The NSW Premier has given the strongest indication yet that she might step in to review a controversial proposal for a waste incinerator near homes at Eastern Creek if it were approved by an independent planning agency, a parliamentary inquiry was told on Thursday.
The proposal by Dial A Dump Industries for the stage-one development on a $700 million, 1.4 million-tonne energy-from-waste facility at Eastern Creek, 35 kilometres west of the CBD, has met with overwhelming community objection and more than 950 objections and just two submissions in support.
The plan is currently before the state's Planning and Assessment Commission but has drawn widespread opposition over fears about dumping air pollution over nearby suburbs and other human health impacts.
"I've heard the concerns from the community; I've heard concerns from my parliamentary colleagues on their behalf," the Premier said at a budget estimates hearing. "There's currently an assessment process in relation to that proposal; if the process finds it shouldn't go ahead, all well and good.
"But if there's a different finding then the government will consider its options."
Since instigating them, the state government has made much of how Planning and Assessment Commissions are at "arm's length" from the government itself and any review would be seen by critics of the government as a departure.
Critics of the PACs have decried them as a "rubber stamp" for controversial planning decisions, with 96 per cent of all projects before them approved in 2014.
Ian Malouf, the chief executive of Dial A Dump, is behind the application to build a large electricity generation plant in Eastern Creek, hundreds of metres from homes, which would burn waste that would otherwise go to landfill.
He says the project will bring jobs, turn landfill and construction waste into electricity and is "the next evolution" in waste disposal, and backed by the scientific record.
But his company's environmental record, objections from nearby residents and the proven safety of the technology all came under attack during the parliamentary inquiry last month.
If built, the facility would be among the largest in the world, and the plans have invited outrage from locals and the Greens.
At issue is the proportion of construction and development waste that would enter the facility, which some MPs have alleged could present a danger to nearby homes.
The Environmental Protection Authority and NSW Health have both said they do not support the proposal in its current form.
Tony Khoury, the head of the Waste Contractors & Recyclers Association, said members were concerned that the state's EPA was not resourced enough to monitor emissions from the facility.
The Premier's office declined to add to her statements before budget estimates on Thursday night.
