Thursday, 31 July 2025

Waste and recycling management

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (18:23): (1799) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and it relates to the EPA’s refusal to pay for toxic waste clean-up in the Moorabool shire. In fact the EPA has rubbished VCAT’s suggestion that it should assist Moorabool Shire Council in paying half a million dollars for the clean-up of toxic waste that was illegally dumped on council- managed land under the EPA’s watch.

Moorabool council challenged an EPA order that it must clean up trailers and harmful industrial waste abandoned just outside of Bacchus Marsh on a Crown land reserve managed by council on behalf of the state. The effect of the VCAT order is that council must perform the clean-up, which will have a significant cost to ratepayers. The VCAT order referred to cost sharing; however, the EPA have refused to engage in good faith and provide any funds at all to cover costs. This is despite the illegal dumper been under surveillance by the EPA since at least last year and the EPA failing to take action.

Mayor of Moorabool shire Cr Paul Tatchell said:

The EPA has trashed the idea of cost sharing when clearly their actions have let this situation unfold.

Why should our ratepayers bear the cost when the EPA had ample time and opportunity to clean up this waste long before it was dumped on land we manage.

…

VCAT says we have to clean up the containers on our land because they are dangerous and unstable – what’s the EPA doing about the canisters on the adjoining property?

Moorabool shire have now engaged specialist contractors who are at work on the logistics of the clean-up. There are half-dissolved cylinders, highly flammable, filled with asbestos, which need to be transported safely to the sole facility in Victoria, which is at Stawell. The action I am seeking from the minister is an inquiry into the actions or, to be fair, the complete and utter inaction of the EPA on this matter. The decision-makers within the EPA should be held accountable for abrogating their responsibilities, and the minister needs to ensure that there is proper oversight of agencies. For the EPA to shirk their responsibilities and not engage with a councillor who is trying to do the right thing is disgusting, especially when toxic waste is a risk to life and land. The EPA have ignored a VCAT ruling for cost sharing and refuse to engage fairly and reasonably, presumably because they have run out of money, much like every other government department and agency.

Minister, conduct an inquiry into the EPA and ensure that fairness and transparency is restored. Moorabool shire residents deserve honest answers – not excuses, not spin, not to be fobbed off. Hold the EPA accountable, and make sure you do the right thing.