KEY NSW Baird government election commitments to the Hunter are in tatters only weeks after the region produced almost a clean sweep away from the Coalition government and back to Labor.
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The government has been accused of reneging on election commitments or providing inaccurate or misleading information to the community on three separate issues during the election campaign.
A Coalition government election commitment to save the iconic Drip gorge in the Upper Hunter by including it in a national park has come with conditions including a precedent-setting agreement that could allow a coal mine to tunnel beneath the national park. The government signed the agreement with Chinese state-owned mining company Yancoal in return for Yancoal relinquishing 20hectares of The Drip to the state, after The Drip was the subject of a secret lease conversion sale under the former Labor NSW government.
Premier Mike Baird’s election promise to ‘‘walk the lands’’ and become an ‘‘expert’’ on the impact of open-cut coal mining on Hunter communities and individuals has been reduced to a day visit to the controversial Mount Thorley Warkworth and Drayton South projects, and a hand-off to his new planning minister.
Hunter people who invited Mr Baird to visit their communities and speak with them after the Premier’s expansive election campaign commitments to Sydney broadcaster and mine critic Alan Jones have received letters from the Premier’s office saying their invitations have been forwarded to Planning Minister Robert Stokes.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay’s campaign statements blaming Labor for the stalled Muswellbrook bypass, and accusing Labor of ‘‘telling fibs’’ about a $10million federal Labor funding commitment in 2013, have been contradicted by documents obtained by the Newcastle Herald from 2013.
The documents show the then federal Labor Roads Minister Anthony Albanese advised Mr Gay’s office in March and May 2013 that he had allocated $10million of surplus funding from a Holbrook project to the Muswellbrook bypass project, which required matching state funds.
Shadow minister for the Hunter Jodie Harrison said she was concerned about the lack of transparency shown by the Baird government on a range of issues.
‘‘Trust is a large issue for this government and they need to be much more transparent,’’ Ms Harrison said.
A spokesman for Mr Baird said: ‘‘The Premier recently spent a day in the Hunter Valley talking to communities about land-use issues. He looks forward to a continuing dialogue with all parties.’’
CHINESE state-owned mining company Yancoal could tunnel beneath national park land in the Upper Hunter as part of an agreement with the NSW government to return The Drip gorge to state ownership.
Under an agreement signed during the election campaign that allowed the NSW government to say it had saved the gorge, Yancoal has relinquished 20hectares of The Drip it controversially and secretly acquired for $2000 under the former Labor government’s lease conversion program.
The 20hectares of gorge land between Denman and Mudgee is less than half the area recommended by the Office of Environment and Heritage for inclusion in the Goulburn River National Park.
In return, Yancoal has secured an agreement with the government that includes the possibility of acquiring land subject to a native title claim to provide for the expansion of Moolarben mine north of the Goulburn River.
The agreement also includes options allowing Yancoal to tunnel beneath newly declared national park land adjoining The Drip land, and tunnels beneath the Goulburn River. The company revealed some details of the agreement at a Moolarben mine community consultative committee meeting early this month.
Yancoal told the committee the agreement included giving the company ‘‘ownership of everything’’ more than 50metres beneath some of the newly created national park land beside The Drip land.
In a media release on March 14 announcing the agreement, NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the government had secured protection for The Drip ‘‘from mining proposals and mining impacts’’.
But Colin and Julia Imrie, whose property adjoins The Drip land, said residents and community groups who had fought to protect The Drip from both mining companies and governments felt ‘‘dismayed and betrayed’’ by the details of the agreement.
‘‘Part of the agreement is to make what amounts to a Claytons national park that permits unprecedented rights to carry out mining operations underneath,’’ Mrs Imrie said.
‘‘At best it could be described as an own goal by the Baird government or a clumsy backflip on an election promise to protect The Drip.’’
Mr Stokes’ office referred questions to the Office of Environment and Heritage. A spokesman said no tunnels were permitted beneath The Drip, and any future mining proposals from Moolarben would require a full assessment under the government’s planning and assessment legislation.
