It’s been closed since 1983, with debate raging for many of the years since about just what to do with the abandoned asbestos mine on the outskirts of Barraba.

Now, the clean-up has begun, but even that is causing concern within the town, several local members of a government advisory group maintaining they weren’t given all the facts on just how the rehabilitation of the site would be achieved. Sadly, it’s not an uncommon complaint. 

These kinds of advisory committees are a good idea there’s no doubt. For particularly contentious issues, such as Woodsreef mine, the government does the right thing by involving locals in the process and keeping the community informed.

Where it goes wrong is when what should be a transparent process turns decidedly opaque and the flow of information becomes somewhat selective. 

Accusations are then made about the integrity of the process and questions raised about just what governments have to hide. And governments only have themselves to blame.

The people of Barraba should have been told exactly how the felling of the mill house would proceed and about the movement of materials from the site.

And then the mistake was  compounded by more denials in the immediate aftermath of the demolition.

Now, the department in charge is being accused of dishonesty and has a very different clean-up on its hands.

It must now win back the confidence of the Barraba community, and from now on, everything should be on the table.

For a department in Sydney, Barraba must seem a long way away and the mine well down the list of its immediate priorities.

But just what to do with this contentious, and potentially hazardous, site has been dragging on for decades, with successive governments failing local residents.

The current state government has finally acted and that’s to be commended, but the way they’ve gone about it is yet another slap in the face to a frustrated community.