Bob Carr calls for Unesco to recognise ‘urgency of threat’ facing world heritage-listed Blue Mountains

Former NSW premier says the proposal to raise Warragamba Dam wall is undermining environmental protections of region

The former New South Wales premier and foreign minister Bob Carr has written to Unesco urging it to send a mission to the Blue Mountains to assess its world heritage status, warning it could be badly affected by the proposed heightening of the Warragamba Dam.

Carr, who was premier when the greater Blue Mountains region was inscribed on the world heritage list 21 years ago, said the area had been badly affected by the 2019-20 bushfires - which he described as by far the worst in Australia's history" - and parts would be flooded if the dam wall was raised, as proposed by the Gladys Berejiklian government.