Kelly Hoare (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to express my opposition to a proposal for an open-cut coal mine in my electorate of Charlton. Centennial Coal proposes to extend its underground operations at Awaba by open-cut mining methods. There are many reasons to oppose this open-cut mine. The majority of them include environmental and health risks. The health risks include airborne dust particles, which come from exposed soils, blasting and machine operations, which affect asthma sufferers as well as the young, the frail and the elderly. Indeed, one constituent recently moved his young family from Killingworth to Awaba to escape the health risks that an open-cut mine poses. The area is also part of a wildlife corridor and is a bushland habitat for many species of flora and fauna, some of which are endangered.

To provide a picture for members, this mine is proposed for a pristine area located between the foot of the Watagan Mountains and Lake Macquarie. It will be located within 800 metres of the Awaba Public School, with many other schools in the area being affected. There are also concerns about the impact that a hole in the ground of this size will have on our lifestyle and tourism industry. Our community has been experiencing population growth, which will not continue if we do not retain all the lifestyle and environmental facets that our community has to offer. I support my state colleague, Jeff Hunter, the member for Lake Macquarie, in putting the case for opposing this mine to the New South Wales government, in particular the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor. I attended with Jeff a public meeting at Cooranbong on 29 January, which was also attended by nearly 1,000 community members expressing their angry opposition to this proposal. A statement of intent was unanimously supported at that meeting. I seek leave to incorporate that statement into my speech.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Statement of Intent

for rally held at Cooranbong Park, Sunday 29 January 2006

We, concerned citizens of the City of Lake Macquarie, and others directly affected, call on the NSW State Government to stop Centennial Coal Company’s proposal to use open-cut mining methods in the Westlake area of Lake Macquarie which they have included in their submission for their Newstan-Awaba Mines Extension Project.

Further, we call on Mr Frank Sartor, Minister for Planning, to reject Centennial Coal’s whole proposal for this project on the grounds that it is NOT an extension of any current project, but a NEW and SEPARATE project

We already have a railway line, the F3 Freeway, two power stations, an extensive network of long-wall mines beneath us and proposed urban expansion in the Westlake area of Lake Macquarie. We will not accept an open-cut mine as well.

• We will not have our land de-valued by proximity to an open-cut mine.
• We will not condone an enterprise that causes our vital tourism prospects to be diminished.
• We will not stand by while our last wildlife corridors are destroyed.
• We will not have our creeks artificially diverted from their natural paths.
• We will not tolerate our waterways and Lake being polluted.
• We will not put up with our air being polluted by dust particles that can harm us and everything they fall on.
• We will not allow open-cut mining to impact on the quality of life in future housing developments.
• We will not accept processes in our area that can damage our health both mentally and physically.
• We will not tolerate the disruption of sound and vibration from explosions for 15 years.
• We will not have our views from the Watagan Mountains spoiled any further.
• We will not stand by and watch the destruction of endangered and vulnerable species that exist in the proposed mine area.
• We will not tolerate a government that destroys what we hand on to our children.
• We will not accept compromises.
• We will not accept an open-cut mine in the Westlake area of Lake Macquarie.

I congratulate the two organisations which have been formed to oppose this mine: No Open Cut Mine for Awaba, NOCMFA, and Southlakes Communities Against Mines, SCAM. While we have a strong and proud tradition of mining in our area and will continue to support underground operations and the workers who are employed in the mining industry and their families, there is no way that we will support this new mine proposal. I encourage the community to continue to express its opposition to this mine. All members of the community know that they have my full support as well as that of the member for Lake Macquarie. I have received much considered correspondence from concerned and angry constituents regarding this proposal. This community anger and opposition must continue, and I believe that our opposition will kill this proposal just as it did over 20 years ago when a similar mine was proposed for the same place. There have been no letters of support for this project. Strong public and community opposition to this proposal can defeat Centennial Coal’s plans to extend the mine and create this eyesore in my electorate of Charlton. (Time expired)