Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (15:27): I also rise in support of Mr Davis’s motion and in support of the communities of Maddingley and Bacchus Marsh, who I can assure you feel red-hot anger towards this government and its agencies over the mismanagement of this potential dumping of toxic waste in their area. This is not a trivial matter in any way, shape or form, as some might have sought to argue. This is a life and death issue for the people of Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley. They feel their entire life is being threatened by the potential dumping of toxic waste from the West Gate Tunnel in their backyard. This anger comes not just from the potential result of this process, which could see PFAS-affected soil dumped in close proximity to schools, housing, water courses and prime agricultural land; it comes also from the secrecy and the lack of information released despite not only questions from me and my colleagues but from the people of Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley, who have sought on numerous occasions and in every way possible to get the information they require to be assured that this dumping of toxic waste in their backyard is not going to contaminate their lives.

At every stage the residents in these areas have felt they have been left in the dark on the detail and their representations have been totally ignored. The local members of Parliament out there just do not respond to them, and there is extraordinary feeling and anger and concern about the fact that they cannot get the information that we are seeking today to enable them to be assured that what is going to happen to them potentially is not going to threaten their lives. I heard that there has been extensive consultation. I can tell you that is not the case. Local people have not been consulted; they cannot get the documents. I also heard that councils have been consulted. That is also not the case. They have been left in the dark as well, and they have sought masses more information that they are entitled to seek from this government and it has not been forthcoming. That is unacceptable. All we are trying to do is to gather the information that is needed for the people of Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley to be able to live their lives that they have been living without toxic PFAS waste being dumped in their backyard.

It is easy to understand this feeling of powerlessness. It has grown from this lack of public consultation and a lack of the vitally important information that they sought. It has grown from the removal of the planning decision from the Moorabool Shire Council, from the resigned attitudes of local Labor MPs in both houses and finally from the government and its agencies who have consistently failed to release full details of the potential consequences of the dumping. What ministers here need to understand, however, is that failing to engage will not make the problem go away. They cannot simply continue to ignore local feeling and to press on regardless. At every stage their failure to respond makes the anger greater and makes the determination of the Bacchus Marsh residents to fight stronger. As I said, I have spoken to many, emailed many and surveyed thousands, and the message is clear: their greatest fear is that this decision has already been taken and that any further processes are simply window-dressing.

We have been told repeatedly by officials, ministers and even the Premier that this is not the case. Why then the failure to engage? Why then the secrecy? Why then the reluctance to release the information that we are seeking today? From the beginning it has been utterly extraordinary that a site in close proximity to a residential community and a site which includes watercourses irrigating food crops of state significance could be chosen to receive contaminated soil. There are 227 000 square kilometres in Victoria; why at Bacchus Marsh in the Maddingley brown coal site? The obvious conclusion is mismanagement. Despite adequate warning of the potential dangers—several years in fact—no suitable site has been developed for this waste from the tunnel.

And how are they trying to fix their bad management? By cutting corners and overriding communities in a desperate attempt to get the project back on track. It seems clear to me that the state government and their contractors would be entirely content to ignore all of the environmental arguments and the concerns raised about community proximity in order to dig themselves out of their hole and their mismanagement that is the West Gate Tunnel construction project. They have not done the work ahead of time, so they now need a quick solution. To them, it is Bacchus Marsh. Well, I will not stand for it.

I join Mr Davis in demanding that all the documentation be released. If everything is in order, if all the processes have been followed and if this truly is a suitable site, there should be no difficulty in doing so. Indeed it is essential for the community trust that this be done. We need to see the information Mr Davis has outlined: the policies, the scientific papers, the assessments, the waste soil classifications, the internal assessment reports and the planning impact studies on homes, agriculture, waterways, schools and other community facilities. We need full disclosure from Environment Protection Authority Victoria, from the ministers for planning, transport infrastructure, environment, land, water and their departments. This is the least that the community facing such a blight deserves. I have my own doubts about what this material will say, but I stand ready to be corrected. It is time for the secrecy-addicted government that is the Andrews government to come clean and to treat the people of Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley with the respect they deserve. I ask members to support this motion.