MEMBERS of a community group have called on NSW Trade and Investment to apologise for portraying them as “liars” in a letter to a local newspaper last week.
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Barraba residents Paula McIver and Danny Ballard, who sit on the Woodsreef Community Advisory Group, are furious with their treatment by the department.
Tensions emerged last month when the duo produced photographs indicating explosives had been used to bring down the mine’s asbestos-ridden mill house.
They claimed the eventual confirmation, obtained by The Leader, that “small charges” were used contradicted assurances from the department and its contractors.
However, in a letter to the Barraba Gazette last week, Resources and Energy deputy secretary Kylie Hargreaves stood her ground.
She said the use of explosives was discussed at a meeting between the multi-agency Woodsreef taskforce and the advisory group on October 20 last year.
“The presentation covered dust suppression, air quality monitoring and the demolition of the mill building and included topics such as controlled demolition,” she said.
Mrs McIver and Mr Ballard are adamant they were told explosives would not be used and raised their objections during a meeting with the department’s community liaison team last Monday.
Mr Ballard described the letter as a “dumb move” that “just put everyone’s back up” at a time when there was little trust between the advisory group and the department.
“I sat almost in arm’s reach from the two managers and asked them how [the demolition] would be done, and they said powerful hydraulic shears would cut everything up,” Mr Ballard said.
“I can’t believe that someone of that lady’s standing would write a letter like that a couple of days before we meet.”
Mrs McIver said she wanted the department to not just apologise, but release all of the air quality monitoring data from before, during and after the explosion.
She said the Barraba community needed to be assured that absolutely no asbestos fibres had been released into the air as a result of the demolition.
“We want a full apology to be in all local media outlets, because we feel our credibility has been damaged because they called us liars,” she said.
“They never told us they were going to use explosives and we are absolutely 100 per cent on that.”
NSW Trade and Investment, which says air monitors downwind of the site detected no fibres, is expected to release a full report on the mine’s rehabilitation after works are completed in June.
