Checking in: Andrew Katos outside his new office.
Kim Waters
THE Liberals have dumped their pre-election promise to investigate building a dam in the Otways, according to new South Barwon MP Andrew Katos.
He revealed his party dumped the plan in the lead-up to last month’s state election, which the Liberals-Nationals coalition won to seize government.
Mr Katos told the Independent this week that the new State Government’s water policy included “no construction of any dam in the Otways”.
The first he heard about the decision was during the pre-election campaign in November, he said.
“I got that information during the campaign from Peter Walsh (now Minister for Country Water Resources).”
Mr Katos said the Baillieu Government would stick with Labor’s controversial plan for a diversion weir at Dewing Creek.
“As far as I know it’s still being constructed. That’s the policy we’ve come up with.”
Mr Katos launched his push for an Otway’s dam in the Independent in 2008.
Earlier this year he labelled the weir plan “hypocritical”, saying “all options” for boosting the region’s water supply “should have been considered”.
“Everything should have been put on the table so that we could make an informed decision about this. It’s just a sensible exploration of policy,” he told the Independent.
Former Labor South Barwon MP Michael Crutchfield, who was parliamentary secretary for water and environment, then hit back at Mr Katos, saying the weir plan would secure future water for Geelong and the Surf Coast.
The Independent revealed in May that Barwon Water planned to reinstate the Dewing Creek weir to divert 700 million litres a year into the region’s drinking supply.
