The Minister "Never Responsible" once again sheds responsibility - this time the Powerstation HIA

And as a Canberra tax payer, I resent that my tax dollars were wasted to fund a HIA that will never see the light of day.

The funny thing is Jonathon, that the Macarthur/Fadden et al folks have been branded Nimbies (by lord Stanhope himself) and will no doubt be blamed and howled down should this project fail to get off the ground. I think the project has merit – in the right location … and I still don’t understand the obsession with the Macarthur location. And if they had commenced an EIS when they first planned the power station, it would be finished by now. Interestingly a proper EIS takes a full year (due to the requirement to monitor noise/smog/air etc… to account for all seasonal variables) but I read somewhere that the CTC folks need a decision by December. I wonder what this means for the EIS (which is being commissioned and funded by ACTEWAGL!!!).

The whole process has been shambolic from the get-go. First the tiny development application signage placed up during school holidays in an obscure lane – proposing an extremely large power station next to a residential suburb. Confusion about the location leading to most people believing the power station to be in Hume. Zero community consultation at this stage. Then after many protests, some token consultation, but all the while with the proponants stating that the project will be going ahead no matter what. ACTEWAGL reps admits that the government ‘granted’ the land (zoned as a broadacre buffer zone) to ACTEWAGL for this project. Development application submission time is extended beyond the initial few weeks. Just days before the submission date (after the community spent much time writing and submitting their objections) the project is significantly downscaled and the Williamsdale power plant plan is announced (rendering our objections null and void). Many people believe a power station will not be built in Macarthur and so fail to submit their objections to the adjusted Development application. I applaud the government and ACTEW for this particular tactic – an extremely clever move to confuse and divide the community. Didn’t work though – but 10 points for trying. The community must have raised enough legitimate concerns about pollution to warrant the government’s decision to fund a Health Impact Assessment – by a truly independant panel of experts. The HIA submission date draws nearer; and hey presto … the government suddenly announced an EIS! I would LOVE to know what was in that HIA, but I’m guessing we will never find out. Must have been pretty damning though, because the government has decided to demand the EIS that everyone seemed keen to avoid. A proper EIS (I wonder how proper it really will be, given that it is funded by ACTEWAGL) takes a year – but CTC won’t wait that long. Watch this space.

Pr and advertising about their token consultation efforts used to work for them in the past. They got away with it for years, with issues that only affected a couple of suburbs – like the massive redevelopment of Goodwin village in Ainslie, where they sent letters to 17 houses and called that consultation. Or the dragway debacle where they set up a local residents representative group of 3 residents, and told those 3 people they were not allowed to consult residents, or inform them of anything.

But since the closing the schools debacle, most of Canberra has now realised that this govt’s idea of consultation is to put a tiny notice in the paper, or letterbox a handful of people, and then call a mtg where they present their idea as a done deal. They then continually refer to the ‘consultation’ with locals that they have done.

This process used to convince the rest of Canberra that some efforts had been made at consultation. But now that huge numbers of Canberrans across the city have experienced this type of ‘consultation’, we are no longer fooled.

Next Saturday I’m going to ‘value’ the govt ads in the CT and see what they are spending on promoting themselves.

Govt and ACTEW ads ad infinitum – they have obviously cranked up the PR. How can they think that PR and advertising will substitute for due process and consultation?

I’m now concerned about the independence factor. At least the HIA was independent, but who knows what bits will see the light of day now? The HIA’s findings so far ought to be published.

The desperate political shunting of this issue shows that it stinks, and badly.

So much of the proposal (as put to ACTPLA) has problems, including unsubstantiated assertions, given what I read in the CT http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/planners-find-21-problem-areas-in-data-city-project/1237532.aspx

Sepi, I wonder if the gov’t running those big, expensive ads in the CT might account for the lack of investigative CT work into issues such as this? Just a thought.

this is disgraceful though. Calling for an enquiry, and then scotching it? This is more than “lack of consultation”; the government seems to be actively supressing any information that might prevent their building this facility. Utterly disgraceful.

This is unbelievable!

How can they keep getting away with this type of thing?

:Meanwhile they are running ads in the Canberra Times about how they are improving Community Consultation, how they really want to know what we want etc.

Well I want to know what is in this report.

ps – I can’t believe how many large govt ads are in the CT these days – the last organisation I worked for couldn’t afford ads in teh CT at all it costs so much. I’d say they are wasting heaps more on all these ads than they are on public artwork, which is at least of lasting benefit.

Of course the minister already knew what was in the report. If it was good news for the development and worth positive political points it would have been published.

So what information was exposed by the Health ‘experts’ the needs to be hidden until after the election ?

And I thought that we were finally going to get some facts… silly me !