Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:44): My constituency question is for the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. In their 2017 submission to the West Gate Tunnel Project environment effects statement Environment Protection Authority Victoria recommended that the project address the management, treatment and disposal of PFAS-contaminated groundwater and land. Nearly three years later the state government is apparently in discussions with multiple landfill operators, including Maddingley Brown Coal near Bacchus Marsh, to dispose of the contaminated soil. There is considerable concern among constituents in Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley over the potential for contaminated soil to be dumped on this site. The Moorabool Shire Council expressed this in a letter to the Minister for Planning, noting that Maddingley Brown Coal sits beside Parwan Creek, which flows into the Werribee River, which provides irrigation water for Bacchus Marsh and Werribee. The principal of Bacchus Marsh Grammar school has also expressed his concern. Can the minister assure the Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley communities that if contaminated soil is moved from the West Gate Tunnel to Maddingley Brown Coal, they will not suffer any long-term environmental effects?