Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about an issue of grave concern within my electorate—that is, the Howard government’s plan to build a dam right over the village of Tyalgum. The village of Tyalgum is in the middle of my electorate of Richmond. It is almost impossible to convey the depth and level of distress and concern this has caused local residents. It is very wide ranging.

In an attempt to summarise the effects of this proposal, I will run through the time line that we have seen with respect to the statements the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. On 12 April, the minister initially outlined a proposal to dam the Oxley River at Tyalgum. This was contained in the SMEC report—a report that was commissioned by the minister himself. In this report, he looked at five options. These options were to look at water being piped to south-east Queensland. One of these options was to have this dam built at Tyalgum. When the SMEC report came out, this proposal was put forward with no community consultation and no site visits at all. There was no acknowledgement of the fact that it would indeed flood the entire village of Tyalgum, and there were no scientific, environmental or socioeconomic studies.

It should be noted that, of the five proposals outlined, the Oxley proposal, for a dam at Tyalgum, is the cheapest. Of course, on top of everything else, this caused a huge amount of alarm within the community as soon as the minister released the report on 12 April. We then go to 17 April, when the Prime Minister stated in the Daily Telegraph that the plan ‘passes the common-sense pub test’. I don’t know what pubs the Prime Minister has been in to hear that sort of response. He certainly has not been to the Tyalgum pub; he certainly would not have got that response there. I do not think he would have got that response in any of the pubs in the Northern Rivers. I think he would have got a very different response. It certainly shows how out of touch the Prime Minister is on so many issues that we raise in the House. Particularly when it comes to this one, it shows how out of touch he really is. I suggest that he should go to the pub in Tyalgum, or even in the nearby village of Murwillumbah, and see whether the plan passes the common-sense pub test there. I can assure him that it would not.

On 26 April, I launched a petition against the plan, which so far over 1,500 people have signed. As I say, there is widespread community concern and many more will continue to sign this petition. On 2 May, the Tyalgum community organised a meeting in the Tyalgum hall to discuss the issue and their concerns about the construction of this dam. Over 300 people attended that meeting. Keep in mind that the population of Tyalgum is 380, so I think that is a reflection of the very deep-seated concern that people have.

On 8 May, I submitted questions in writing to the environment minister, asking him to rule out the dam and asking him if he was aware of the social, economic and environmental consequences of constructing a dam. I will get to his reply later, as it took many months to get a reply. On 24 May, I put a question to the environment minister in question time, asking him to rule out the dam, which he refused to do, and asking him to visit Tyalgum and talk with residents, which he refused to do and still has not done to date. He also refuses to answer various amounts of correspondence from locals in Tyalgum, Murwillumbah and indeed throughout the Tweed Valley, which I personally find quite disrespectful when I know they have put forward many concerns to him and there have been many invitations requesting that he come to Tyalgum and speak to them directly.

Let us move to 20 July, when I was very pleased that the federal Leader of the Opposition visited Tyalgum. He met with locals and heard firsthand their concerns about this proposal. The opposition leader told the many people gathered there that under a Rudd Labor government the dam would not go ahead. Of course, the local community were very pleased to hear this. So on one side we had the Tweed community, the federal Labor Party and also the New South Wales state government opposed to the dam plan. The New South Wales water minister has released a statement against the dam proposal, saying that the New South Wales government was not in favour of the plan. So here we were, on 20 July, with the Tweed community, the New South Wales state government and the federal Labor Party all opposed to the dam plan. On the other side, the Liberal and National parties still refuse to categorically rule out the dam—again showing how out of touch they are with the concerns of people on the North Coast.

On 23 July, a large community forum was organised at the Murwillumbah Civic Centre by the Save the Caldera Rivers Campaign Committee. I note that this committee has done a magnificent job in raising the concerns of local residents. By this time, there were still no statements from the environment minister, the Liberal Party or the National Party ruling out the coalition’s plan to dam Tyalgum. By this stage, the community were very rightly annoyed that all we seemed to get from coalition representatives was political spin and more clever words—indeed, just like we get from the Prime Minister. They are quite rightly getting very annoyed with that. What the community want is answers. They do not want game playing; they do not want spin; they actually want answers. They want written confirmation about where the Howard government, the Liberal Party and the National Party stand in relation to this dam. That is what they want. Quite frankly, it is not just downright rude; it is very patronising to treat the community in this way.

A few days after this, we were all very surprised to see the environment minister make a surprise visit to Tugun on the southern Gold Coast. That is only a 40-minute drive from Tyalgum—not that far at all. This was viewed as an act of contempt by the community, as this really was an opportunity for him to come and visit Tyalgum and clarify his government’s position. On 25 July, the Assistant Minister for the Environment and Water Resources came to the area. Unfortunately, he too refused to rule out his government’s dam plan. The community was left not knowing much more than that it was still on the agenda, from the perspective of the Howard government.

On 4 August, the community organised a major rally and march throughout the streets of Murwillumbah. I was very proud to march with them in relation to this matter. This was well attended, by over 100 people. On 10 August, I finally received answers to questions in writing that I had put to the environment minister back in May. In his response he refused to rule out the dam and he stated that he was unaware of the economic, social and environmental consequences of the dam. This answer is, quite frankly, contemptuous. If the minister had bothered to visit Tyalgum, as he had been invited to do, or to read the submissions from the committee, and the dozens and dozens of letters sent to him by members of the community, he would certainly have gained some insight into the devastating effect this dam would have. These sentiments were very accurately expressed by the community in last Saturday’s local paper, the Daily News. An article on the front page is headed ‘Put ‘em up Malcolm: Turnbull ignites new fury over dam plan’. There were many comments from very concerned community members about the very contemptuous way in which the minister is treating the community.

If we look at the effects of this dam, the village of Tyalgum as it exists today would be flooded. Many village and rural properties would need to be fully or partially resumed. All the village infrastructure, such as the post office, the store, the primary school, the preschool and the pub, would be flooded. That is what would happen. Families would be displaced and all employment and small business in the town, particularly tourism, would cease to exist. There are also major environmental concerns about the viability of building a dam in such a location.

Locals right across the Tweed Valley are also very concerned about ensuring adequate water supplies for the future of the Tweed region. There has been a lot of community concern about water from northern New South Wales going to south-east Queensland. Those of us in northern New South Wales look over the border and see a very overdeveloped Gold Coast. The reality is that the Gold Coast was very quickly overdeveloped and there was inadequate planning in place to provide for future water needs. Contrast this with northern New South Wales, where there has been extensive planning to ensure adequate water supplies. So you can see why people are, quite rightly, very concerned about this matter and why there has been widespread anger about this plan in general and about the issue of water from northern New South Wales going to south-east Queensland.

I conclude by congratulating all of the community, who I know have worked so hard on trying to stop this dam plan, particularly the Save the Caldera Rivers Campaign Committee. These people have worked tirelessly in bringing the matter to the attention of the environment minister in particular. As I say, it is patronising that he has not responded to them. I call on the Liberal and National parties and their representatives to stop the spin. That is what people want. They want the spin and the clever words to stop; they want answers. They want the environment minister, the Liberal Party and the National Party to come clean and do the right thing. They want them to rule out the dam, but they also want them to produce documented evidence that they are ruling out the dam. (Time expired)