Last night an important community meeting sponsored by the Hawkesbury Business Group was held at Windsor RSL to bring the issue of flood safety back onto the agenda.
My view is that shelving the proposal to raise Warragamba Dam was a backward step. The proposal we heard about last night recognises that in the absence of political will to raise the dam, we must examine other alternatives. The new proposal the Business Group have introduced involves tunnels to shortcut the chokepoints of the river around Sackville and lessen the “bathtub effect”. I do not know whether this will work, or whether it is cost-effective compared to other solutions. It is worth investigating.
The Labor government of Chris Minns promised to build levees within two years of their election in 2023, and haven’t.
Then they completed a Disaster Adaptation Report that would provide crucial guidance, and have refused to release it for over a year. This is not good enough.
Here are my remarks, preceded by a message I read out from Mary Lyons-Buckett – Mayor of Hawkesbury.
I was joined by my colleagues Robyn Preston MP, Councillor Les Sheather, Councillor Mike Creed, Councillor Peter Ryan, Councillor Jill Reardon, Councillor Shane Djuric and Councillor Eddie Dogramaci. It was broadcast live by Kathryn Gene from Pulse 89.9FM Radio