Newcastle Herald 10/12/2002

Poor planning is costing the Hunter jobs - James Ryan

JOBS are a big issue in the Hunter Valley. Our unemployment rate at 12.7% is higher than we would like it to be. The recent release of supposedly low unemployment rates by the Federal Government has lead to further exasperation in the Hunter. However, one of the factors not often recognised that costs the Hunter jobs is poor regional planning. There are two examples right now in the Hunter. One is the massive Tomalpin Industrial Estate, and the other is the Austeel proposal for Tomago.

Each proposal has been trumpeted as the provider of thousands of jobs and yet each is becoming more tenuous as each day passes. This is because both proposals have been poorly located without adequate regard for the environment and each has been located in an environmental hotspot.

Austeel is adjacent to the internationally recognised Kooragang wetlands. And Tomalpin is located in the biggest and most bio-diverse woodland left on the valley floor. The proposed site for Austeel has been recognised by the NSW State Government as a fragile part of the Kooragang wetlands ecosystem for some time. There is a management plan in place over the site, which recognises and seeks to preserve its ecological integrity and value to the broader health of the wetlands and fisheries. The side effects of the Austeel proposal on our economically valuable and employment-generating prawning and fishing industry could be quite severe. It is puzzling that the State Government chose this site and has persisted with it.

Despite the vigorous attempts to greenwash the Tomalpin estate the proposal is an ecological nightmare. There is not the space here to list all the rare and threatened ecological features of the Tomalpin Woodlands but it is fast being recognised as the most important reservoir of biodiversity remaining on the Hunter Valley floor. The most appropriate future for the Tomalpin area is as a National Park. The number and variety of the threatened species present is going to be a big turnoff for any potential industry. The Carr Government spokesperson quoted in the Newcastle Herald (`Blueprint for green balance', 6/11) as saying the Carr Government has an unrivalled record on environmental issues in the Hunter was right ? the record is shocking!

Today' community is well enough informed to know that development that is pursued no matter what the cost to the environment, is not good for our well being; nor is it good for sustainable jobs. Industry will be very cautious about committing to any location that is extremely sensitive and likely to require increasing expenditure on environmental protection.

If either the Austeel or the Tomalpin proposals fall over because of environmental constraints the Hunter will have lost years of effort in attracting businesses to the region. How did we get into this situation? It's too easy to retrospectively blame greenies or do-gooders for scaring away industrial investment and it would miss the point. The point is the State Government has a responsibility to ensure that the Hunter Region has a workable and responsible regional plan for economic development and job creation. The Hunter needs a planning body that combines the capacity for community consultation and environmental awareness with economic planning. In this area the Carr Government has failed the Hunter.

However the State Government is in the process of appointing members of the Hunter Plan First Forum, a body that will create a regional plan. If the State Government is to meet the test of responsible government it will appoint community and environmental representatives who are capable of steering the Government away from the mistakes of the Austeel and Tomalpin locations. Good regional planning will create jobs in the Hunter, poor regional planning will cost them.

James Ryan is a spokesman for the Friends of Tumblebee environmental group.

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Newcastle Herald. Letters to the Editor, 13th Dec 02

Lobbying gone wrong - from Matthew Turner

JAMES Ryan (`Poor planning is costing the Hunter jobs' Herald 10/12) attacks Tomalpin, Austeel and the planning process in NSW. This classic environmentalist position tells us that economic development is important but major developments on the cards now are environmentally unacceptable.

While environmental lobbying is an essential part of the process of approval for sustainable development, it appears that dramatic environmental consequences can be identified in relation to any development, anywhere. Mr Ryan suggests a planning forum is the solution to the environment/development balance problem but if we can't put major industrial developments in the scrub near Kurri or in the swamp near Kooragang Island, I don't know where a planning forum might suggest we put them. I've never heard of the Hunter Plan First Forum but I hope it's sufficiently empowered and its appointees qualified to develop a sensible regional plan.

Matthew Turner Hexham December 13 Letters