SCRAPPING OF WYANGALA DAM WALL RAISING AN ALARMING SLIGHT ON REGIONAL COMMUNITIES

Federal Member for Riverina has slammed the news that the New South Wales Labor Government has scuppered plans to raise the Wyangala Dam wall, calling the decision a “devastating outcome for regional communities downstream of the dam”.

Mr McCormack said the decision was short-sighted and insulting to residents and businesses which have been so badly affected in flooding events in recent years, including just last year.

“This is nothing short of a disaster for those families and businesses who have had the Lachlan River flood through their properties too many times,” Mr McCormack said.

“The Forbes community has experienced a major flood event every seven years on average since 1887 – and has endured at least six flood events in the past dozen years.

“These short-sighted decisions are being made in offices in Sydney and Canberra – I challenge those bureaucrats and Ministers making these decisions to come out to the communities that will be most affected to look them in the eye and tell them to their faces.

“What we are seeing under the Federal and State Labor Governments is an assault on water and on regional people, make no mistake.

“We are now moving into El Nino conditions which means drought for those who live on the land and rely on water for their livelihoods.

“The Federal Labor Government is going to rip 450 gigalitres out of the Murray-Darling Basin system and now the NSW Labor Government has knocked back the opportunity to add 650 gigalitres of capacity to Wyangala Dam – it is just disgraceful.”

Raising the dam wall by 10 metres to increase the capacity of Wyangala Dam would increase water security for all those communities along the Lachlan River catchment, from Cowra, Forbes, Grenfell, Parkes, Temora, West Wyalong and Young in my electorate to communities further west, such as Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Hillston and Booligal.

The dam upgrade would increase its capacity to a further 650 gigalitres to ensure more water will be available when the next drought occurs.

“The Wyangala Dam plays an important role in regulating water flows and minimising the impact of significant rain events downstream – raising the wall will clearly improve this capacity,” Mr McCormack said.

“It is not only devastating for local residents and their homes when the Lachlan breaches its banks; traffic along the Newell Highway – a significant freight corridor of commerce through the heart of New South Wales – ground to a halt for six weeks in 2016 due to flooding.”

A study reportedly found the closure of the Newell Highway cost the national economy some $150 million – which has been described as a conservative estimate.

“I appreciate there would be a considerable cost involved in raising the dam wall but it would be a wise investment,” Mr McCormack said.

“While raising the wall might cost a large amount, can we afford not to do it?

“The people of Forbes demand it and they deserve it and I will continue to advocate to see everything is done for them to get it.

“I’ve been working hard ever since I got into Parliament to build water infrastructure. I mentioned it in my first speech in October 2010.

“I’ve never lost sight of the fact that water infrastructure will not only build that agricultural capacity, but also helps with flood mitigation.

“When I was the Deputy Prime Minister we increased our spend to $3.5 billion under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund. I worked with the States. We can't build dams as a Commonwealth without the States coming on board.

“It is an investment in Forbes's future, in making sure that the Newell Highway doesn't get flooded and doesn't get closed. It was not that many years ago that it was closed for several weeks.

“It’s certainly not good enough for the State Water Minister Rose Jackson to say to the people of Forbes that they don’t need the dam to be raised and that they just need better roads so they can evacuate from town. How insensitive. How uncaring. What a lack of empathy.”