No social licence for Hansons quarry

More than 80 residents of the Bunyip and Garfield districts have reaffirmed their commitment to trying to stop a large quarry being developed at Bunyip North.

The proposal by Hanson Quarries is subject to an Environmental Effects Statement being prepared for consideration by the State Planning Minister Richard Wynne

At a meeting in Bunyip earlier this month “nearly every hand went up” when attendees were asked if they wanted to stop the quarry going ahead, Mt Cannibal and District Preservation Group spokesman David Bywater said.

The residents’ campaign is based on concerns about the effects on the community, environment, water, farm land and health from what Mr Bywater described as a “super quarry and an invasive and inappropriate mining proposal”.

It could negatively impact biodiversity, hydrology, groundwater and aboriginal cultural heritage, he claimed.

Hansons, a major operator of quarries throughout Australia, plans to quarry granite from a 691-acre site at Bunyip North with one of its boundaries adjoining the Mt Cannibal reserve.

Mr Bywater said residents welcomed the Minister’s call for an EES but also have resolved to “undertake actions to actively and continuously oppose the quarry proposal and not allow it to proceed”.

“We will continue to get informed, get noisy and get active to protect this beautiful part of Gippsland,” he said.

According to Mr Bywater Hanson’s is planning a seven days a week operation that would extract two million tonnes of granite a year.

Residents are also concerned about an estimated 550 truck movements in and out of the quarry each day, significant water use, continual blasting and crushing and the impact on the water table and surface water that is relied on by local residents and farmers.

The proposed quarry is clearly in the wrong location and the community has not given a social licence to Hansons coming into the district and damage an important and diverse landscape, Mr Bywater added.