The people of Wedderburn v BHP Billiton
04 September 2008BHP Billiton recorded a $17 billion profit last financial year. Last Tuesday night in a cold hall at Wedderburn, 10 kilometres south of Campbelltown on the outskirts of Sydney, I had an upclose glimpse of how this company pulls in such obscene amounts of money……………….The main spokesperson for BHP Billiton was Jim Middleton……………………..They are quite cagey about revealing details of their decades of local mining experience. In 2006 Illawarra Coal declined to be interviewed by the magazine Australian Mining. The journalist who unsuccessfully pursued the interview was willing to speak to any one of ten of BHP Billiton’s Illawarra operations but the response was that all the possible spokespersons were “time-challenged”.
The theme for BHP Billiton’s operations is clear – avoid scrutiny at all costs. While the journalist with Australian Mining was given the flick the Wedderburn community did not comply so easily………………………I found this a disturbing event to participate in. The frustration of the locals heightened as the evening wore on. For all the politeness and apparent helpfulness of the BHP Billiton staff they cannot give satisfactory answers. Their job is to contain local opposition using divide and conquer tactics. They cannot give satisfactory answers to the questions of the people of Wedderburn when they ask for certainty that the local rivers will not crack, that the local environment will not be damaged and their homes will not be undermined…………………….
This whole process is a charade. A crude con job designed to divert locals who BHP Billiton know will do everything in their power to stop mining under Wedderburn proceeding.
So locals are given the illusion that submissions and community consultations will make a difference.
Locals have tried to engage with the process that BHP Billiton rolls out in accordance with the loose planning laws under which this mine will be approved.
