The Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale has once again thrown sand in the gears of a mining operation in Oldbury.
SJ councillors drew a line in the proverbial last October when they refused to extend Hanson Construction Materials’ existing approval to clear 11.6 hectares of native vegetation in order to mine two million tonnes of Bassendean sand on Lot 6 Banksia Road, and Lots 300 and 301 Boomerang Road.
They did so because of concerns over noise and dust management, and because it would “further exacerbate the reduction of foraging habitat suitable for the successful continuation of the endangered endemic Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo”.
Plans to mine parts of the site go back as far as 20 years ago, with local residents, the City of Kwinana and the shire objecting to proposals for more than a decade.
Development was finally approved in 2015 after a mediation process through the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT).
A clearing permit with a 20-year lifespan was also approved by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation in July 2016.
Ironically, just two months later, banksia woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plains were listed as a Threatened Ecological Community and given national protection.
But the site at Oldbury has remained mostly untouched since Hanson was given the green light to mine it a decade ago, and the SAT approval expired in December.
Stephen Elliott, owner and general manager of Urban Resources which was contracted by Hanson to mine the site, said in October that the delay had been caused by “market conditions and years of COVID”.
But the shifting sands of housing supply and demand meant that was about to change, he explained.
After council refused the extension last year, Hanson took the matter to the SAT, which then ‘invited’ the shire to reconsider its decision.
On Monday, shire officers again recommended that council approve the extension to mine, worried that their previous justification for refusal was built on a foundation of sand.
“Officers consider that council’s refusal reasons pertaining to noise and dust have already been considered by the SAT as part of the approval and found to be acceptable,” they said.
They also pointed out that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) would be required to assess the extension of the clearing permit, and this time take into consideration that the banksia woodland was now classed as a Threatened Ecological Community.
“Given that a development approval will not be able to be enacted without a clearing permit, council can be assured that the environmental impacts of the development will be assessed through the expert jurisdiction and specific legislation administered by the DWER,” officers said.
In other words, councillors would do well to leave it to the experts. This was a point echoed by Tim Trefy who spoke on behalf of Hanson.
One final point that was raised by officers was that should council again refuse, the matter could progress to a “full hearing before the SAT, which requires independent legal representation and a range of experts, which will cost [the shire] in the vicinity of $50,000”.
Over a dozen Wellard and Casuarina locals packed the shire chambers on Monday to implore councillors to “prioritise the long-term health of the local environment and residents”.
Many of them argued that the times had changed radically since the green light was given for the project in 2016. Not only had thinking and legislation changed about the importance of banksia woodland, but new laws had been introduced in manufacturing which recognised the dangers of silicosis – a preventable lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust.
“Will Hanson be responsible for our hospital bills if we get sick from them mining silica sand?” asked Jill Sheridan who has been fighting this proposal for over two decades.
Director Development Services Andrew Trosic said that no on-site processing of sand was proposed, and that Hanson would be extracting yellow Bassendean sand used for building and as a road sub-base, not silica sand.
“The shire is one of the fastest-growing local government areas in the state. In order to achieve urbanisation … large quantities of yellow sand will need to be sourced,” he said.
“The Tonkin Highway requires extensive sand in-fill in order to go ahead.”
And he said that sourcing that sand within the shire would lower transport miles.
But when it came to the crunch, councillors again voted to refuse Hanson’s sand mining extension, with not a word of discussion needed before reaching their unanimous decision.
This time, Deputy President Tricia Duggin came armed with a catalogue of reasons for council’s refusal (informed by the community’s appeals). And the public gallery exploded into cheers with each new point made.
“I’m very proud of the councillors for standing up for what’s right,” Casuarina’s Philip Kenworthy said.
“But who knows what’s going to happen next? We need to be realistic about how things work in this state. Mining companies rule Western Australia.
“So, I’m hopeful, but I’m retaining my scepticism.”
