Australian Workers Union organiser Brock Skelton addressed Orange City Council regarding a motion to reverse the rezoning on Tuesday night, saying businesses were interested in land at the airport.

“If they don’t get to go there, they won’t be here and we will lose these business opportunities,” he said.

He said it was arrogant to expect to create an industrial area elsewhere.

“They’re going to the table thinking that they’re holding more cards than they actually hold in these discussions.”

‘There is no contractual agreement’: airport industrial park dumped

Mr Skelton said former Electrolux and Cadia employees had come to him saying they still could not find fulltime work. 

“[The unemployment rate] doesn’t talk about underemployment, it doesn’t talk about these people that have casual positions, unable to get security for their families and it doesn’t talk about the fear, the fear … about what sort of income and work their children are going to do – we’re not making this stuff up.”

He said any development must address every environmental risk and requirement to proceed, but he was the lone voice for the development, with five residents in opposition. 

Geologist John Holliday said the area was subject to an 11 million year-old basalt lava plain.

“The basalt is like a soggy blanket sitting on top of the older rocks and it seeps water out all year round and in wetter years, that blanket fills right up and that water goes right to the surface,” he said.

“That water is extremely vulnerable to pollution.”

Kerry Rains said pointed out water contamination at Williamtown, Oakey and Katherine meant drinking water now had to be delivered to the towns and farmers could not sell their produce, livestock or properties due to contamination.

“I’m sure if the Department of Defence don’t have this so-called modern technology to save our groundwater [in the event of contamination], Orange City Council don’t either,” she said. 

“There is no feasibility study or business or financial plan, just a knee-jerk reaction to the possibility of maybes what ifs and you never knows.”

Jason Vials, who relies on bore water to maintain his cattle, referred to a February letter from the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ water section on a council water report.

“It said the risk to groundwater resources from future land use are not addressed in this assessment, so this document does not deal with what we’re talking about,” he said.

Mr Vials said the council and residents had spent thousands of dollars on reports, and millions buying land.

“We have a choice here, are we going to keep spending or are we going to admit that this proposal has no chance of going where it’s proposed to go and we would be better off if we cut our losses and moved on.”

“This could put at risk every job in Orange because if we have a situation like Williamtown, this town is stuffed.”

He said the unemployment rate in Orange was 4.71 per cent, compared to 6.1 per cent across the state.

“The facts suggest we don’t need to ram through a process that ignores the business, economic and environmental issues this proposal represents,” he said. 

Mr Vials said airport users were clear there was ample land for airport-related activities required.

“One of the reasonings we’ve heard of late to justify this proposal is we need more room to expand the airport – we’ve heard clearly from the people who know that is not the case.”

Anne Salter said the biophysical strategic agricultural land was rare.

“Those zones would be far better placed downstream of the water catchment for obvious reasons,” she said.

She emphasised airport-related activities would not be allowed on the industrial land. 

“One would have to ask why do we invest in such valuable documents if we’re just going to ignore them,” she said.