The NSW Government last night passed legislation to allow the flooding of national parks with the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area by the raising of Warragamba Dam wall.

GIVE A DAM Campaign Manager, Harry Burkitt, said: “Not since the Franklin Dam proposal have we seen such a blatant disregard for a World Heritage site in Australia.

“It is unbelievable to think in this day in age a government would legalise the flooding of a world heritage area and not consider alternative flood mitigation measures to protect downstream communities.

“Over 65 kilometres 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.

“In the last 24 hours we have witnessed thousands of people signing-up to the campaign from all over Sydney in response to the NSW Government’s legislation. There is little doubt the Government will have a serious fight on its hands if it pushes ahead with the proposal.

“Western Sydney communities don’t want to see an additional 134,000 extra people living on their rural floodplains, and people don’t want to see an Internationally protected World Heritage Site destroyed by a dam.

“This is stacking up to be the Franklin campaign of this generation.

“The fight has a long way to go yet. An EIS is still to be released, with State and Federal Governments then needing to approve the dam proposal before it gets the green light.

“The campaign will be fighting tooth and nail in the lead up to the State and Federal elections next year to get this destructive dam proposal off the table.

“Pandering to the minority interests of property developers and the insurance lobby on downstream floodplains just goes to show the out-of-touch priorities of the NSW Government.”

Media contact:
Harry Burkitt
[email protected]
0490 010 909