Kean: No plans to raise Warragamba Dam wall for 4 years

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said the Coalition has no plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall in the next four years despite Premier Dominic Perrottet previously saying it was a commitment of his government.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has said the Coalition will not be raising the Warragamba Dam wall within the next four years Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has said the Coalition will not be raising the Warragamba Dam wall within the next four years, despite previous assurances they would do so.

Mr Kean said plans to raise the dam wall were not within the government’s four year infrastructure plan during a debate with shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey on Wednesday morning.

“You can talk about that for the next election,” Mr Kean said on Radio 2GB.

He also said plans to build the Northern Beaches Link were not in the four year plan either.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has previously said raising the dam wall was a commitment of his government.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean has said the Coalition will not be raising the Warragamba Dam wall within the next four years Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

“Raising the Warragamba Dam wall is the number one way to protect the safety of people living in the Hawkesbury Nepean region,” Mr Kean said in October last year.

This could mean residents would need to go through another two elections before the wall will be raised.

Mr Mookhey said the Treasurer’s admission showed he was not intending to keep his promise.

“The Premier has never said that when it comes to raising the Warragamba Dam wall, people would have to wait for a fifth term of a Coalition government to build it,” he said.

In the debate, hosted by Ben Fordham, Mr Mookhey blamed privatisation of the state’s electricity assets for the high electricity prices.

He reiterated Labor’s refusal to continue the energy bill rebates for families should they win the election, saying the rebates did not go far enough.

NSW shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has pointed to privatisation of the state’s energy assets for sky high electricity prices in the Treasurers’ debate on 2GB. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tim Pascoe

The Coalition’s energy bill saver program will offer $250 payments to help families with their energy bills.

“The reason we’re not matching it is we know the energy market needs more reform than that,” he said.

“Families across this state are paying super profits to privately owned electricity companies and if you just compare NSW to Queensland which has kept its power assets, they’ve been able to respond to shocks like Ukraine, much better than we have in NSW.”

Mr Kean argued the Coalition’s energy reforms would instead lead to savings of $130 a year for families over the next decade.

Mr Mookhey sought assurances from the Treasurer no more of NSW’s assets would be privatised. He claimed $93 billion in assets had been privatised since the liberals had been in power.

Mr Kean said the government had no immediate plan to privatise more assets, despite Premier Dominic Perrottet refusing to rule out future sales.

“We’ve got a clear plan that doesn’t involve any of those sales,” Mr Kean said.

The Treasurer said NSW families would start seeing the benefits of the coalition’s energy bill reforms on energy prices next year.