Wednesday, 15 October 2025

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (09:54): On Saturday I went to the Sunbury Show, and I had the best time – great people, food, rides and show animals, including bulls in the ring and one under a marquee. There was also a huge, enthusiastic crowd, many of whom seemed very keen to express their concerns with the government and the local member. As you might ask yourself, President: why are these people so very upset at the government? The reason is that they see this as a safe Labor seat in the western suburbs and they can be treated as second-class citizens. What has really brought this sentiment to the boiling point is the prospect of three-quarters of a million tonnes of garbage being burnt upwind of the town and the rapidly expanding surrounds. There is a very strong feeling in Sunbury that they are treated as Melbourne’s tip. Let us remember that it was Sunbury where the government dumped that PFAS-contaminated soil from the West Gate Tunnel. Every day as people drive along Bulla Road they can look over at that man-made mountain of soil as a testament to the high regard in which the government appears to hold them. Now, to add insult to injury, they are to receive the gift of what is literally a toxic dumpster fire on a monstrous scale. It is time that the government woke up and smelled the garbage, because the incinerators proposed for Sunbury, for Lara, for Wollert and for Dandenong are nothing short of a disgrace, and it stinks.