Thursday, 6 February 2020

West Gate Tunnel

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:30): My question is to the Premier. Where is the PFAS-contaminated toxic waste from the West Gate Tunnel Project going to be dumped?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:30): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Dealing with contaminated soil to the highest standards to protect workers, to protect communities, is a priority for our government. As such a process is underway to determine a site in consultation with, in the first instance, those who have primary responsibility for this. That is essentially the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and the builders involved. There is a process that is ongoing. I have no announcements to make in relation to where that spoil will ultimately go because no decision has been made.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Again, let me put on—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Yes, indeed. Doncaster rail, Rowville rail, airport rail—shall I go on? So just again for the record, I do not accept the member for Scoresby’s—the father of the house—credentials when it comes to infrastructure delivery. I hope Hansard got that. I just want that recorded.

Safety is very important. Dealing with these matters appropriately is very important. No decision has been made. When one is made, then we will be able to have a fuller conversation and to provide the questioner with further details.

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:32): Will the Premier rule out allowing PFAS-contaminated toxic waste to be dumped in Ravenhall or Maddingley?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:32): The first point to make is that it seems that some people’s views of this material have changed over time. Apparently you could roll around in it when they were in charge. Apparently you could eat it, nearly. It was all good, no problem. There was no need to do anything about PFAS when they were in charge. Indeed when someone was the Minister for Emergency Services—

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is clearly debating the question. I ask you to bring him back to answering it.

The SPEAKER: I do ask the Premier to come back to answering the question.

Mr ANDREWS: It is toxic hypocrisy; that is what it is. This is dangerous material. We will treat it appropriately. We will make sure that the highest standards, from a protection point of view for the environment, people, community and staff, are maintained. If the Leader of the Opposition had been listening to the answer to his first question, where I said no decision has been made about where this material will go, that clearly answers his supplementary question. Well, what the Leader of the Opposition wants is to play political games, and we will not do that with safety.