[Greens-Media] Water Minister tries to shoot the messenger

[John Kaye]

Water Minister tries to shoot the messenger
 
"They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth." - Plato
 
Media Release: 17 September 2010
 
NSW Water Minister Phil Costa attempted to disguise his inability to defend the indefensible Tillegra Dam by launching an extraordinary attack on the project's opponents, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye. ('Concerns flow over Tillegra Dam' Newcastle Herald 17 September 2010, http://bit.ly/nh100917)
 
Dr Kaye said: "Minister Costa was unable to tell yesterday's Upper House Budget Estimates committee if he had read Hunter Water's Integrated Water Resource Plans for 2003 through to 2006.
 
"He seemed to be unaware that these documents placed Tillegra as the second worse supply option.
 
"He was unable to explain the sudden back-flip in late 2006 that converted the dam into the must-have water supply project.
 
"Instead he tried to discredit the Greens and groups such as No Tillegra Dam for their opposition to the unpopular, expensive and unnecessary proposal.
 
"The Minister was also deeply embarrassed by revelations from NSW Office of Water Commissioner David Harriss that his own experts had severe reservations about the dam. 
 
"The Hunter community would be better served by a water minister who spent less time attacking  his opponents and more time listening to the state's water experts.
 
"For the record, the Greens stand behind the evidence that Tillegra Dam is expensive, uneconomic, unnecessary, unjustified, environmentally damaging, opposed by a number of senior government water and environment experts, and exposed to price risk because of the complex geology of the site," Dr Kaye said. 
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455 
 
 
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John Kaye
Greens member of the NSW Parliament
phone: (02) 9230 2668
fax: (02) 9230 2586
mobile: 0407 195 455
email: john.kaye at parliament.nsw.gov.au
web: www.johnkaye.org.au
 
mail: Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000