No Tillegra Dam Group

With local council elections happening on Sat 13 September and 17 candidates contesting the 9 councillor positions we decided to contact all Council candidates for these forthcoming elections, to ask each candidate’s policy on the Tillegra Dam proposal. We also asked if each candidate would agree to have this policy posted on the NTDG website (www.notillegradam.com) and published into the Dungog Chronicle. The full transcript of the request to candidates and their responses follows…
We received written (email) responses from 7 candidates:

• Peter Ainsworth (B Ward)

• Neville Bale (A Ward)

• Georgina Clark (A Ward)

• Stephen Farrow (A Ward)

• Tony McKenzie (B Ward)

• Joe Thompson (C Ward)

• Glenn Wall (C Ward)

and their reponses are listed alphabetically below. The full list of all candidates for each ward in the Dungog Shire can be found on the NSW Electoral Commission website. The email sent to all 17 candidates was:

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The Dungog Chronicle said it would not publish these responses as “each candidate has been given space in next week’s edition to address the issues which they believe are important and will be addressing if elected. Some have spoken about the proposed dam and others haven’t.”!!!

Candidate responses (alphabetical order)

Peter Ainsworth (B Ward)

I do not support Tillegra Dam.  The proposed dam is not needed and the NSW government intends to impose a poor planning decision on the people of Dungog Shire.If elected, I will push for Council to develop a clear policy on the dam – something it does not currently have.  The policy must provide Council staff with clear direction in engaging with Hunter Water and state agencies.  It must reflect the views of the community and have the best interests of the Shire at heart.

Firstly, more attention needs to be paid to the need for the dam and the intended end uses for the water.  I am not convinced that the case for the dam is satisfactory and Council and the community need a better explanation.

Secondly, if the state government ignores the community and pushes ahead, Council needs to ensure the true impact is assessed and that Dungog Shire is compensated.  The social, economic and environmental impacts of this dam will be significant and long lasting.

It is the largest single issue facing the Shire and council needs to play a more active role in the process.  Unless we take a stronger stand on the dam we will have the cheapest and nastiest outcome forced upon us.

Peter Ainsworth
B Ward candidate

Neville Bale (A Ward)

Thank you for your email with ref. Tillegra Dam proposal.

I do not have all the facts regarding the proposed construction of Tillegra Dam. However, I do feel for the landholders who have lost their land, livelihood, and homes, even though they have been well compensated. I am also concerned what affect it’s construction may have on the river system, roads and bridges.

My interpretation is the decision will be made in Sydney and is out of Councils control. But it is up to Council to use every opportunity to lobby for ongoing compensation for loss of revenue from land rates ,and road maintenance ,if it gets the go ahead.

The Council should also make sure Hunter Water Corp. has guarantees in place to maintain and protect our waterways environment, which is very important to our ecosystems, if the dam is built.

Council has to focus on the best possible outcome for Dungog Shire as a whole.

Georgina Clark (A Ward)

Dams represent obsolete and inefficient technology yet they continue to be constructed by governments which have failed to understand the principles of sustainability, despite countless examples of environmental damage and social dislocation caused by dams.

However, it is an unfortunate truth that if the State Government is determined to proceed with Tillegra Dam, as it has with the environmentally unsustainable desalination plant and unpopular plans to privatise the power industry, then there is little the community can do.
With Opposition support for the construction of the dam there is no possibility of exerting any political leverage.

My priority as a councillor will be to ensure that, if the dam proceeds, Dungog Shire gets the very best deal it can for the entire community, beyond short term benefits of jobs and infrastructure provision.

If the dam does not proceed then I will work to ensure that Hunter Water is forced to put all the acquired land up for freehold sale on the open market, for its continuing ownership of this land means the threat of a dam will remain, as it does in the Johnsons Creek site, to be dealt with by others in the future.

Georgina Clark

Stephen Farrow (A Ward)

I believe that councillors role for the next term of local government is to continue to peruse all avenues of benefits that the shire can obtain for loss revenue in the form of rates, road structure & maintance & the many other problems that may occur in the formation of this dam. Councillors & council staff have been extremely busy since the announment of the dam to try to estimate the social & financial impact that will & may occur in the construction & on going running of such a hugh infrastructure. The countless numbers of meetings with government bodies to ensure that we are kept up to date must continue so that the good of the community is always represented.
Regards
S Farrow

Tony McKenzie (B Ward)

I have said on my recent flyer that “The Tillegra Dam Project needs to be re-assessed for it’s impact on the WHOLE shire.

Until I know more this is all I will say.

Tony McKenzie

Joe Thompson (C Ward)

My opposition to the proposed Tillegra Dam remains. Shortly after I was elected to Dungog Council in 2007 (as a result of a by-election), I made my opposition to the Dam public, both in the Council Chambers, and in the local press. This was in a bid to generate some debate within the Council, and to attempt to drive the development of a Council policy on the Dam. Neither debate nor policy development has occurred.

I remain opposed to the development of the Dam on a number of grounds:

• The need for the dam is not and cannot be justified. Ever. It represents a hasty decision made at a time of political turmoil for the NSW government.

• The development of the Dam will displace families and farms and have irreversible impacts on agriculture, the community and the economy of the shire.

• Dams such as the one proposed are 100 year old technology, and not a solution to a 21st century problem, given the alternative water storage and treatment technologies now available.

• The NSW government is forcing this development onto our community, with no real thoughts of making appropriate recompense for the perpetual impacts the Dam will have.

• The Council will lose land rates, roads and bridges, with no guarantee of recompense.

Remember the Dam is FOREVER.

If re-elected to Council I will continue to push for the development of a Council policy on the dam. This policy needs to acknowledge the views of the community and give guidance to Council staff in their dealings with Hunter Water and state agencies. At present it is my belief that Council’s senior staff are unable to act in the best interests of the community as they have no firm and determined policy framework to work within. Council’s staff are doing their best to cope with a very trying situation; what they and the community need is leadership from a Council which has the conviction to say what it thinks, and to act.

We already have the Chichester dam and the Seaham Weir pool. If the Tillegra Dam is forced upon Dungog Shire, we will become the custodians of water for over a million people. This is a very important consideration. It means we should get more than some new roads and recreational boating opportunities. Our shire needs upgraded health facilities, our schools all have demountable buildings; our public infrastructure is failing, recreational, social and employment opportunities for our young people are minimal; our population is aging and we will not be able to provide adequate aged care facilities in our communities into the future.

Why should our communities have to continue to endure these things when we are being forced to provide an essential service to more than a million people in other communities?

If we are forced to accept this Dam, our community, represented by our Council, should be lobbying loud and hard to ensure that compensation reaches across all of the areas mentioned above, and is not limited to vague promises about roads and recreational opportunities.

Glenn Wall (C Ward)

The Tillegra Dam proposal has significant ramifications for Council and our Community at large. Whilst in its infancy, leading up to the Public Consultation Period regarding the Environmental Assessment Report, issues such as preservation of the environment, heritage considerations, economic implications, community and social impacts, and naturally all the technical aspects of the dams construction are still of major concern. The release and public exhibition of this comprehensive document will allow Council and the Community the opportunity to identify any shortcomings within the EAR and request these issues be addressed by the Director General of NSW Planning. Obviously concise justification for the dam will be inclusive.

The State Government made the announcement and Council has no option but to put measures in place to ensure that the best Community outcomes are achievable whether the Dam proceeds or not. To date we have done this by implementing our own critical path analysis and milestone achievement program. This strategic planning has worked and Councils recent submission to the Independent Pricing and Remuneration Tribunal Council is evidence that we are ensuring every contingency is addressed. Council and the Greater Community were not happy with the manner in which this project has been thrust upon our community, however, we cannot afford to sit back and wait for a determination on whether the dam proceeds or not. Council has to get on with the job at hand.

Council has significant empathy for those members of our community that have and will be displaced as a consequence of this project. Prime agricultural land with viable farms that have had to continually evolve to remain such, it is their livelihood, but more importantly it is their heritage that will be lost and no amount of compensation, to some, would seem fair or reasonable. The contribution of these families and their forbears, to our community has been significant and whilst they have lived under the cloud of “Tillegra Dam” since the 1950’s they have survived. However, with Hunter Water Corporation now owning over 80% of properties within the inundation and surrounding area, there is little doubt that Hunter Water on this occasion are committed to building the dam and they will continue to work through the criteria to progress the State Significant 3A Development Application.

The decisions which the Council has made to date in relation to the proposed Tillegra Dam are publicly available on Councils website as well as the reports from Council officers. Those decisions have been made by the Council as a whole and to date, not one of the incumbent Councillors has openly argued against any of the officer’s reports regarding the proposed Dam and what “Councils Objectives” need to be. It is of critical importance that the Community understand that Dungog Shire Council will not determine this Development Application. The NSW State Government will either approve or refuse the project under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.

If the Councils past decisions can be construed as not representing the whole community, then that is by interpretation, however, as the incumbent Mayor of Dungog Shire I will not support this Council sitting idly by and not offering our full resources to assess the impact of the dam proposal or considering the community’s needs, desires and aspirations as we have to date.

During my terms of office on this Council, I have seen first hand, the impacts within our communities from State Government decisions and development. The appalling decisions to hand all Regional Roads to Local Government in 1995 without bringing the infrastructure up to an acceptable standard, has meant our Community inheriting an insurmountable backlog of road works. The State Government’s Rail Quarry at Martin’s Creek with its continuing expansion has resulted in an ongoing legacy through accelerated degradation of our roads and the problematic truck movements through Paterson and Martins Creek.

Dungog Shire Council cannot allow any further State Significant Development to proceed without our involvement from the outset or announcement. The cost to our Community is too high.

If re-elected to Council it is my intention to support my peers and Council to continue with this process.

Cr. Glenn Wall.
Mayor.
Dungog Shire Council.