‘Lives at risk’: former emergency service leaders blast government over development ‘lunacy’ in Sydney’s west

Former Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins has blasted the state government’s record on natural disaster protections, saying the decision to develop in the flood-prone Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is “lunacy” and putting housing approvals ahead of people’s lives.

His views were echoed by two former senior members of the NSW State Emergency Service, including one-time acting commissioner Greg Newton, who warned development put the lives of emergency service volunteers at greater risk.

The intervention comes after the NSW government green-lit nearly 1000 new homes and an employment centre in the Marsden Park North precinct. In late 2023, Planning Minister Paul Scully released a statement saying “no more building on high-risk flood plains” and further development on the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain would “put lives at risk”.

Mullins, who served as commissioner for over 13 years until 2017, delivered the broadside during an interview with the Herald.

“It’s like they’re saying a reduced body count is OK – to be blunt. It’s lunacy. State emergency experts have been saying this will exacerbate the risk,” Mullins, the founder of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, said of the decision to proceed with the Marsden Park North precinct.

“I never dreamed we would have a government rolling back flood and bushfire protections. This is the first government which has done so as far as I can tell. It fails every test. Developers’ profits are trumping community safety.”

Chas Keys, a former deputy director-general with the NSW State Emergency Service, warned massive floods – potentially exceeding 30 metres, significantly higher than those recorded in western Sydney in 2022 – were guaranteed on a long-enough timeline, putting residents at considerable risk.

“It’s most unwise to be building at Marsden Park North. It’s inevitably going to be flooded. We are already going to have an extremely difficult evacuation,” said Keys, noting the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is considered to have Australia’s highest unmitigated flood risk exposure.

“Sticking people on a flood plain isn’t a particularly good solution to solving the housing crisis.”

Swaths of Marsden Park would become “flood islands” during major rainfall events, while even properties above the flood planning level in Marsden Park could find themselves either isolated or inundated, Newton said.

“This then puts emergency service volunteers and staff at greater risk as they respond to, and rescue, trapped people. It’s a hazard that could be avoided,” he said.

Newton spent 33 years with the SES, including leading a state catastrophic disaster exercise in 2019, which was based on flooding of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley using the largest flood since European settlement as a scenario.

The NSW government’s decision to push ahead with the scaled-back development was surprising, Newton said, saying, “it seems inconsistent with the recommendations of the 2022 Flood Inquiry”, despite the premier’s office stating otherwise.

The threat of flooding would intensify with climate change, the emergency service leaders said, as more moisture can be held in the atmosphere with rising global temperatures, causing bigger storms.

Mullins and two retired Rural Fire Service commissioners, who requested anonymity, wrote to Premier Chris Minns and Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib in October expressing “deep concern” about changes to the state’s planning laws.

Transferring responsibility for bushfire determinations from the RFS to the Development Co-ordination Authority (DCA) – established to expedite housing delivery – under the reforms would lose the “focus on safety and deep expertise”, the former commissioners wrote.

“The transfer of life safety provisions that require thorough assessment by an agency with deep subject-matter expertise and a firm grasp on escalating climate risks to a new agency with a focus on hastening development approvals could literally have proven to be a design for disaster,” they wrote.

Mullins noted the state government was still mulling Lizard Rock, a 71-hectare development on Sydney’s northern beaches, despite the RFS’s longstanding and unwavering objection to the project, given the severe bushfire risk.

Mullins acknowledged minor amendments had been made in response to concerns, but likened the state government’s response to that of former prime minister Scott Morrison before the 2019 Black Summer infernos. The former RFS chief was one of 23 former fire and emergency leaders who tried to warn the Liberal leader the nation was inadequately equipped to fight more brutal bushfires and other natural disasters.

“It’s a bit like being patted on the head and told ‘never you mind’,” said Mullins, who serves on the state government’s Bush Fire Co-ordinating Committee representing Environment Minister Penny Sharpe.

In response, Scully said: “These claims are offensive and completely false. The Minns Labor Government has stopped residential development on dangerous flood plains and strengthened the consideration of climate change and natural hazards in planning.

“Nothing will change in the quality and veracity of assessment with the creation of the Development Co-ordination Authority. The Minns Labor Government’s stance on development in Marsden Park North remains the same as it did in 2023.”

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