We have now had a response of sorts from Westpac and NAB. As expected, they have not addressed many of our concerns, and they have relied on the State Government’s poorly scoped and inadequate EES. Stay tuned for more on this!

Gross negligence in funding the desal plant against their own ‘Equator Principles’. Looks like we may need to organise small groups, 2 or 3 people in your suburb, to let the public know in front of Westpac and NAB branches. Watershed can supply leaflet material (by post or we could make it available off the website for you to print). If you would like to participate, should we need to do this, please leave your details with an email to answers@watershedvictoria.org.au

Past event - Monday 23rd November, 11.00am

Well it’s been nearly three months now and the Banks haven’t given us any indication yet that they are following the corporate responsibility principles that they say they are. To their credit they did send a reasonable delegation of their representatives to meet with Watershed Victoria, but they provided nothing to indicate that they had met their obligations under the ‘Equator Principles’. More than a month later they have still not answered any of the many questions we left them with. Time to start spreading our concerns again, so we leafleted City branches on Monday, starting with the Westpac branch on the corner of Swanston and Collins St. at 11.00am. Join us now by writing to the banks to try to convince the banks that they have to do more if this investment is to come anywhere near being acceptable, both socially and environmentally. Further more diverse leafletting to follow if we don’t get responses soon.

This is the leaflet we handed out -

feel free to copy and distribute.

Click on the image, or here, to get a good copy

of both sides of the leaflet.

Questions, contact:

Stephen 0407 811778 or

Jessica 0407 307231

Energy use of Melbourne’s Water Supply set to skyrocket!

A quick look at Melbourne Water’s current and future energy use reveals some concerning facts, especially in the light of the need to reduce electricity use and carbon emissions. By clicking the image below you will see a breakdown of current energy usage in all aspects of Melbourne Water’s activities. The energy usage of the desalination plant will mean we will be using at least three and a half times as much energy once Melbourne Water starts sourcing water from the desalination plant.

As requested both Westpac and Nab sent representatives to a meeting with Watershed representatives at Kilcunda on Wednesday 14th October.

Results of our meeting with the banks in relation to our concerns about them not meeting their ethical investment guidelines:

• A presentation was given by Watershed pointing out our concerns and some background to the issues. The banks filled us in on various aspects of how they see their obligations and how they assessed the project.
• The banks have assessed this as a B-grade environmental and social risk project (from an A to C or no ranking range). Our fears were well founded, in that they admitted they largely relied on the proponents environmental assessment (as poorly scoped and resourced as it was), to give the project an acceptable risk assessment.
• Both banks used a consultant firm, originally employed by AquaSure, to “do their assessment”.
• The banks agreed that ongoing assessments would be required, although the scope or scale of this was not available.
• They claimed ‘confidentiality’ as their reason for not previously consulting Watershed, and for not immediately being able to address some of our concerns.
• The consultant, who was present, said he believed that alternatives were not available, based on previous work he had done for Government, and an unspecified document he did not name or indicate availability of.
• Watershed pointed out that by relying on a flawed EES and failing to consider all issues the equator principles 2 and 3 in particular had been inadequately addressed. After our presentation there was general agreement that the issues around using desalination to secure Melbourne’s water supply were many and varied.
• Watershed have left the banks with a list of issues that we feel have been inadequately addressed including some of the above and also the following; we have requested they furnish us with responses to these concerns in a timely fashion:
  • Why was the project given a category B status given the scale, implications for future water policy, location, multiple areas of impact, unresolved concerns and unaddressed issues involved?
  • How can their environmental assessment be adequate given that it either did not, or only inadequately addressed issues such as the need for baseline studies, choice of site or processes, climate change implications, social issues and cumulative impacts of this project over time and with existing and future projects?
  • What do the banks see as ‘consultation’, what will the following plans contain and when will they be available:
    • ’social environmental management plan’
    • ‘borrower’s grievance mechanism’
    • ‘works environmental management plan’
    • ‘ongoing environmental monitoring plan for compliance’ ?
  • What degree of public transparency will the banks require of the above, and when will they be required?

Stay tuned to see whether the banks reassess their involvement in this project or whether we get satisfactory responses to these and other concerns.

• Please continue to send letters with your concerns to the banks, click here.
• Should you be prepared to take action if we do not get satisfactory responses please contact us, click here.
• Click the ‘BANKS’ tab at the top of the page for more information on this issue.

Housing Hardship on the Bass Coast - more desal impacts

If you know anybody in this kind of situation please call Jessica on 0407 307231,

or if you have evidence of specific locations where people have been dislodged from their accommodation, and replaced by desal workers please call Maurice on 0419 552385.  Maurice is also looking for a copy of the EMP (Environmental Monitoring Plan) that is supposed to exist for the works underway at present, should you happen to know where a copy could be found.

How much will it cost? - Dispite the State Government claiming $3.5 billion, the chairman of the company building and operating the plant says $ 4.8 billion, all from our water bills and taxes. This means water from the plant must cost at least five times what we get from Melbourne water now! (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UsEFhl_DdI)

Annoyed at the form responses you are getting from the government to your letters about the desalination plant? Feeling that you aren’t being listened to and your questions aren’t being answered? Write back anyway, at least it might give someone a job, cutting and pasting more form replies.

Here is an example of a Government letter and our response:

DESALINATION PROJECT

Thank you for your letter of  XX XXXXX 2009 to the Premier regarding the Wonthaggi desalination plant. I am responding on the Premier’s behalf.

Victoria has a long history as a leader in developing innovative approaches to manage water resources.
Victoria hasn’t really sought a new source of water since the Thomson dam was proposed in the 1970’s, the Government have sat on their hands despite many, many years of warnings and continue to lag in the development of aquifer storage / recovery, purified recycled water and incentives for rainwater tanks and continue to waste 30 Gl per annum by allowing logging in our catchments.

For example, Victoria was the first jurisdiction in Australia to unbundle our water entitlements – which allows them to be bought and sold independently of land - enabling them to be traded more freely and to support farmers to manage their future more flexibly.
I’m not sure this is a good thing, water available to the highest bidder and in unregulated? quantities!

XXXX

Results of our Annual General Meeting held on 20th October:

The following nominations were unopposed and duly elected:

President - Stephen Cannon
Vice presidents - Col Truman & Mark Robertson
Secretary - Neil Rankine
Treasurer - Kaye Craddock
Public Officer - Roger Thorrowgood

Contact details for the above if you click on the CONTACT tab above.

We invite further volunteers to the Committee to assist all activities of Watershed in seeking sustainable water solutions for Victorians - use the contact button above if you would like to be involved in a more sustainable future.

Still concerned about a healthy future for our children & their children, about caring for the environment, about sustainable water solutions? We are. We met once again in the Wonthaggi Town Hall where it all began.

Great article in the Age, 5th October

Check it out here:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/economic-rationalists-have-hijacked-water-policy-at-our-peril-20091004-ght2.html

Think about writing a short letter to the editor, or your local paper about these and related issues!

Click here for the outcomes of our meeting with bank representatives.

AquaSure’s Community relations consultant arranged a meeting with senior representatives from both banks as requested. We are holding off on this action to see if a meeting will eventuate. Fingers crossed they will listen.

We now have a commitment from the banks to listen to our concerns. More information about the meeting, click here.

Watershed Victoria Still Campaigning on the Desal Disaster

In recent weeks Watershed Victoria and supporters have raised the issue of major financial backing of the desal plant in Wonthaggi by Westpac and the National Australia Bank.
Both banks have signed on to the “Equator Principles”, a comprehensive set of responsibility benchmarks to invest only in projects that have no damaging environmental and social consequences.
In recent weeks we have leafletted Westpac and NAB branches in Melbourne, with good responses from bank customers.

We are asking for an explanation of the banks’ financial involvement and a comprehensive environmental impact study by the banks BEFORE financially backing the energy guzzling desal plant. They are relying on the State Government’s flawed and narrow environmental assessment, a mistake both in terms of local environmental impact and climate change. The banks have also had assurances from AquaSure, the consortium building the plant, which is hardly impartial, that environmental impacts will be minimised.
The banks promised to meet us to discuss our concerns.

On the bright side, we have had many whale sightings on the coast this winter, including a Southern Right mother and calf last week.

Ring NAB Corporate Responsibility Officer on 03-86342734 or Westpac 132032 and ask for the Corporate Responsibility Officer. More details are available under a new ‘BANKS’ tab on our website, and form letters are under the ‘writing letters’ section. http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/category/letterwriting/

We were to meet at 11am on Thursday 1st October at Flinders St Station for more leafletting of Westpac and NAB branches. Our confidence that the banks would agree to meet and listen to our concerns has paid off. The outcomes from this meeting is posted by click above. More info - Neil 0413 902571.

The government now owns a land easement from the Bass Coast to Melbourne’s suburbs.

Around 125 farmers and other landowners have had parts of their properties compulsorily aquired, and this has happened without the usual 5 month notice. The government have kindly told the farmers that they won’t have to pay rent on this land (at least not yet). Read the story in ‘The Weekly Times’ newspaper at the link below:

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/09/25/116381_latest-news.html