Bowden's Silver and Lead Project - Adjournment Speech
In April 2023 the Independent Planning Commission [IPC] approved an open-cut lead, zinc and silver mine in one of the State's premier food and wine regions. On 16 August 2024, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision. Documents released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal a sustained, coordinated effort between Bowdens Silver Pty Ltd and the Government to find a way forward after the court ruling.
I will share some of what they contain. On 16 August 2024, within hours of the court's decision, Bowdens general manager emailed senior officials from the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure with the subject line "Bowdens - path forward". Three days later, the planning department sent a document regarding the declaration of State significant infrastructure and critical State significant infrastructure to Bowdens, which emailed back asking when it was available to have "an initial discussion to start mapping out the new pathway".
On 4 September 2024, Minister Houssos met with David Gainsford, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, and the office of the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. On 6 September, Minister Houssos met with Bowdens. On 9 September, emails were exchanged between Bowdens and the planning department requesting an urgent meeting to discuss potential re-approval pathways. On 10 September, Bowdens CEO told investors, "We've spent the past three weeks having some fairly deep conversations with the Government and the planning department, and we think we're very close to getting a path forward."
On 12 September, Minister Houssos met with Bowdens and its solicitors regarding "portfolio matters". On 16 September, the Bowdens legal team organised multiple meetings with the planning department and also the IPC. On 16 October 2024, an amendment to the planning Act was introduced, with the planning Minister stating that it was intended to ensure the continued use of appropriate planning pathways for the assessment and approval of State significant development applications, and that it was not intended to override Bingman's rejection of the earlier approval for the project. But that is precisely what it did.
On 18 October, Bowdens and the planning official had a meeting regarding a "round two opening discussion". That same day, the Government released its Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy. The strategy included silver as a "priority metal" and specifically referred to the Bowdens project. On 21 November 2024, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (State Significant Development) Bill 2024 passed the Parliament. On 24 October, Minister Sharpe published a statement of public interest, which advised that, due to the urgency of the bill, stakeholders were not informed. On 13 November, Bowdens emailed the planning department, but most of the email is redacted. On 29 November, the planning department emailed Bowdens requesting to meet to "discuss next steps".
On 9 December, the planning department wrote to Bowdens saying that the IPC had written to the department seeking advice on how it wanted to deal with assessment of the project "in light of the amendments recently passed by Parliament". The IPC's letter was emailed to Bowdens requesting further information regarding next steps. On 14 February 2025, the Bowdens CEO stated in an interview that Minister Houssos had informed him, "Silver Mines has the full support of the NSW Government, and you can quote me on that".
He further stated that the Government has actually changed legislation to effectively prevent activists or dissenters from putting a stop to key infrastructure developments within the State of New South Wales. On 16 April, Bowdens made an ASX announcement that it had "been greatly assisted by the ongoing support from the New South Wales Government". On 23 May, the planning secretary determined that the project's transmission line did not form part of the single proposed project. On 8 August, Bowdens' CEO wrote to the Treasurer, stating, "Importantly, the New South Wales Parliament acted swiftly," following the decision. On 17 September the Government introduced another bill to, in its words, create a process for certain development to bypass a full assessment and simplify development and approval pathways. Minister Houssos met with Bowdens again on 22 September and 5 November. The planning Minister met with Bowdens once, on 1 October. The bill passed on 11 November 2025.
When looking at this in its entirety, it is hard to believe anything other than that a corporate interest, Bowdens Silver Pty Ltd, has completely undermined democracy in New South Wales, and lobbied and influenced this Labor Government so successfully that it changed our State's planning laws to benefit the company's bottom line, at the expense of the public interest and the environment. That is undue influence. ICAC made 29 recommendations in its Operation Eclipse report in 2021, including banning secret meetings between lobbyists and officials, to strengthen transparency and democracy. We urgently need to implement those recommendations, given what has been uncovered about the actions of this Government and mining companies.