FORMER member for New England Tony Windsor has told the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) hearing he believed Shenhua did not know where it was coming to when it paid $300 million for an exploration licence near Breeza.
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The now-retired independent MP, who said he had proof of the alleged misunderstanding, fronted the second day of hearings in Gunnedah on Thursday, opposing the Chinese Watermark coal mine.
Mr Windsor said he was invited to a meeting with a Chinese Shenhua delegation the day the company handed over the cheque for the exploration licence in October, 2008.
He then claims he made the point to the delegation “Do you realise the exploration licence you’ve just paid $300 million for is in the middle of the biggest groundwater system in the Murray System”, and “Do you realise that the government at that time and since, is carrying out quite extensive reports into the future of the Murray-Darling Basin”.
Mr Windsor said: “The head of the delegation looked at me and said ‘No, no, no. We’re not in the Murray-Darling, we’re in the Hunter Valley and there’s plenty of mining there and there’s no water issues’.”
The former MP went on to say that the exploration licence for the project should never have been granted and that the biggest difference between the Shenhua mine and every mine that has been granted a licence, was water.
“It is the uncertainty of the impacts upon water – not just on individuals adjacent to the proposed mine or mine itself – water runs downhill and this is part of a much larger system," Mr Windsor said.
“It is terribly important. It is absolutely critical. This is the first mine that has been attempted anywhere in Australia where there are these water issues, not to mention the soil ... this particular area is unique."
The panel will consider the future of the Shenhua mine over the Christmas period, with a recommendation to go to the state government in January.
