SYDNEY (CU)_Over the recent months, a proposed plan to for a coalmining project in the Hawkins and Rumker areas of New South Wales has been attracting opposition from environmental campaigners, advocacy groups and local communities. This is owing to the fact that the project would have damaging effects on the region, which is culturally rich and environmentally significant.
Earlier this year, anti-mining lobby group Lock the Gate Alliance commissioned a report by consultancy firm EarthScapes, which found that there were dozens of Aboriginal heritage sites nearby. According to their findings, the Hawkins and Rumker areas, and neighbouring Ganguddy-Kelgoola, has about 45 Aboriginal heritage sites, while members of the local Aboriginal community say that more Indigenous sites in the area remain undocumented. Moreover, the report revealed that the project is also expected to put 22 threatened animal species and six threatened plant species to risk.
Against this backdrop, NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole announced this week, that he will move to stop the project by proposing to the cabinet that the operation should be ruled out. “It is my intention to take this proposal to my colleagues, and it is my intention to actually rule it out,” he told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday (3 November).
He further noted that while there were several “social issues” associated with the project, he is also not convinced it would be commercially viable. “It is a beautiful area,”
“It is a beautiful area,” he said. “And there are commercial issues around its viability, but there’s also social issues that have been identified as well. And I think it makes it very clear for me to actually say to my department that when we put the report going up to my colleagues, it will be actually indicating that we rule it out.”
