2019Over 500 people are expected to march on Katoomba main street this coming Sunday against the raising of Warragamba Dam wall at 11:00am on Katoomba street. A media stunt will also be performed
The NSW Government is wanting to raise the dam wall for flood mitigation to build more houses on downstream floodplains. Doing so will put at risk thousands of lives, along with inundating 4,700 hectares of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area that protects wilderness rivers and over 300 Indigenous cultural sites.
Speakers at the rally will include:
Mark Greenhill – Blue Mountains City Council Mayor
David King – Gundungurra Traditional Owner
Arliah Varnell – Katoomba High School Captain
Harry Burkitt – GIVE A DAM Campaigner
Lachlan Garland – Blue Mountains Conservation Society President
Kim De Govrik – Public Service Association
Key demands of protesters:
• Calling on the Australian Federal Government to stop the environmentally rogue NSWGovernment from flooding the national icon that is the Blue Mountains World HeritageSite
• For the Australian Government to abide by its international obligations specified by theWorld Heritage Convention
• For Gundungurra sacred sites to be saved from destruction by the dam project
Quotes attributable to Harry Burkitt, GIVE A DAM Campaigner:
“The community is calling on the Australian Government to stand up to the environmentally rogue NSW Government and protect a national icon.
“Over three million people visit the Blue Mountains every year because of its World Heritage listing, and we are now putting that at risk for some dodgy floodplain developers.”
“The Australian Federal Government must now abide by its international obligations and protect this UNESCO World Heritage site.”