Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I call on the minister for the environment to take a stand to protect my community's drinking water. I call on him to choose science over politics and to choose Central Coast people over foreign mining interests. I call on him to reject the Wallarah 2 coalmine. This mine plan, which has plagued our community for more than a decade, has now been recommended for approval by the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission. This beggars belief. But the federal environment minister can stop it. And he must stop it. The Central Coast community is against it. The Central Coast Council is against it. The state Labor opposition is against it. Even the state Liberal government was against it—at least, that was the case when former Premier Barry O'Farrell was famously photographed in his 'water not coal' T-shirt, lining up with candidates for the 2011 state election, promising that this mine would not go ahead—no ifs or buts.

But more important than broken political promises is scientific evaluation. Experts have warned that this mine threatens the long-term water supply of the Central Coast. The independent expert scientific committee, which assessed the proposal, wrote:

… there are significant risks associated with the proposed project having a detrimental and long-lasting effect on an already stressed water supply catchment.

What can the justification for this mine be? Jobs? Jobs matter. The environment matters. We need real jobs on the coast—jobs that stack up economically and environmentally. Conditions have been placed on the mine, but how can we be satisfied, given the warnings of the experts?

This is not just an issue for the Central Coast or for New South Wales; it is an issue of national significance. This mine is now before the minister for the environment because it was captured by the water trigger enshrined in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by Labor, to protect communities from this very threat. Water is precious. My community knows this. We remember, only a decade ago, the severe water restrictions imposed when our dam levels plummeted to 13 per cent. As a councillor at the time, I welcomed the then Labor government's $80 million contribution, in partnership with Wyong and Gosford councils, to build the $120 million Mardi to Mangrove pipeline—critical infrastructure, securing our long-term water supply. Our community will not have that supply jeopardised by a mine.

Wallarah 2 proposes to mine under the Jilliby Jilliby Creek catchment and release 300 megalitres of treated mine wastewater into the Central Coast catchment each year. This is not acceptable. Our water is not the property of a foreign mining company but the very life force of our community.

Today I implore the federal Minister for the Environment and Energy to stop this mine, to stand up for our community and to act in its interest.