Dominic Perrottet prioritises Warragamba Dam raising

The NSW government has declared the raising of Warragamba Dam wall as critical state significant infrastructure.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The NSW government has declared the raising of Warragamba Dam wall as critical state significant infrastructure, expediting the project and limiting its exposure to the “courts, red tape and government bureaucracy”.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the move on Wednesday, saying the project’s fate would be taken out of the hands of “unelected bureaucrats” and given to NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, who would become the project’s final decision maker.

“We put people before plants … Saving lives and protecting property is the most important thing we can do,” he said.

“This is all about making sure that this program process does not get caught up in the courts, in red tape and bureaucracy.”

With Western Sydney looming as a key election battleground in March, Mr Perrottet set up a clash with Labor leader Chris Minns, who declared he was opposed to the project, saying he did not think it was a “cost-effective way of dealing with things”.

After an appendix contained within Mick Fuller and Mary O’Kane’s independent flood inquiry warned the “single largest driver” of flood risk was development on the flood plain, Mr Perrottet declared he did not want to see people moved on to flood-prone areas. “This wall needs to be raised,” he said. “And what we don’t need to have is extra development, because then we’re just going backwards.”

Expected to be released within the next month, development projections contained within the Coalition’s response to the 2022 independent flood inquiry forecast that an additional 107,000 people will move into the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley by 2041.

The project ultimately relies on federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King agreeing to a joint funding model, with the NSW government writing to her requesting a 50/50 split on the costs.

With the dam raising predicted to inundate parts of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park, including a number of culturally significant Indigenous sites, environmentalists, the area’s traditional owners and local governments on the Hawkesbury-Nepean flood plain are all opposed to the project.

Mr Minns questioned the NSW government’s commitment to the dam raising, saying it had been in power for 12 years without doing anything to make the project a reality. He pointed to the 45 per cent of flood waters which did not come over the top of the dam, and the blowout in projected price, saying it could potentially cost each household between “$500 and $800” if raised.