The idea of having a referendum on ‘do you support the building of the Byrrill Creek dam to settle the matter for once and for all’ is of grave concern – so simplistic and short sighted.
The vast majority of our community do not have the expertise in geological/hydrological/engineering matters that are required for such projects. Nor do they have the knowledge of the many legislations/regulations/policies that govern such proposals.
However, we do know vested interests have the knack to lead the many good citizens of our community up the garden path with misinformation to simply con our community with old school stuff. We have come a long way since days gone by, with many lessons learnt.
There is enormous information re the Tweed Shire’s future water supply that is available for review for those that prefer to be properly informed and not conned.
There are also several cases of recent dam proposals that fell over because some chose to ignore sound scientific/expert advice to play politics, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. In the case of the Byrrill Creek dam, it will be our ratepayers’ dollars squandered.
The fact that the councillor who has put the motion to council re a referendum on Byrrill Creek dam, not all options and has a direct conflict of interest is of serious concern.
L Smith
