Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™

LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

'We need much more time': NSW elders say Warragamba Dam report has been rushed

Traditional owners are calling on the NSW government to give them more time to assess a report into the impact of raising the wall of Warragamba Dam.

Warragamba Dam in NSW.
Warragamba Dam. Source: AAP

Traditional owners say they have been given five weeks to assess a confidential 2000-page report into the impact of raising the Warragamba Dam wall, as proposed by the NSW government.

Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill and Wollondilly Shire mayor Matt Deeth have invited the dam's project director, Maree Abood, to attend an urgent public meeting with traditional owners on Friday to hear about the cultural impacts of the dam project.

The Colong Foundation for Wilderness says there are more than 300 cultural sites and 4700 hectares of World Heritage National Parks within the affected area, but traditional owners have been given only five weeks to review the effects of the Warragamba Dam Raising Draft Indigenous Cultural Assessment.

"How are we meant to respond to a 2000-page cultural assessment in a matter of weeks when the area they want to destroy covers over 5000 hectares?" Gundungurra traditional owner Kazan Brown said on Monday.

"This meeting will be a litmus test for Infrastructure NSW. If the government is genuine about consulting traditional owners and the community, they will take part and listen to our people's concerns.

"The simple fact is we need much more time to understand and respond to this hastily put together assessment that tries to excuse the destruction of our people's key cultural sites."


2 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world