Now it’s time to make a submission to the Environmental Impact Statement
Deadline extended to 30 March
But registration is complex and requires a confirmation code that takes some days to receive, so begin the process now!
To help prepare your submission read:
- WHTAG’s Briefing Note on the impact of the tunnel on the ecosystems of Sydney Harbour
- Research Overview: Decades of research show contaminants
- “I’m outraged”: Secrecy over plan to dig up Sydney Harbour’s Toxic Sludge
How to make a submission
Jamie Parker MP’s guide to making a submission & letter template
How to use the planning portal & make a submission:
The Department of Planning Industry and Environment (DPIE) requires you to create a log in to their planning portal to make a submission. Please note this is NOT a submission to the RMS (now known as the Department of Transport (DofT)) as they are the proponent. We need to ensure our submissions now go to the department responsible for assessing and approving the project and not the one designing it. The portal is the way the DPIE gathers community responses to the EIS – they are the body responsible for doing so. If you have entered feedback at a mobile station or RMS/ DofT information session you have NOT made a formal submission against the project.
Once you have created a log in you will be able to select the project (SSI_8863) and complete an online form which outlines the basis of your objection (s). You will be asked if you a) support the project, b) are making a comment or c) are objecting to the project. It is important to note that “objecting to the project” means objecting to part or the whole project as it is outlined in the EIS rather than the concept of the project or what it could be. An objection has the most influence over whether Conditions of Approval will be granted which ensures that the community is best protected. As a community we need as many people as possible to submit their objections to ensure that our communities valid concerns are heard.
You can make you objection as simple or as detailed as you like. It is important to include personal content to explain how you, your family or community will be personally impacted. It is also good to suggest what alternative you would like or what condition you would like to see if possible. If you are using any guidance documents try to personalise them a little as multiple “form letters” are counted as a single objection. We suggest that you save your objection as a pdf, upload it and then on send to your local MP, Council, the Chief Scientist and Medical Officer. Locate contact details below.
You can view the full EIS on the Planning Portal website here or view the government’s simplified guide to the EIS here.
Western Harbour Tunnel Action Group (WHTAG) 