Councillor Russell Holden addressed last week’s Mudgee Mining: The wHole Story alternative mining conference in Lawson Park on behalf of Mid-Western Regional Council.
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Cr Holden told attendees that general manager Warwick Bennett had planned to address the conference, but had to step down in order to maintain his neutrality in the mining debate.
Cr Holden said that as an elected official, he was not in the same position, and emphasised that parts of his presentation would represent his own opinion rather than council’s official position.
No one will ever convince me that there will not be coal trains coming through this community really soon.
He told attendees that approval of new mines rested in the hands of a state government that wanted mining royalties, and council could only work to get the best deal for the region.
“My scepticism says that royalties will bend the government’s arm every single time,” he said.
“At the end of the day, all council can do is make comment and make representation.”
He said that with each new development application, Warwick Bennett and mayor Des Kennedy approached the government with the region’s concerns about roads, medical demands and pressure on infrastructure.
He said council’s approach had to be, “If you’re going to do that, what are you going to do for us?”
Cr Holden said the three-week wait to see a local doctor needed to be overcome, and towns had to be protected from side effects of mining, such as coal transportation and damage to roads.
“No one will ever convince me that there will not be coal trains coming through this community really soon,” he said.
He said examining each mining application meant not just looking at its development application, but examining its contribution to the cumulative effects of mining in the region.
“Look at the whole of the effects and how they add to the jigsaw puzzle,” he said.
Cr Holden said every mine in the region would expand in the future, and he guessed that Cobbora Coal would end up four times its current proposed size.
He said planning ahead would be easier if mines were more open about their intentions, instead of lodging a development application which they then repeatedly added to and adjusted.
“All of these companies know what they want to do, but they put their cards on the table very slowly,” Cr Holden said.
