NSW Upper House Green MP John Kaye is raising the issue that the NSW Govt has stopped pumping surplus Shoalhaven water to Warragamba dam to keep Warragamba under 80% full – which apparently is the trigger level for shutting down the Kurnell seawater desalination plant. He says the Govt wants to sell Kurnell and I suppose it is not rocket science that Kurnell needs to be operating to be an attractive investment.
I wonder what readers think of this – there are a lot of contradictory nuances in this story. But overall – that the NSW Govt would want the Warragamba Dam level capped or worse – would fit with what I know of Govt water policies in Perth, the ACT and Melbourne – which for a decade have all driven up prices and beaten up scarcity – against the interests of water consumers.
This article indicates the NSW Govt stopped the transfer of Shoalhaven water to Warragamba in late 2008 – near 3 years ago – not 15 months ago.
This page talks chapter and verse how the NSW Govt will increase environmental flows out of Sydney dam water supplies if inflows increase – aided and abetted by the anti-Dam Greens of course – no surprises there.
On the face of it, that activity seems like a double crime. First, it’s a studied dereliction of the responsibility of government to look out for the interests of the citizenry. Second, it’s a clear case of abuse of government power to foment an economic fraud.
Is there any mechanism in Australia for citizens to indict sitting government officials, Warwick? It seems like there’s a clear case to be made.