is entirely destroyed by Mr Iemma and Co., perhaps the town can become a major film set for war flicks. If Labor’s desal ambassador, Jack Thompson, wants to revisit his starring role in Breaker Morant I am sure the shire will make its new trenches available for a blockbuster sequel—that is, if he is not too busy filming more tributes to Greg Combet and the MUA on the national broadcaster.

In response, the state government has committed to an ongoing environmental monitoring program. This is another example of the Iemma spin cycle. What use is an environmental monitoring program when all the experts and common sense tell us that the environmental consequences will be dire? When the monitoring program reports damage to Botany Bay’s ecosystem, is the Iemma government really going to shut down the plant it has just spent $1.8 million constructing? Of course it will not. This just highlights the completely useless ‘safeguards’ that Mr Iemma is trying to sell us.

There is still the issue of 750 million litres of hot concentrated brine being pumped off the coast of Botany Bay each day. According to Sydney Water, this waste will contain about twice the amount of salt as normal seawater and will be much warmer too. Sydney Water freely admits that the waste, in high concentrates, may affect small invertebrates such as coral, sponges and anemones. They qualify it by saying:

Mobile fish and invertebrates will be able to avoid construction activities by moving away from the disturbed areas.

This does not ease my concerns for the marine ecosystem. Sydney Water seems to be saying that it is every fish, frog and seahorse for themselves.

The state government has simply ignored the wishes of the local community with regard to desalination. It has failed to consult properly with the Sutherland Shire Council and other local stakeholders. When our driveways are blocked, our local car parks and parklands are being dug up and the lilting tones of jackhammers are filling our ears each morning at sunrise, we will all be fully aware of the raw deal we have had from the New South Wales government. The people of Kurnell came as one to the public meeting last Friday. They expressed their outrage at the building of the desalination plant. They want to see the recycling of water and they are saying: ‘Don’t destroy our suburb. If you want to build a desalination plant, put it in the eastern suburbs.’ (Time expired)