Kurri Kurri & Weston Independent -Editorial 3rd April 2002

 

Tomalpin - Promises Much!

"Now that Tomalpin has finally been approved, this newspaper has not commented one way or other regarding Tomalpin and its value to the community.

Certainly there has been a lot of heavy selling on both sides and some very misleading information.

When looking at a project like this, one has to ask who really benefits - certainly Duncan Hardy as a developer, in a very big way. That is not meant as a criticism, that is what Developers do - good luck to him!

However one does quarrel with some of the misleading statements attributed to Messrs Duncan Hardie, Toby Thomas, John Clarence and of course, don't let leave out the Greenies and there little band.

Speaking to Toby Thomas recently, he admits that they are out to attract high tech industries - now high tech in the real world means a minimum labour force - the 10,000 sustainable jobs, even in 20 years time is a myth which has been perpetuated by all three gentlemen.

Certainly there will be jobs over a short period of time over a number of years for the building of infrastructure, after that, these high-tech companies will in fact be employing a large number of their of their own people, let's face it, would you employ strangers to run a business without a considerable number of your own key personell?

Mr Clarence, of course, will tell you that there are large numbers of jobs - I can point to a number of instances, ie ICI where Council said there would be a number of jobs - 300 jobs ended up by being a mere 30 - but that is one of the better projects.

Weston Aluminium (Dross) - 17 jobs.

Probably most of these companies will be employing a small labour force but it will be a highly technical labour force in the main.

The labour force in Kurri Kurri, Weston and surrounding areas does not have the technical qualifications to meet these demands - some companies may be prepared on a trade off to operate a training scheme providing the financial incentives are big enough.

The Greenies will argue that there is a better way, but realistically they have not got off their rears to sell their ideas to large companies to persuade them to settle in Kurri.

What the future holds for this development, nobody knows - realistically concerns are the following:-

Over the next 20 to 30 years one of the biggest profitable businesses will be waste - of many descriptions - from industrial to toxic - the dirtier the waste, the more profitable it will be - that is not to say that it will happen here but it has to be considered.

Mr Clarence has bombarded the press with the virtues and not the realities - his interest, like any pollie, is to get back into Council, that is his agenda, we know the developers, and of course Toby Thomas is the builder of buildings. (PART 11 NEXT ISSUE)"