IT’S the mixed messages with a $920 million price tag – NSW Department of Planning support for the controversial Wallarah 2 coal mine while also backing the concept of up to $920 million in future housing in areas directly affected by the proposed mine.
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Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council has lodged strong objections after the department recommended approving the mine, on the Central Coast/Lake Macquarie border, despite coal infrastructure only hundreds of metres from a proposed Darkinjung housing subdivision, and claims it will block access to Darkinjung land.
The Wallarah 2 recommendation provoked an unprecedented attack on the NSW Government by Darkinjung chief executive Sean Gordon, who said it was the second decision by a government department to directly and significantly affect Darkinjung’s development plans.
In 2014 Transport for NSW sidelined two preferred Darkinjung sites for its $300 million Intercity rail maintenance facility, and controversially selected a floodprone Kangy Angy site with severe access constraints instead.
The decision was despite a Transport for NSW scoping study finding Darkinjung’s Bushells Ridge and Blue Haven land, on flat elevated land either side of the Sydney-Newcastle rail line, were the preferred sites “from an environmental and engineering impact perspective”.
They were sidelined “due to the ownership structure” of the Darkinjung land, the department’s inability to acquire the land by compulsory acquisition, and a 2019 deadline for the rollout of the first Intercity trains, Transport for NSW reports show.
Transport for NSW chose Kangy Angy after Wyong Shire Council offered to sell seven blocks of land and the department acquired privately-held properties by compulsory acquisition, despite bitter and widespread public opposition. The decision was made only five years after another Transport for NSW entity, Railcorp, negotiated with Darkinjung to build a rail stabling yard, only to stop negotiations and fail to provide the land council with a reason.
Mr Gordon said the rail maintenance facility decision and the Wallarah 2 recommendation left Darkinjung “confused and perplexed” only months after release of the Department of Planning’s Central Coast Regional Plan, which committed the NSW Government to working with Darkinjung “to identify how its land can be best planned, managed and developed”.
The regional plan also committed the NSW Government to “achieving the overall aim of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act which lays the foundations for a more secure economic and self-reliant future for all Aboriginal people in NSW”.
Darkinjung has five rezoning applications for 1700 homes on 10 per cent of its total land holdings between Wyee, Bushells Ridge and Blue Haven. The other 90 per cent cannot be developed and will be held for environmental and cultural benefit, Mr Gordon said.
“We are the largest private landowner around the mine. Most of the land between the northern rail line and the Wallarah 2 Coal Mine is owned by Darkinjung. The land is invaluable to us and our members and is critical to the future growth of the region,” he said.
“Housing development is the core activity we pursue. We are in the business of land development, sub-dividing our land, and building housing estates.”
Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council is a shining example of what an Aboriginal organisation should and can be. We don’t sit around waiting for a hand out from government. We take it upon ourselves to create our own revenue.
- Darkinjung chief executive Sean Gordon
The Korean Government-backed Wyong Areas Coal Joint Venture (WACJV) revived its Wallarah 2 mine plan in 2016 after Darkinjung in 2014 successfully challenged the mine’s original plan to put a rail spur on Darkinjung land.
Under the new plan WACJV will extract up to five million tonnes per year from an underground coal mine over 28 years, with minimal processing on-site before transport by rail to Newcastle for export.
In its assessment of the new plan in February the Department of Planning said the project would have a capital investment of about $800 million, and would employ 450 people during construction and 300 during operation.
Negotiations between Darkinjung and WACJV before the revised plan was presented to the Department of Planning included WACJV offering “in-kind payment in the form of land, social benefits, business opportunities, training and education”. Darkinjung sought 1 per cent per tonne royalties, which the department described as “significant”. WACJV advised the department Darkinjung’s proposal “would render the project financially unviable”.
In its assessment report the department conceded noise levels on at least 25 blocks of Darkinjung land would be significantly impacted to the level of potentially requiring acquisition by the mine.
Despite acknowledging potential impacts, the department said it would not be reasonable to halt its assessment of the coal mine application “subject to completion of an undetermined and uncertain outcome in regards to a planning proposal (the Darkinjung subdivisions) still in its infancy”.
The view of Darkinjung is that all residents should have the same types of rights that Darkinjung has so that it forces governments to sit down and negotiate fair outcomes, rather than just use their own deadline to force people out of their homes.
- Sean Gordon
The department also rejected a Subsidence Advisory NSW (the former Mine Subsidence Board) request that Wallarah 2 accept responsibility for any damage to existing surface improvements by mine subsidence, after noting significant expected subsidence impacts.
Transport for NSW expressed concerns about negotiating with Darkinjung over its Bushells Ridge or Blue Haven land for the rail maintenance facility because Darkinjung had made native title claims over parts of the land.
It cited the 2019 deadline for when the Intercity trains are in operation.
“These trains need a maintenance facility open in time for the fleet to be in service,” a Transport for NSW spokesperson said.
“We cannot risk entering into negotiations with any party who is likely not to be in a position to help us meet this important deadline for our customers.”
Mr Gordon rejected Transport for NSW’s explanation, and said Darkinjung had completed rezonings and subdivisions over land while native title claims were outstanding.
“Native title’s not a deterrent. It just means they have to sit down and negotiate with us,” Mr Gordon said.
“Their problem is that they can’t compulsorily acquire the land, which is what they were able to do at Kangy Angy so that families were forced out of their homes.
“The view of Darkinjung is that all residents should have the same types of rights that Darkinjung has so that it forces governments to sit down and negotiate fair outcomes, rather than just use their own deadline to force people out of their homes.
“It’s a pretty poor excuse on the part of Transport for NSW.”
Mr Gordon said he was reminded of Noel Pearson’s recent speech in which he raised the issue of the “soft bigotry of low expectation” facing Indigenous Australians.
“Darkinjung is a shining example of what an Aboriginal organisation should and can be. We don’t sit around waiting for a hand out from government. We take it upon ourselves to create our own revenue to fund our ambitious community programs,” he said.
We’re focussed on improving the journeys of tens of thousands of Newcastle and Central Coast train customers by delivering a new fleet of state-of-the-art Intercity trains from 2019.
These trains need a maintenance facility open in time for the fleet to be in service. We cannot risk entering into negotiations with any party who is likely not to be in a position to help us meet this important deadline for our customers.
