Outrage at secrecy over Warragamba Dam project

The NSW government is facing accusations of preventing documents relating to the push to raise the Warragamba Dam wall reaching the public domain.

Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres. Picture: Dylan Coker

The NSW government is accused of employing unprecedented levels of secrecy to prevent documents about the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall from reaching the public domain.

Indigenous and environmental groups in Sydney’s west are ­increasingly concerned the Berejiklian government’s plan to raise the wall by up to 17m – to provide flood mitigation for at-risk communities – will inundate dozens of sensitive Aboriginal sites in the area and threaten native fauna.

Documents obtained by The Australian reveal various departments within the NSW government have rejected at least nine freedom of information requests relating to Warragamba Dam.

The Information and Privacy Commission, the independent body that deals with access to government information, found eight of the decisions were “not justified”, and ordered new decisions to be made.

This included the commission finding that the office of Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres had unjustifiably withheld information on three occasions.

“The review of the agency’s information and decision concluded its decision is not justified,” IPC senior regulatory officer Phillip Tran said on May 4.

Another IPC decision relating to Mr Ayres’ office on July 6 said: “On the information available, I am not satisfied that the agency’s decision that no further information is held is justified.”

Other departments that rejected freedom of information requests and had their decisions overturned included WaterNSW, the office of Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott and NSW State Emergency Services.

The new accusations come amid a protracted push by NSW parliamentarians to uncover documents relating to the environmental assessment undertaken for the raising of the dam wall.

The MPs are using standing orders in the Legislative Council to instruct the Berejiklian government to turn over the documents.

The attempts, however, were rebuffed by Mr Ayres, who refused to produce the documents relating to the Environmental Impact Statement because he said it would eventually go before cabinet for consideration

Under the NSW GIPA Act, matters relating to the handling of cabinet information is considered outside the purview of freedom of information requests, but only if it contains an official record of cabinet, or is being prepared for the “dominant purpose” of its being submitted to cabinet.

Independent Legislative Council member Justin Field, chair of the Warragamba inquiry, was behind attempts to obtain documents relating to the EIS. He said the ongoing use of the provision was a “significant and worrying extension” of the definition of cabinet information that seemed to have “no basis under existing conventions and laws”.

“This government has continually demonstrated a lack of transparency around planning for major projects, but the level of secrecy around this project is unprecedented in my experience,” Mr Field said. “The community is right to ask: why the secrecy when it comes to the Warragamba Dam wall-raising project?”

Centre of Public Integrity ­director Geoffrey Watson SC said while governments of “all kinds and stripes” had wielded cabinet confidentiality as an excuse to prevent decision making processes from being revealed, he had never seen a period in politics where governments were so opposed to transparency.

“The inference is obvious: they’re hiding material because they’re either embarrassed, or worse, by what it reveals,” he said.

In a statement, Mr Ayres said the release of the EIS was subject to cabinet approval.