Minister for Water, Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health, Youth and the North Coast, the Hon. Rose Jackson, MLC, visited Wilcannia on Wednesday 26th June to hear residents’ thoughts on the process taken in changing the design of the proposed new weir.

Walking freely and looking comfortable, the Minister made herself known to each person she came across gathered around the Memorial in Baker Park. After a very brief formal introduction and acknowledgement of Country, she listened as a number of community members aired their thoughts. Chief among these was that visits tend to be fleeting, never get time to understand the issues, community consultation involves a lot of time and preparation by community but rarely is there quality feedback from those doing the consulting.

After lunch she walked down to the Shire Chambers where members of the Land Council, Tourism and Flood Plain Associations, Central Darling Shire and local member Roy Butler had a talk around the table.

She was informed, in language that could not be misconstrued, of the thoughts of those around the table on the condescending, insensitive approach taken by the public servants who had conducted the last two meetings where the revised design was presented. The Minister said she could not defend the Departments approach, only apologise. Jenny Thwaites, speaking on behalf of the community, accepted the apology but said this did not negate the fact we had been lied to.

The main items that everyone spoke about were:

• The original Environmental Impact Statement, the baselines used in its calculations, the public response process and how this has not been transparent or logical and that questions asked were never answered.
• The budget – figures have been cited, floated, flaunted and found wanting, but the full budget has never been published.
• Why would NSW Water be building workers accommodation houses in Wilcannia and then handing them to a community organisation once the weir is finished, and what would happen to them if the community organisation said thanks, but no thanks?
• The proposition to look for a 4th bore north of the town. Several sites have been suggested, but as always, with bores there is no 100 per cent guarantee that the water found will be of sufficient quality and quantity, or that there will be the money to develop it.

Conclusions:

• Fish movement more important than community wishes.
• EIS process was flawed from the start, there have been no cultural impacts found.
• The Shire asked for a commitment for an independent review of the EIS and that the latest draft be open for public submissions for at least 28 days, not the 14 days proposed, and that a clear idea of what NSW Planning will accept as a “submission” be published.

This article appeared in the Wilcannia News, July 2024.