Witness Statement
Name: Jacynta Fa’amau
Incident: Climate impacts on Pacific Island Countries caused by coal mining in NSW, Australia.
Prepared by: 350 Pacific and the Pacific Climate Warriors
22 July 2026
To: Independent Planning Commission NSW, the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
Subject: Formal Objection to Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Continuation Project (SSD-11826681 & SSD-11826621)
My name is Jacynta Fa’amau, an Australian-born Samoan representing the Pacific Climate Warriors. I write to formally oppose the proposed HVO Continuation Project in the Muswellbrook Shire.
Not only is the further expansion of coal a disregard of the 1.5 degree climate target and in direct opposition to international law and accepted scientific boundaries, this proposal is also inappropriate for the local community, as well as national and global communities. It is from this broader perspective that I offer my submission.
My first visit to my family home in Samoa was in 2002. My father had not returned since he left as a child in the late 70s. The village is located on the north‑east coast of Samoa in the Saoluafata Harbour, a rural community that has raised generations of my family. We walked to my uncle’s house, through his backyard, and down to the beach. When we arrived, my father was speechless. He used his hands to show where the volleyball courts used to be set up and where the pandanus trees once stood, providing shade for villagers.
In the ocean, my father pointed out that there used to be 4 giant rocks called ‘kapeleulu’, where only the top of the rocks would stick out in the day. When the tide rolled in, the rocks would be completely undersea, indicating it was time to head home for dinner. This was now only a pasttime story shared among community members of his generation, since those giant rocks had not been seen in many years. He did not have the words that day to describe the ocean taking away almost a third of the beach. However, when I returned in 2016, 2018, 2022, and 2024, I can attest that the beach had continued to shrink. And now we know it’s called climate change’. The ocean crashes so close to my uncle’s home that he has had to build a new house closer to the main road. The disappearance of the pandanus trees has meant that there are now very few women left in the village who can weave. The sea has risen so much that we have relocated my great‑great‑grandparents’ grave to higher ground twice in the last 15 years. My cousins have to paddle out further to sea to catch fish, since the warmer waters have destroyed much of the reef too.
The majority of Samoans live by the sea, as do many communities across the Pacific Islands. They rely on nature for their food, water, and livelihoods. Nature, however, is changing rapidly. Climate change is magnifying the environmental challenges coastal communities in Samoa are already facing. Greater rainfall variability is leading to longer dry periods, causing groundwater to become increasingly saline and polluted. The concentration of CO₂ in our atmosphere continues to break historical records, contributing to coastal inundation and erosion. Storm surges now threaten over 10,000 buildings, critical road infrastructure, and cultural practices such as traditional weaving.
The current proposal focuses on extracting additional coal by mining deeper into existing approved areas. It aims to recover an estimated 200–800 million tonnes of coal. This quantity of coal would emit approximately 520 million to 2.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, directly driving global warming and ongoing climate change. This would result in more frequent and intense weather events, including storm surges and sea‑level rise. These impacts would further threaten coastal infrastructure, disrupt local fisheries, and damage vital ecosystems like mangroves, impacting the safety and livelihoods of the community.
Increasingly, the climate impacts facing communities in the Hunter are the same as those already endured in the Pacific. In both places, people are at risk of losing their homes, livelihoods, and culture from the extraction of coal and the impacts of climate change. When coal projects in NSW drive more global warming, the costs are not limited to one region or one nation – they combine the hardship of Hunter residents already facing worsening bushfires, floods and heat stress – while increasing coastal erosion, water insecurity and cultural loss in frontline Pacific communities. This project will only further the risks for people in the Hunter Valley region, and intensify the existential threat faced by Pacific Island nations like my own family’s home in Samoa.
For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Commission to reject this application in its current form and to require the proponent to return to the drawing board to address the community’s valid and serious concerns. We recognise the climate crisis as the greatest security threat to the Pacific. I understand the importance of job security, economic stability and commercial development, but it should not come at the expense of the lives of others, no matter how far away. Approval of this proposal would send a clear signal about how much the Commission values the health of its constituents and the survival of Pacific Island nations.
Thank you for your time, your public service, and for considering my concerns.
Sincerely,
Jacynta Fa’amau