17th Oct 2018, 3:37 PM – Senate Motions - Warragamba Dam Wall - Do not raise

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi (NSW), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the New South Wales (NSW) Government is proposing to raise the Warragamba Dam wall by fourteen metres, which could inundate up to 4 700 hectares of national parks and 65 kilometres of wilderness streams and rivers, irreversibly damaging the integrity of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA),

(ii) there are 25 threatened plant and animal species which inhabit the proposed inundation area, including the Camden White Gum, Kowmung Hakea and near-extinct honeyeaters, and

(iii) there are alternatives for protecting the region from flooding, and the community is sceptical that raising the dam wall is just a plan to allow a huge increase in inappropriate property developments on the floodplains of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers;

(b) opposes the NSW Government's plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall; and

(c) calls on the Minister for the Environment to block federal approvals required to raise the Warragamba Dam wall.