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Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison will write to new Roads Minister Melinda Pavey in a bid to enact “evidence-based thinking” over Testers Hollow.
She said an email chain revealed through freedom of information laws, which was obtained by the NSW Labor Party and passed on to Fairfax Media, showed the government was not serious about fixing the flood-prone stretch.
“My concern is that the spin was giving the minister a way out and a way they could spin it to the community,” Ms Aitchison said.
“Bureaucrats wouldn’t be writing emails like that unless they felt that was the perspective of the minister.
“Duncan Gay never encouraged anything to happen.”
Ms Aitchison said the population increase in housing estates at Gillieston Heights was one of many reasons why the stretch should be fixed.
“Since the government has been elected there has been a massive increase in the population in that area and people are still building there – it’s beyond a joke now,” she said.
“It’s commuter time, people who use the road to get to work are spending more time in their cars when its flooded.”
Ms Aitchison believes the government doesn’t want to fix the problem until a member of their party is the local MP.
She will write to Ms Pavey and urge her to fix the problem.
“Anytime we get anything done for Maitland it always comes from Sydney – they don’t understand what the issue is here,” Ms Aitchison said.
Earlier report:
The state road authority discussed stalling a flood fix for Testers Hollow less than a year ago, an email shows.
The email, released under freedom of information law, came after a groundswell of concern moved federal Labor to promise $10 million and the Liberal Party to pledge $15 million in the lead-up to last year’s election to stop flooding at Testers Hollow.
There had been desperate calls from the community for the road to be raised after it was cut by floodwater for several days after the 2015 April super storm and again in January, 2016.
In the July 13 email, a staff member suggested to Roads and Maritime Service regional manager Anna Zycki that the RMS should buy more time and “spin” the need for more investigation into the Testers Hollow situation to the state government.
It referred to a conversation between the author and another staff member, called Mike, who “does not agree that Testers Hollow is a problem worthy of $10 million to solve”.
“He suggested that the message we give to the Minister is that we need to do some investigation of the ‘problem’ and cost of the solutions – at a strategic level and highlight that this is not necessarily a major problem.”
The email went on to say: “I suggest that we spin this as a piece of investigation.”
RMS and the state government agreed not to go ahead with flood-proofing Testers Hollow in early 2015, three months before the super storm.
Fairfax Media received a statement in response to an interview request about the email.
“Roads and Maritime Services has received $15 million from the Australian Government to progress further studies into flooding mitigation measures at Cessnock Road, Testers Hollow,” the spokesperson said.
“Further studies are required to help inform future flood mitigation measures to ensure any work carried out to reduce the impact of flooding at Testers Hollow does not negatively impact the surrounding areas.
“By mid-April, Roads and Maritime expects to put in a submission to the Australian Government to use the funding for refinements to previous flood modelling and to carry out geotechnical and survey work.
“Further funding is being sought from the Australian Government to ensure an appropriate solution can be identified and implemented.”
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Nick Bielby
Nick Bielby is a crime reporter who has been with the Newcastle Herald since 2017.
Nick Bielby is a crime reporter who has been with the Newcastle Herald since 2017.
Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
