Lismore mayor Vanessa Ekins blames ‘political positioning’ for ongoing Dunoon dam stoush

“It seems to be a National party push. I’m not sure why, because the State Government’s own documents say that dams are inefficient and the way of the future is recycled water.”

Lismor mayor Vanessa Ekins.

Lismore mayor Vanessa Ekins said lobbying the NSW and Federal governments to force the Dunoon Dam back into Rous’s Water Future Strategy is a political manoeuvre by conservative councillors and MPs ahead of upcoming elections.

“I think there is a bit of local lobbying going on, people are gearing up for an election and trying to position themselves with a little project,” she said.

“(The dam) doesn’t relate to the science, technical expertise and decades of thought and work that was gone into coming out with the Future Water Strategy.

“One councillor has pushed the agenda and has run around everywhere trying to get people to sign a petition, and she has managed to get quite a big number of signatures, 10,000 signatures, but you have to question how informed those people were about what our future water is,” she said.

Last December, Rous delegates from Lismore, Ballina, Byron and Richmond River councils voted against keeping the dam in the plan.

Some delegates tried to bring the proposal back a number of times, but it was rejected on every occasion.

Mayor Ekins rejected calls from Bathurst Nationals MLC Sam Farraway for the NSW and Federal governments to fund studies on water security for the Northern Rivers that included the Dunoon Dam project.

“What has he got to do with anything?” she said.

“The whole thing is very interesting.

“It’s started of with (Nationals Page MP) Kevin Hogan, who has been very quick to criticise council recently, targeting me particularly as mayor on some matters.

“It seems to be a National party push.

“I’m not sure why, because the State Government’s own documents say that dams are inefficient and the way of the future is recycled water.

“(It also says that) we need diverse sources of water for the future and that we need to be rainfall-independent.

“This is the science and this is what technical industry water experts are telling us.”

The Greens mayor of Lismore said she has been a Lismore councillor and a delegate at Rous for decades and she has seen the waves of dam proponents come and go.

“Our community and experts have been discussing and researching the Dunoon dam for over 20 years, and every time we come to make a decision over future water, the Dunoon dam does not meet the criteria, is not efficient, it’s not effective and the particular location is very destructive for Aboriginal cultural heritage and for the natural environment.

“It’s also putting a second dam in one catchment which is just madness, when you consider the kind of weather event that we are expecting to experience in the future.

“It hasn’t stack up for 20 years and still doesn’t stack up.”